Britain's Robin Day passed away, at 95. One of Britain’s most influential post-WWII furniture designers, he designed the "polyprop” chair -- that white, molded plastic seat on a enameled tubular steel base that is found in millions of schools, auditoriams and offices around the world.
"Comfortable, durable, inexpensive, lightweight, easy to maintain" says his obituary of the chair he invented. He'd first shown his work in 1951, during the Festival of Britain, a futuristic display of British ingenuity intended to help propel England from its postwar doldrums.
Mr. Day considered "his work to be just that: work. He never employed a staff, never adopted the computer as a design tool and thought nothing of sitting at the drawing table for 12, 14 or 16 hours a day."
In 2005, he summed up his design philosophy: "Things should work well; they should function. [Construction techniques, materials and economics are relevant]. Along with that, hopefully, some poetry and pleasantness in terms of looks. But these practical things are essential. Without it design is a waste of time.”
Peter