Reclining chair Anniversary Edition, 1952

Reclining chair Anniversary Edition by Robin Day for twentytwentyone.

To mark our anniversary and pay tribute to one of the nation’s great modernist visionaries, twentytwentyone present an Anniversary edition of the award-winning Robin Day Reclining chair in collaboration with The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation and Mourne Textiles.

The original 1950’s Reclining chair production by Hille was offered with mahogany armrests. In consultation with the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation, it was decided that a sustainable alternative that provides the same rich grain and colour would be American walnut. The Reclining chair armrests are a key feature in the design of the chair. Envisaged as a surface for a drink or a book, the flared and graphic design with lipped edge continues to perform utility, but now more likely to accommodate a phone or remote control.

The association with Gerd Hay-Edie the founder and designer of Mourne Textiles is inherently connected to the history of Hille and Robin Day. Hay-Edie worked with Day to produce upholstery fabrics and floor covering for his celebrated exhibitions at Milan Salone in the early 1950s. Hay-Edie went on to produce extensive collections of upholstery weaves for Hille for nearly three decades. twentytwentyone approached Mourne with the prospect of collaborating for their Anniversary Edition and set the brief to provide a richly textured weave.

Mario Sierra, Creative Director at Mourne Textiles commented;

“Mourne Textiles are absolutely delighted to play a part in the twentytwentyone anniversary celebrations. Our relationship with twentytwentyone dates back almost to the very beginning of their impressive journey and it has been wonderful to forge long-lasting and valued connections with Simon, Tony and the team”.

The creative process involved countless hours reviewing the extensive and often handwritten, Mourne Textiles archives, combined with many days of weaving fabric samples on the eighty-year-old handlooms. Cloughmore is the result of this research and reworking. 

First created in 1972, by Mourne Textiles Founder, Gerd Hay-Edie, Cloughmore started its life as ‘Grey Rustic Mist’ and was originally designed for iconic, British furniture designer Hille. However, the fabric would never see production, as the price of the specialist, customised yarns, were deemed too expensive at the time and so the design was carefully documented and entered into the Mourne Textiles archives.

“I am delighted to bring this original design of my grandmothers back to life and especially pleased to see it upholstered on the Reclining Chair. My grandmother first worked with Robin Day in 1951, when she was asked to weave a rug for the Le Triennale de Milano exhibition”

Cloughmore will continue to be developed by Mourne Textiles to include a wider colour palette which will be available to purchase later in the year.

“My father’s relationship with Mourne Textiles goes back to 1951, when he chose a handwoven rug by founder Gerd Hay-Edie as a key element in the room sets he designed for the Festival of Britain and Milan Triennale. Through the 1950s, many of his furniture designs (including a chair used in our living room) were upholstered in characterful Mourne Textiles weaves.”

Paula Day

twentytwentyone forged a relationship with Robin Day in the late 1990s and the designer contributed an endearing creation to a charitable exhibition Childsply conceived by twentytwentyone in 1999. The Avian collection of armchairs and sofas was an entirely new design commissioned by twentytwentyone in the same year.

Several other designs, exhibitions and collaborations followed, including the furnishing of the Barbican’s outdoor terraces to his design, using a special version of his outdoor seating by Magis. 

twentytwentyone worked with Robin to see the Reclining chair back into production, though he sadly did not see the relaunch in 2011, following the year of his death, or enjoy the subsequent acknowledgement as a Wallpaper magazine award for best historical design in 2012. The Reclining chair is often cited as one of the prodigious designer’s most successful designs and the timeless qualities of the now-classic are reflected through a global audience.

“In our living room in the 1950s, my father relaxed after work in his own Reclining Chair (1952). Twentytwentyone’s beautiful reissue does the design full justice – the Limited Edition in a warm new Mourne Textiles weave with walnut armrests is a lovely celebration of the historic three-way relationship between Robin Day, Mourne Textiles and twentytwentyone.”

Paula Day 

89w x 94d x 43/93cmh

Anthracite powder-coated steel frame with solid American walnut armrests.

Fixed upholstery in a unique, traditionally woven wool fabric 'Cloughmore' from the archives of third-generation, Irish weavers, Mourne Textiles.

“A good design should fulfil its purpose well, be soundly constructed and should express in its design this purpose and construction.”

Robin Day