This story was originally published in Dwell’s January/February 2017 issue.

Lucienne Day, born in Surrey in 1917, was one of the leading lights of modern design in postwar England. Though she could easily have been mistaken for a 1950s homemaker, Lucienne was anything but. A groundbreaking textile designer, she created sunny yet sophisticated prints for the masses, becoming a household name in the process.

Her breakthrough pattern was Calyx, a plant-inspired design shown at the Festival of Britain in 1951. A huge success, it led to a decades-long partnership with Heal Fabrics. But Day was prolific in other areas as well, including wallpaper, carpets, ceramics, and silk mosaics.

Though sometimes referred to as the Eameses of the U.K., Lucienne and her husband, furniture designer Robin Day, pursued separate careers and collaborated only a handful of times, notably on aircraft interiors for BOAC in the 1960s.

Lucienne, who died in 2010, would have turned 100 on January 5, 2017. The centenary is being marked with a year of exhibitions and events in the U.K. that will reveal works and photos never seen before, bringing back into the public eye the remarkable accomplishments of this midcentury-modern woman.

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Top photo of Lucienne Day by John Haddock