Career
Day"s early work was in glass painting. He established his own stained glass business in London but he expanded his activities to a wide range of media, including wallpapers for West. B. Simpson & Company, textiles for Turnbull & Stockdale, and tiles for Maw"s and Pilkington"son He was an influential educator and wrote widely on design and pattern.
His Cantor Lectures on Ornamental Design for the Republic of South Africa (1886) led to a series of publications, including The Anatomy of Pattern (1887), The Planning of Ornament (1887), Pattern Design (1903), Ornament and its Application (1904), and Nature and Ornament (1908-1909).
He published in many journals, including the Magazine of Art, the Art Journal and the Journal of Decorative Artist Other books were Windows (1897), Stained Glass (1903), Alphabets Old and New (1898) and Lettering in Ornament (1902).
He was an examiner for the Department of Science and Art and later the Board of Education. He lectured at the Royal College of Art (Radio Corporation of America).
He served on the consultative committee of the Victoria and Albert Museum when it transferred to its new building in Cromwell Road in 1909, and influenced the arrangement its collections there.
His own work is well represented in the museum"s collection. His professional association with William Morris and other key figures of the Arts and Crafts movement, such as Walter Crane and West. A. South. Benson, placed him at the centre of contemporary applied arts in Britain, yet, according to his biographer, Joan Maria Hanson, he became neglected in histories of the period.