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The Robin and Luciennne Day Foundation is a design education Charity set up in 2012 by Robin and Lucienne’s only child Paula Day.

The Foundation is the proprietor of all intellectual property rights in the designs of Robin and Lucienne Day. It is dedicated to providing public knowledge of and access to Robin and Lucienne Day’s design legacies and providing resources for the study of design.

The Foundation is run by a Board of Trustees chaired by Paula Day. Professor Sir Christopher Frayling and Fiona MacCarthy OBE are Patrons.

'Paula, the Days' daughter, has become the guardian of her parents' legacy since they both died in 2010. She set up the foundation to prevent misuse of their name and work, while providing educational resources to help preserve Britain's design heritage'.

'My parents would be amazed and moved by the Foundation. They would also be very grateful to all of the other people who have given their time and expertise so generously, especially my co-trustees Paul Thomas and Mary Mullin, who, like me, work entirely on a voluntary basis'.

History
Robin Day (1915 - 2010) and Lucienne Day (1917 - 2010) hold a unique place in 20th century design history. For nearly seven decades they pursued independent careers alongside each other, both making outstanding contributions to British design.

A memorial evening to celebrate their lives and achievements was held in October 2011 at The Royal College of Art, London. At the end of the evening Robin and Lucienne's daughter Paula Day announced her intention to found a Trust in her parents’ names.

The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation was set up in February 2012 and was registered as an Arts and Education Charity (no. 1147979) in July of that year.

'Through this process, I've come to better understand and appreciate my parents' work. So that was what they were doing when they disappeared into the studio when I was a child.' Paula Day

'The Foundation recently trademarked her parents' names, an action which makes the unlicensed use of Robin Day's name to sell furniture, and of Lucienne Day's name to sell products across ten categories, an infringement of the Foundation's trademarks.'

The design contents of Robin and Lucienne Day’s Chichester home were donated to a number of national museums and educational institutions, and the house itself was sold to benefit the Foundation in September 2013.

'Earlier this year, the foundation auctioned several Robin Day items at Christie’s; his Forum sofa sold for £8,750 – almost three times its highest estimate.'

The Foundation’s website went live on May 1st 2014.

The official launch of The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation took place at The Royal College of Art, London on May 6th 2015.

The venue was chosen because Robin and Lucienne had both studied at the RCA and met at a dance there in 1940. The launch marked the start of a season of Robin Day Centenary celebrations.

Objectives and Organisation
The Foundation's Objectives are:
 * 1) To promote knowledge, appreciation and understanding of the nation's design heritage in general, and the work of Robin and Lucienne Day in particular.
 * 2) To encourage provision of public access to the design legacies of Robin and Lucienne Day.
 * 3) To provide opportunities, in a form true to the democratic spirits of Robin and Lucienne Day, which will enable the general public or students of educational establishments to further their study of design in general, and furniture or textile design in particular.

The Foundation is an independent organisation chaired by Paula Day and run by a Board of Trustees, all of whom donate their time and expertise to further the charity's objectives.

'The wider foundation, Paula, argued would be run according to tenets by which her parents worked, namely independence and equality. “We are the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation,” she said. “Given the pressures on women, especially when my mother was young, it’s quite extraordinary that she never let her design career be subsumed into her husband’s…The foundation values and upholds both legacies equally.”'

Activities
The Foundation fulfils its educational Objectives in a number of ways.

Donations to museums
Designs and design records from the Days’ home and office have been donated to a number of public collections and educational institutions:
 * V&A Archives
 * V&A Collections
 * Design Museum
 * Geffrye Museum
 * Whitworth Art Gallery
 * Glasgow School of Art
 * RDI archive at RSA

Digital Archive
In 2015 the Foundation digitised Robin Day’s design photograph archive. Over 1,300 design images and over 250 portrait photographs of the Days were accessioned and catalogued by archivist Wilhelmina Baldwin and photographed at the Foundation’s office by Gwen Riley-Jones of the Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care, The University of Manchester Library.

Provision of images and information
The Foundation works with design historians, writers, curators and students to provide archive images and accurate information about Robin and Lucienne Day’s lives and careers.

In 2015 the Foundation produced Robin Day 100 Designs, a poster to celebrate Robin Day’s centenary, featuring archive images of one hundred designs.

'Designed by Studio Fernando Gutierrez and launched with the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation – set up in 2012 by the couple’s daughter Paula – the poster features images of 100 of Day's seminal designs, as well as a wealth of portraiture; many of the images are drawn from the Foundation’s archive and have never been seen before.'

Licensing designs
The Foundation is the proprietor of all intellectual property rights in the works of Robin and Lucienne Day and is responsible for all licensing.

It is committed to maintaining the integrity of their designs and making them accessible and available to people today. The Foundation licenses and endorses only high-quality, authentic productions of Robin and Lucienne Day’s original designs, and all royalties are paid directly to the Foundation to support its work.

All companies which produced licensed endorsed Robin and Lucienne Day designs are listed in the Licensees section of the Foundation’s website.

Awards programme
The Foundation is developing a programme of awards to provide resources and opportunities for students of design.

The first awards were announced at the Launch on May 6th:
 * The Robin Day Furniture Design Award 2015 has been set up in association with The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers to celebrate Robin Day’s Centenary. 100 state secondary schools have been presented with a copy of Modern British Furniture: Design since 1945 (V&A Publishing) to award to their best GCSE Design and Technology student.
 * The RCA Robin and Lucienne Day Prize for Ethical and Sustainable Design has been set up to celebrate the launch of the Foundation. It was presented to the Rector at the Launch to award to the RCA final year student who, in the judgement of the Rector and the Chair of the Foundation has best realised a design which embodies Robin and Lucienne’s lifelong commitment to ethical and sustainable design.

'The Robin Day Furniture Design Award has been set up in association with The Furniture Makers’ Company to celebrate Robin Day’s centenary which takes place this year and will be open to GCSE Design and Technology students across 100 state secondary schools. The RCA Robin and Lucienne Day Prize for Ethical and Sustainable Design will be presented to a final year design student at the RCA, whose work best embodies the Days’ lifelong commitment to ethical and sustainable design.'

'The Robin and Lucienne Day Prize for Ethical and Sustainable Design is awarded to the Royal College of Art final-year student who, in the judgement of the Rector and the Chair of the Foundation, has realised the design which best embodies Robin and Lucienne Day’s commitment to socially responsible and sustainable design.'