In the 2012 spirit of celebrating all things GB, the V&A’s latest exhibition focuses on British design.
The show bookends 60 years of British design with the ‘austerity
games’ of 1948 and this year’s Olympic effort.
The mammoth task of representing six decades of design is well met with
350 objects which include furniture, product, graphics, fashion,
surface, jewellery, industrial and architecture pieces, together with fine art, craft and photography.
The exhibition begins setting the modernist optimism of the
1951 Festival of Britain against the opulence of Elizabeth II’s coronation, and
looking at the consequences for design.
Pieces include original drafts of Calvert and Kinneir’s road signage
scheme, the Queen’s Flowers of the Field’s of France state gown and early
ranges from Habitat and Heal’s.
The second section is titled Subversion, and recognises the
irreverent spirit of British creatives working in different disciplines and
time periods; from graphics (such as Peter Saville’s sleeves for Factory
Records), to fashion (including Tommy Nutter suits) and Studio Ceramics (like Richard
Slee’s Drunk Punch).
The final gallery is dedicated to the drive for innovation
in British design; the use of new technologies and the forging of new
industries. James Dyson’s upright vacuum cleaner and Troika’s Falling Light sit alongside statement architectural
projects, and the development of the British game design industry and
advertising sector.
Photography isn’t permitted in the show, so we can’t give you
a preview, but you can take up this excellent opportunity to see some ingenious
moments in British design until 12 August.
