Visiting The Design Museum London

I went for a day out to tue design museum, at it’s “new location” in Holland Park/ High street kensington. Living in London and specifically in hackney, it’s very tempting to stay in-borough and it’s been a while since i’ve ventured east. after living in London for over 20 years and still taking the wrong tube is a good indicator that i’m out of practice when it comes to tube travel, i’m always riding my bicycle so it was a tiring day out and about in London.

I’ve never been able to get my head around the circle line and which direction to go on it. it should be called “clockwise” and “anticlockwise” rather than east and west or north and south which i think is so confusing. so after a bit of back and forth i got off at High Street Kensington and it is only about a 7 minute walk from the underground station.

Walking through the path that i believe links to Holland Park, i felt like a real tourist in London.

Look, this posh park in West London has a luxury dog toilet! Dogs, what do you think? Would this be a good idea in London Fields? I wonder if this works or not? I would feel quite exposed as a dog doing my business in this very open square of sand.

i knew the building was going to be impressive but i didn’t realised quite how nice the architecture is. London’s Design Museum has had quite a journey, from its beginnings in a converted banana warehouse in Shad Thames to its spectacular home in Kensington.

Founded by Sir Terence Conran in 1989, the museum moved to its current location in November 2016, seeking a much larger space to showcase its growing collection and exhibitions. Its new home was the former Commonwealth Institute, a striking 1960s modernist building with a dramatic, tent-like copper roof that has become an architectural landmark in its own right.

Rather than demolish this unusual structure, the museum transformed it into a contemporary cultural space, combining the original building’s bold engineering with a thoughtful redesign by architect John Pawson. Today, on Kensington High Street near Holland Park, the Design Museum is as much a celebration of architecture and design as it is a place to discover the objects, ideas and innovations that shape our everyday lives.

Firstly it was only right to start with some food, especially after a long and discombobulating tube journey from Hackney. I had a starter of beetroot with goats curd and some chicken terrine. My lunch partner had cauliflower steam with i think artichoke puree. It was all very delicious. There is also a cafe on the ground floor serving pasties and tea and coffee. The view into the park from the restaurant was particularly relaxing and a really nice atmosphere for an autumn lunch.

The museum is set around a central hall lined with balconies and an asymmetrical raw angular roof. Just standing along the balcony looking down was very impressive. It has a scandi feel to it with the softish lighting and light wood panelling. The museum is very accessible and has a very spacious feel.

The main gallery that holds the permanent exhibits is on the top floor behind the huge rotating artwork called Fables for our Time.  It is a colourful artwork at the Design Museum that uses emojis to tell stories about nature. Created by design studio Space Popular with Shumi Bose, it features bees, coral reefs and mushrooms, mixed with symbols of pollution and technology. Made up of hundreds of icons arranged on rotating prisms, it looks like a playful pixelated tapestry from a distance, but reveals a more serious message up close. Inspired by traditional fables, it highlights how connected our ecosystems are and how easily we can damage them.

Iconic design classics are are on display in the general admission area. I remember these Olivetti typewriters inspired by own little typewriter collection. Now with laptops, we've come a long way since the typewriter era. 

This gridded wall display is very nostalgic as i believe it was transplanted from the original location of the Design Museum back when it was at Shad Thames. When i first moved to London as a newly graduated designer, i was in awe of everything in the Design Museum. I fantasised about having something i designed in there - ideally an exhibit!! but i would be happy with my items in the shop. I did have my bags in the Design Museum shop back in 2013, and was so proud of how far i had come as a designer.

The more contemporary design tools like 3D printers are also there in a section dedicated to 3d printing and where technology has taken us.

But i'm still a sucker for old school tech like walkmans, discmans and a display of the evolution of the apple mac. I loved spending time looking at these familiar items in the context of a design museum. Items that we take for granted every day like kettles and televisions are actually artefacts of a bygone time, even if that time has been short, I cannot believe how technology has evolved so fast within my own adulthood. I remember when mobile phones first came out when i just finished high school, and my very own first Nokia handset from the 1990s.

There is a lot to look at and read at this exhibition, historcial artefacts mixed with modern designs make the permanent exhibition really interesting and makes you realise that great design is very timeless.

London maps and underground maps from around the world.

Some random things also like these Oyster card false nails, these were in the section all about transport and in particular the transport in London.

I was drawn to this mesmerising 3D printing sample shelf unit . It was great to touch and feel the 3d printed models, all sorts of shapes and items from functional parts to miniature models of larger pieces. For me this was really inspiring as i got so inspired by the different things you can make and do with a 3d printer, id love to get my hands on one!  It was great to get close up and personal with the materials and the wide breadth of things that you can make at home with a 3D printer.

Laika 

Laika, LLC is an American independent stop-motion animation studio specializing in feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos, and short films. The studio is best known for its stop-motion feature films Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, Missing Link, and an upcoming film Wildwood. It is owned by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and is located in Hillsboro, Oregon, part of the Portland metropolitan area. Knight's son, Travis Knight, acts as Laika's president and CEO.

Here is a good summary of Laika that is really interesting. I absolutely love this style of animation, mixing craft and hand builds with computer generated effects.