Lucienne Day

Lucienne Day OBE RDI FCSD
Lucienne Day in New York with Calyx, 1952
Born	Désirée Lucienne Lisbeth Dulcie Conradi (1917-01-05)5 January 1917 Coulsdon, Surrey, England
Died	30 January 2010(2010-01-30) (aged 93) Chichester
Nationality	British
Education	Royal College of Art
Occupation	Textile Designer
Spouse(s)	Robin Day
Children	Paula
Website	Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation

Désirée Lucienne Lisbeth Dulcie Day OBE RDI FCSD (née Conradi; 5 January 1917 – 30 January 2010) was a British textile designer. Day drew on inspiration from other arts to develop a new style of abstract pattern-making in post-war British textiles, known as ‘Contemporary’ design. She was also active in other fields, such as wallpapers, ceramics and carpets.

Born in Coulsdon, Surrey, England, and raised in nearby Croydon, Lucienne Day was half-Belgian, the daughter of an English mother (Dulcie Conradi) and a Belgian father (Felix Conradi), who worked as a re-insurance broker. Initially educated at home, she attended Woodford School in Croydon from 1926-9 and a boarding school at the Convent of Notre Dame de Sion in Worthing, Sussex, from 1929-34.

At the age of 17 Lucienne enrolled at Croydon School of Art, where she developed her interest in printed textiles. She went on to specialise in this field at the Royal College of Art, where she studied from 1937-40. During her second year she was sent on a two-month placement to the firm Sanderson, where she worked in the company's large wallpaper studio. However, as Lesley Jackson notes: “The reality of working in a factory was an eye-opener for Day, who, with her growing taste for modern design, found it hard to adapt to the conservative style of the company.”

In March 1940, during her final year at the RCA, Lucienne met her future husband, furniture designer Robin Day, who shared her enthusiasm for modern design. Following their marriage on 5 September 1942, the couple set up home at 33 Markham Square in Chelsea, London, furnishing their flat with Lucienne’s hand-printed textiles and Robin’s hand-made furniture.

Due to wartime constraints on textile manufacturing, Lucienne was unable to pursue her career as a designer for several years. In the interim she taught at Beckenham School of Art, but as soon as the war was over she began practising as a freelance textile designer. Initially the main openings were in the field of dress fabrics, where her clients included Stevenson & Sons, Argand, Pasman Fabrics, Silkella, Horrockses and Cavendish Textiles.