Design
Museum
(1989)
design museum - London (UK)
Founded by Sir Terence Conran in 1989, the museum is hosted in a building which once belonged to a spice importing company in the area of the Butler's Wharf warehouse in the London's Docks by the river Thames, which the Conran Group redesigned. The foundation of the museum originates from an idea of Sir Terence Conran that was made possible by a conspicuous donation by the Conran Foundation.
The Design Museum of London has been the first museum in the world to take the initiative of exhibiting mass produced items of daily use. Together with rare objects and prototypes from prominent authors, a permanent exhibition features articles like washing-up liquid containers, wrappings, gadgets, fast food packaging, and many others with the purpose of illustrating the evolution of the articles of mass production and their social values.
The permanent collections are therefore organised in
relation to specific design themes linked to mass production.
The
exhibited material is organised in realtion to issues like production costs,
functionality, production methods, recycling, environment and others, and is incremented with drawings, notes, and explanations.
Other than permanent exhibitions and galleries the Design Museum of
London organises and hosts many temporary exhibitions, and offers the
possibility of renting in-museum space for private ones.
Among the characteristics outlining the originality of the Design Museum
of London is also the place which hosts it. Situated in the nearby of the river
Thames in the London's docks, the area of Shad Thames in the past mainly consisted
in warehouses. After a period of decaying, in the 1980 the factories moved in
other areas and the place became an eccentric area by the transformation of
the industrial buildings of 1800 in private dwellings of many different sizes.
Inside the museum also are a cafe and a shop selling design articles, theme gadgets,
and design books, some of which edited by the Design Museum.
Sir Terence Conran, among the most well known designers and project managers
in the world, is regarded as a prominent figure of the English style and good taste.
Founder of the shops chain Habitat, Terence Conran since 1960 has been promoting modern design in order to make this area of interest accessible to a vast public.
related
subjects:
British Design
links:
www.designmuseum.org
