Lucienne Day

I am not easily impressed. I'm not impressed by 'things' or money but oh boy, when it comes to the pattern designs created by Lucienne Day, I am blown away. This may sound a bit odd to some of you but my heart literally skips a beat when I see her work. So imagine my excitement when I got to see some of her fabrics and ceramics 'in the flesh' at the beautifully designed Whitworth Gallery in Manchester. The Whitworth is one of many places around the country that is showcasing her work this year, in celebration of her centenary year.

You can't beat seeing these fabrics in the flesh. It's incredible to see the amount of thought and work that goes into each piece, which just doesn't come across online or in books. 

I started to add photos here of my most favourite patterns from Lucienne Day's collection but it ended up being pretty much the whole collection. I've decided to include one of her most famous fabric patterns, a furnishing fabric titled Calyx (right), designed for Heal's in 1951. Also included here is the furnishing fabric Tarn (left), which again was a collaboration with Heal's in 1957; a pattern that I discovered at the Whitworth exhibition.

Lucienne Day, designer, born 1 January 1917; died 30 January 2010

If you're interested to know more about her life and work there is plenty of information online but personally I think The Guardian newspaper does a sterling job of detailing her life's work in her obituary.