1952 Robin Day Unit ‘B’ Sideboard

Unit ‘B’ Sideboard by Robin Day for Hilleplan.

Unit ‘B’ sideboard, designed by Robin Day as part of the Hilleplan range for Hille in 1952. This example is in solid beech, drawer fronts and handles in contrasting Agbar, with Vitrolite glass doors in black. Internally there are 2 drawers and two larger compartments with fixed shelves, one with a cutaway detail for storing bottles. 

The Hilleplan range was conceived as a cohesive storage and desk collection intended to offer users the flexibility to select pieces singularly, or multiples as part of a system. It was Robin Day’s first storage system to enter production following his award-winning designs with Clive Latimer for MOMA’s Low-cost Furniture Competition of 1948. 

The examples with Vitrolite glass doors are rare as they were special orders and a more progressive option than in wood for customers. It was a material originally employed by pre-war modernist architects and designers. The opaque pigmented glass was developed at the turn of the century by Pilkington. 

This application provides a durable and reflective surface in contrast with the wood carcass.  The contrasting colours of the black vitrolite create a dynamic and graphic front to the cabinet.

Robin Day is Britain’s most renowned furniture designer. Having won the aforementioned competition at MOMA, he went on to design the furniture for the Festival of Britain at the Royal Festival Hall in 1951. He designed an exceptional and highly respected cross-section of furniture in a career spanning more than 60 years.

An acute understanding of materials and manufacturing processes, aligned with progressive design skills allowed for his many landmarks in the history of post-war furniture design. 

Alongside his wife, textile designer Lucienne Day, the couple are widely acknowledged for introducing contemporary design to Britain.