Susie Cooper (1902 – 1995) British ceramicist and designer
2022-09-26
Breakfast in an American middle-class home in the 1940s was often served on dishes designed by English designer Susie Cooper (1902-1995).Read More →
Nigel Coates (b.1949) English architect and designer
2022-08-17
He co-founded Branson Coates Architecture with Doug Branson in 1985 before opening his architecture and design studio in 2006. He was a partner in the Branson Coates architecture and design studio and the founder of the radical NATO (Narrative Architecture Today, established in London in 1983) design group (established in 1985).Read More →
Ernest Race (1913 – 1964) British furniture and industrial designer
2022-06-19
Ernest Race (1913 – 1964) was a British furniture and industrial designer. He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Between 1932-35, he studied interior design at the Bartlett School of Architecture of London University and 1937-39, weaving in India. Read More →
The London Underground Map – Design Icon
2022-01-13
The London Underground is the world’s oldest subway, most people know it colloquially as the Tube. An engineering marvel and just as almost as famous is the map. The Tube map is instantly recognisable all over the world. It is a simple and elegant diagram of the 400-kilometre subway network. It is considered by many as one of the great images of the 20th century.Read More →
Michael Peters (b. 1941) British Graphic Designer
2021-12-04
The 1980s in Britain were marked by an apparent economic rebound and a newfound enthusiasm among Britons for business, risky capitalism, and design. Design was pushed as a fundamental ingredient to financial success by a new generation of design entrepreneurs, one of them being Michael Peters.Read More →
Festival of Britain 1951 – Post War Morale Builder
2021-11-29
The Festival of Britain (FOB) was seen both as a public morale booster and an opportunity to remind the world of Britain’s contribution to civilisation, history, and technological development in the past, present, and future. It took place on the South Bank of the River Thames. The Council of Industrial Design (COID) provided an essential stage for promoting well-designed British products in its national push for economic recovery in the post-Second World War era, especially on the main South Bank, London, more specifically in terms of design.Read More →
Owen Jones (1809-1874) British architect & Designer
2021-11-28
Owen Jones was a British architect and ornamental designer. He studied at the Royal Academy in London and under the architect L. Vuillamy (1825–31).Read More →
John Aldridge (1905 – 1983) – British oil painter, draughtsman, wallpaper designer
2021-11-26
John Aldridge was an oil painter, draughtsman, wallpaper designer, and art teacher from the United Kingdom.Read More →
Linoleum created as an inexpensive floor covering
2021-10-29
Frederick Walton invented linoleum in Britain in 1860. Walton coated flax cloth with a combination of gum, cork dust, resin and linseed oil in search of a cheap floor covering. An amalgamation of the Latin Linum (‘flax’) and oleum (‘oil’) formed the word linoleum.Read More →
Sebastian Bergne (b. 1966) – English / Italian industrial designer
2021-08-29
The phrase ‘less is more’ perfectly encapsulates the core of these works, the quality of which can only be attained by a proper understanding of form.Read More →
What was the Society of Industrial Artists in Britain?
2021-08-11
The origins of the CSD lay in the creation in 1930 of the Society of Industrial Artists (SIA) in Britain, when the public debate was concerned with the nature and definition of both the designer and the design profession. Read More →
Henry Cole (1808 – 1882) British design education leader
2021-06-03
Henry Cole was a significant force in 19th-century British design education, emphasising its importance to industry. He was also instrumental in the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the founding of the Journal of Design.Read More →
Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery (hardcover)
2021-05-31
British potters have revitalized traditional ceramic forms for nearly a century by creating or reinventing techniques, materials, and display methods. Things of Beauty Growing delves into the primary vessel typologies that have defined studio ceramics from the early twentieth century, such as bowls, vases, and chargers. Read More →
Robert Yorke Goodden (1909-2002) British architect and designer
2021-05-09
He was in private practice since 1932. Wallpapers, domestic machine-pressed glassware for Chance Bros., 1953 coronation hangings for Westminster Abbey, gold and silverwares, ceremonial metalwork, glassware for King’s College, Cambridge, 1961 metal-foil murals for the oceanliner Canberra, engraved and sandblasted glass murals for Pilkington. Read More →
Ernest Gimson (1864 – 1919) British architect and designer
2021-03-21
Ernest Grimson (1864 – 1919) was a British architect and designer. He was born in Leicester.Read More →
Edward Spenser (1872 – 1938) British metalworker, silversmith, and jeweller
2021-03-03
Edward Spenser (1872 – 1938) was a British metalworker, silversmith, and jeweller. He was professionally active in London. Spencer was a junior designer at the Artificers’ Guild. When Montague Fordham took over the Guild in 1903, Spenser became chief designer. Read More →
Trevor Dannatt obituary (The Guardian)
2021-02-21
The Royal Festival Hall, London, is an enduring legacy of the cultural optimism of the Festival of Britain, seven decades ago. In 1948, a hand-picked team of architects was brought in by London county council (LCC) to design the concert hall on the South Bank in which the festival would hold its main show.Read More →