Style

• open plan
• fitted kitchens
• primary colours
• stacking furniture
• new materials - PVC, Formica, fibreglass, rubber, melamine, aluminium, vinyl, plastics
• abstract, geometric patterns
• animal prints

Influences

• America - diners, jukeboxes, huge fridges
• the 1930s and modernism
• surrealism - for example, the famous Salvador Dali 'lips' sofa
• scientific research - the structure of DNA was discovered in 1953.

The names

• Charles and Ray Eames - husband and wife team producing sleek, leather, plywood and plastic furniture
• Robin Day - furniture
• Lucienne Day - fabrics that were originally sold in Heal's
• Arne Jacobsen - furniture such as Egg, Swan and Ant chairs

At the time

• 1951 Festival of Britain
• 1952 the first hydrogen bomb is tested by the United States
• 1953 Queen Elizabeth II's coronation
• 1955 Ruth Ellis last woman to be hanged in Britain
• 1956 Marilyn Monroe marries Arthur Miller