LUCIENNE & ROBIN DAY

One of the talks on my lecturing schedule is called ‘3,000 Years of Sitting Down’ - the history of seating solutions. Ironically, on frequent occasions I have found my audience to be sitting on one of the most iconic chairs ever designed – the Polyprop. Designed by Robin Day in 1962-63 for Hille & Co (Later Hille International), this rather innocuous chair often bemuses the audiences. It is not surprising that its importance is rarely recognised by the millions of people who have sat on one – it was designed as a cheap, utilitarian, easily portable stacking seat, primarily for mass applications such as hospitals and airport waiting areas. As a result it has become rather ubiquitous in seating terms, but it is actually