Lucienne Day: Inspiring Artists

       Lucienne Day was an example of a great designer, her work was unique and is classic to this day.  Lucienne was born in 1917 in Coulsdon Surrey, U.K. She specialized in fabrics, prints and wallpapers. Lucienne claimed that she wanted to revitalize design after World War II by creating bold but simplistic patterns that took inspiration from nature and often displayed geometric shapes.The fabric, Rayon, was a new and uprising product at the time, and Lucienne discovered it appealed to the masses. Day started out working for a department store named Heals. Lucien's career started escalating when her designs became popular through this store. Day soon moved on to being a design consultant for British Airlines. Even though Lucienne worked for many different people she managed to keep her creative independence. Her color pallet was usually very simplistic yet vibrant. She occasionally made a print by hand but most of them were digitally printed in bulk.
        Lucienne was partially inspired by Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. Both artists have geometric roots in their pieces. One such art piece, as the Zeichen in Gelb, 1937 by Paul Klee displays the geometric shapes beautifully. The simplistic but bold colors and distinct arrangement of lines can be compared to Day's work and displays a noticeable similarity. On the other hand  I feel Kandinsky offers more influence in color than in shape, a good example of this is found in his collection of The Color Study.
        When you look at Lucienne's work it has an upbeat, playful vibe to it. Her designs interpret nature in a bright colorful way yet is still simplistic. A few of her patterns remind me of Spring. The decades after WWII were a very bland age and Lucienne wanted to bring color and bold shapes back to the homes of the average family and revive modern fashion. Day was a little bit before her time, the geometric shapes and color pallets would fit perfectly in a modern home today. In fact, I would add some of her work to my very home.

Lucienne Day's Calyx Fabric