Q Stak
Chair
1954 (designed)
1954 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Born in 1915, Robin Day was one of the designers who created a modern British style in the early 1950s. Like other designers of the time, he firmly believed that mass-produced furniture could be well designed and sold at affordable prices. His earliest furniture designs were notable for their new forms and for the exceptional use of new materials. Robin Day’s modernist philosophy was shared by the British company Hille, with whom he has worked consistently since 1950. Day designed the Q Stak chair in 1953 as low-cost seating for use in cafés, meeting rooms and places requiring inexpensive and strong stackable chairs. The Q Stak was extremely practical and enjoyed a long production life. It was produced in several versions so that it would appeal to as wide an audience as possible. One version was the non-stacking Q Rod with straight steel rod legs (see Museum no. Circ.239-1960).
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Q Stak (manufacturer's title) |
| Materials and techniques | Cherry-faced 7-ply plywood and tubular steel frame |
| Brief description | Q Stak chair, designed by Robin Day, manufactured by Hille Ltd, moulded cherry-faced plywood and tubular steel, London, designed 1954 |
| Physical description | Chair with a one-piece seat and back of 7-ply cherry-faced plywood. There is a cut-out in the centre of the back of the chair. The chair is supported on two sets of two black tubular steel legs which are joined together and screwed to the seat. The screws go through the seat from the top to the underside and are uncovered. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Given by the designer |
| Production | It is not known whether this chair was made in 1953 or is a later edition. |
| Summary | Born in 1915, Robin Day was one of the designers who created a modern British style in the early 1950s. Like other designers of the time, he firmly believed that mass-produced furniture could be well designed and sold at affordable prices. His earliest furniture designs were notable for their new forms and for the exceptional use of new materials. Robin Day’s modernist philosophy was shared by the British company Hille, with whom he has worked consistently since 1950. Day designed the Q Stak chair in 1953 as low-cost seating for use in cafés, meeting rooms and places requiring inexpensive and strong stackable chairs. The Q Stak was extremely practical and enjoyed a long production life. It was produced in several versions so that it would appeal to as wide an audience as possible. One version was the non-stacking Q Rod with straight steel rod legs (see Museum no. Circ.239-1960). |
| Associated object | CIRC.239-1960 (Version) |
| Bibliographic reference | Wilk, Christopher. Plywood: A Material Story. London: Thames & Hudson / V&A, 2017
|
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.37-1992 |
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| Record created | March 5, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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