Robin Day, Slat Chair, Hille, 1952

Slat chair by Robin Day for Hille

The Slat chair is an early and scarce design by Robin Day. The chair formed part of the first Hille Seating Catalogue, alongside other iconic designs such as the Festival Hall plywood group, Hillestak and Reclining chair.

The Slat chair was a consciously modern design, particularly when seen in the context of other seating designs in the early 1950s. The minimal arm-less frame, loose cushions and dowel legs differed significantly from the deeply upholstered cubic shapes of traditional seating designs from the period. Its low and raked seating position presented a contemporary and international attitude towards leisure time, aligned with contemporaries in the USA and Scandinavia who proposed similar low-slung and linear furniture, some of which were inspired by Japanese and far eastern cultures.

The mahogany side members present as flat panels, whilst being subtly shaped internally to accommodate the loose cushions. The shallow depth of the seat and back is achieved with the feature beech slats and with coiled springs for the seat. The inset rear legs are almost hidden from certain views and suggest a floating structure.

The Slat chair is a precursor to Day’s later design the Chevron, and also the Pierre Jeanneret Scissor chair for Knoll International of 1957 when open-sided low modernist seating became more widely appreciated.

The example offered retains original seat covers, believed to be a Mourne tweed.