The Design Museum London presents This Is Design an exhibition on view 24 August 2011 – 22 January 2012.
This is Design is a celebration of the Design Museum’s Collection, which
examines the impact of design on the modern world, whilst also exploring
the consequences of design and how it shapes our lives and contemporary
culture.
The Collection has been in storage for over five years and during this period
it has been catalogued, conserved and documented. The Collection
contains pieces ranging from early items of mass manufacture through to
cutting edge contemporary design and includes furniture, fashion, transport,
products, ceramics and graphics.
Design can help us absorb and adapt to change and make positive use of a
modern world which could otherwise be confusing. By using themes such
as Identity, Manufacturing Innovations, the Digital Revolution and Lifecycle
the exhibition will look at how design provides a visual language to help use
the objects around us.
Prototypes, drawings, couture samples, models, first editions and finished
industrial objects will be on display demonstrating the design process and
subsequent influence of design on the contemporary culture. The exhibition
will also explore ‘quiet’ design, demonstrating how design surrounds us and
how whether accidental or subtle, design plays a role in shaping the way we
live and enables us to understand the world around us.
Highlights from the Collection include the Anglepoise lamp, UK road signs,
UK traffic lights and the Moulton bicycle, these will be displayed alongside
an original Mini, large scale architectural models to include Sir Norman
Foster’s HSBC Bank headquarters in Hong Kong, couture garments and
street furniture.
Supplemented by loans and gifts, and celebrating new acquisitions to the
collection, the exhibition also looks at the changing role of collecting design
and future developments of the Design Museum Collection as it prepares to
move to a new home at the former Commonwealth Institute. The new
museum will provide dedicated gallery space to display the collection and
celebrate the importance of design through a permanent display.
designmuseum.org