V&A celebrates British design | In.Design Magazine

To coincide with the 2012 London Olympics, the Victoria and Albert Museum has unveiled an exhibition showcasing the best of British design.

Under the title of ?British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age?, it is the first comprehensive exhibition to examine the ways in which designers who were born, trained or working in the UK have produced innovative and internationally acclaimed work from post-war to the present day.

Spanning the period from the 1948 ?Austerity Olympics? to the summer of 2012, pieces range from the Morris Mini Minor of 1959 to the newly commissioned model of Zaha Hadid?s London Aquatics Centre from 2011.

It covers British fashion, furniture, fine art, graphic design, photography, ceramics, architecture and industrial products over the past 60 years. Included in the exhibition is the Lecson Audio system (pictured) created by the co-founders of Meridian Audio, a leading British manufacturer of high-end audio and visual entertainment systems. The Lecson Audio system was created in 1974, three years before Allen Boothroyd and Bob Stuart founded Meridian Audio

Allen Boothroyd, who still heads Meridian Audio with Bob Stuart, said: ?We are very proud that one of our earliest and most influential products has been selected to be part of this prestigious exhibition. For the Lecson to be shown at the V&A alongside products from other iconic British brands such as Jaguar, Alexander McQueen and Concorde is a privilege. This exhibition represents the rich heritage and the finest craftsmanship of British manufacturing for which this country has become renowned and towards which we are very honoured to have contributed since we started out 40 years ago.?

The Lecson reinvented the relationship between design and function. Before its release, hi-fi equipment was housed functionally in regular grey boxes with knobs. The Lecson did away with the monochrome, boxes and knobs. The power amp was housed not in a dull cube of metal, but in a ribbed cylinder which was not only striking to look at but designed to dissipate the necessary heat. The control unit was not simply a block of buttons but used a spectrum of coloured keyboard-like sliders making it both fantastically bold and incredibly intuitive.

The broadly chronological exhibition starts with a gallery investigating how key events such as the Festival of Britain in 1951 and the Queen?s Coronation in 1953 played an important role in promoting modernisation and preserving British traditions and heritage. The work of designers such as John Fowler, John Makepeace and Michael Casson demonstrates the revival of traditional craft techniques and shows a renewed fascination in the British landscape as a source of inspiration.

The New Towns movement is illustrated by models and architectural drawings created for towns such as Harlow and Milton Keynes. The economic recovery of the late 1950s and 1960s also generated new kinds of consumer demand, met by designers including David Hicks, Max Clendinning and David Mellor and high-street stores such as Terence Conran?s Habitat.

The second section of the exhibition is dedicated to the subversive nature of British design from the 1960s to the 1990s, featuring British artists such as Richard Slee, Zandra Rhodes and Damien Hirst. It explores the counter-cultural movements from 1960s ?Swinging London? through to the 1970s punk scene and the emergence of ?Cool Britannia? in the 1990s. British street culture has long fuelled the country?s creative spirit, with the work of fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, photographers David Bailey and Terry O?Neill, performers David Bowie and Brian Eno, graphic designers Peter Saville and Barney Bubbles, and furniture designers Tom Dixon and Mark Brazier Jones.

The final section of the exhibition explores British creativity in relation to manufacturing industries, new technologies and architecture. The strength of Britain?s advances in new technologies is illustrated by objects such as the Sinclair ZX80 home computer (1980) and Jonathan Ive?s iMac for Apple (1998). There is also an immersive computer-gaming installation at the centre of the final gallery, featuring specially designed projections of five video games developed in Britain.

The last section also examines Britain?s expertise in architecture and structural engineering and displays architectural renderings and models of the Falkirk Wheel created by RMJM (2002), Foster & Partner?s 30 St Mary Axe building (2004) and a newly commissioned model of Zaha Hadid?s London Aquatics Centre (2011), opening in the summer of 2012.

For this major exhibition the V&A has worked with leading British designers. The 3D design was created by Ben Kelly Design, exhibition graphics by London-based consultancy GTF (Graphic Thought Facility), visual identity and accompanying catalogue by Barnbrook Design and audio visual installations by Soda.

It runs at the museum in Kensington, London, until August 12, open daily from 10am to 5.45pm, and until 10pm every Friday. Tickets are ?12.

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