Commissions for companies such as British Rail and Shell Chemical Company aren’t the kind of designs that you would immediately associate with a creative revolution.

But Lucienne Day’s avant-garde textile prints and husband Robin’s functional furniture changed the look and feel of both personal and public places in the post-war years. And until 26 June, 2011, Pallant House Gallery is offering vintage-lovers the chance to enjoy a selection of the British designers’ best work in the Days’ former home town of Chichester.

Drawn from an American textile collection and furniture on loan from the Target Gallery, London, the exhibition features over 50 Lucienne textiles ranging in date from 1951 to 1974, alongside rare, early furniture by Robin including key pieces commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

“Robin and Lucienne became key arbiters of taste as Britain’s most celebrated designer couple, and together popularised a sleek new aesthetic in British interiors” says Curator Shanna Shelby. “I hope this exhibition will remind people of the transformative power of modern design and how the Days surpassed all other designers of the period in creating beautiful, useful objects accessible to people at all income levels.”

The Days rose to prominence during the Festival of Britain, which this year celebrates its 60 anniversary, and is remembered at Pallant House through a collection of original photographs and memorabilia until 8 May, 2011. Robin was commissioned to design the furniture for the Royal Festival Hall and Lucienne’s arresting abstract-patterned textiles and wallpapers were displayed alongside her husband’s steel and plywood furniture in the Homes and Gardens Pavilion.

Their designs became some of the most instantly recognisable of the post-war years, combining innovation with functionality, and remain just as iconic and current today.

One of the keys to the designer’s respective successes was their emphasis on design democracy and ergonomics, bringing sophisticated yet fun creations to the mass market through commissions for Heals Fabrics, the 1956 British Rail bench and the multi-million selling 1963 stacking polypropylene chair. Indeed, the latter is still used in schools and village halls to this day.

The exhibition displays the Days’ work chronologically, illustrating how the delicate playfulness of Lucienne’s early patterns was replaced in the late 1950s by a growing interest in vertical compositions, and in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the bold dynamic prints of the pop art era. As Robin’s career progressed, he also began experimenting with new materials, creating the vacuum-formed polystyrene Obo Chair in 1972.

For anyone with an interest in Mid-Century design, this collection is a real treat. Pallant House is also one of just two outlets able to order in Lucienne Day printed fabric for sale at £75 a metre if you fancy taking some Day delights home with you.

Watch a segment from a documentary about the Days here.

Exhibition information: Tues-Sat 10am-5pm Thurs 10am-8pm Sun 11am-5pm, closed Mondays. Adult £7.50, Child £2.30, Student £4

Images: Top to bottom – Robin and Lucienne Day, courtesy of Robin Day; Robin Day, Royal Festival Hall Armchair, 1951, Courtesy Target Gallery, London; Lucienne Day, Olive Calyx, 1951, Manufactured by Heal Fabrics, Screen-printed linen, Courtesy of the collection of Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III

Words: Jo-ann Fortune