The Design Museum indulges in its past before looking towards its future...
The riverside location in which the Design Museum now stands was once better known for housing imported exotic fruit than for its collection of contemporary design and architecture. It wasn’t ‘till the late 80s when the Conran Group gave a disused banana warehouse a modernist makeover that the Design Museum took its current shape and became the household name that it is today.
Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things is a new permanent exhibition that showcases the exclusive assortment of objects that the museum has amassed between the year since it first set up shop by the Thames.
As much as Extraordinary Stories is a retrospective look at the weird, wonderful and often inspiring world of design, it is also a milestone in the design museum’s 24 year history and a nod towards its plans for the future. In 2015 the Conran Group will move the Design Museum to a new £80m South Ken location, it will be three times the size with a floor dedicated entirely to 20th century design and this collection represents a preview of what is to come in the expanded new locale.
Walking in to the exhibition room is not entirely unlike stepping into a rather resplendent second hand shop: items of clothing, architecture and technology spanning the length and breadth of 20th century design are all displayed in an installation of wooden shelves and cubbyholes that cover the walls and
There are literally hundreds of items on display here and it’s great to see so many interesting pieces of design in the same room, especially the older pieces of technology and household items that offer insights into the origins of many of today’s household names.
More than just a stockpile of design ephemera, the exhibition is kept grounded by its use of 6 key stories and themes that link its contents together, providing a historical background and social context.
Of the 6 key areas, the one’s grab my attention are the section dedicated to the prominence of plastic in contemporary design that’s a lot more interesting than it sounds and boasts a dress made out of recycled plastic bottles. Another is the area of the room places emphasis on British design in particular and showcases definitive design landmarks from the post box right through to the logo for last year’s Olympics. After that I move on to the portion devoted to Modernism and find myself particularly taken aback by all that’s on display.
As enlightening as all this is, by my third or fourth circuit round the room I am left a bit wanting. Outside of an activity area in the centre of the room, there isn’t much to do once you’re done taking in the sights. It’s hard to make my mind up as to whether the activity centre, a long desk stocked with pencils and grid paper, is dull or just completely childish – but I pull a up a pew and try my hand at crafting my own type face anyway.
Overall, this really is quite an enlightening exhibition, but despite all there is to see it does feel a bit lacking. I’ve never really been sure how long you’re supposed to spend in a gallery, but after about an hour of looking around and 15 or so minutes at the activity centre I definitely feel like I’ve gotten to most out of this exhibition. I’m sure that when the Design Museum eventually trades in the old banana warehouse for its new upmarket locale, this collection will be a perfect primer for the great works of design that will no doubt adorn the rest of expanded walls. However, as an exhibition in and of itself it feels more like a warm-up show than the main attraction.
Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things opened on the 1st on February and will remain open indefinitely.
For more arts news and reviews, head to the Spoonfed Arts Team critic page.
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