My oh my. How far we have come and what distances we have travelled since the 1950s, when a small group of 50 or so designers were collectively known as “industrial artists”. On March 31 the Victoria and Albert Museum will open a new exhibition, British Design: 1948-2012. This ground-breaking, world-class show has made me feel young again and deeply moved that I have had the privilege to spend the majority of my long working life in design. But perhaps most pleasingly of all, it has made me feel intensely optimistic about the future of this country, because it demonstrates our innovation, creativity and diversity in its full splendour.
British design and art in itself is a compelling and invigorating story, tracing our nation’s journey from grey, postwar austerity to the digital and technology-rich world we live in today. In between, we see everything from ambitious and grand architectural projects to the Arts and Crafts movement. There is the rise and rise of British fashion, bikes, cars, trains and planes, computers, textiles, furniture, film and music posters, road signs, cutlery and a perfect demonstration of our increasingly influential digital art and design industry.
The key word in this very British success story is “innovation”, because it shows how our designers and artists have responded to an ever-changing world, while maintaining the vibrancy of our national identity. Designers on this small island of ours are at the top of their game and envied and admired throughout the world.
The cast of characters involved and the breadth of work that they have designed is awe-inspiring and perfectly relevant to today’s society. Ernest Race, Robin and Lucienne Day, Eduardo Paolozzi, Elizabeth David, Mary Quant, Kenneth Grange, David Mellor, Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith, Jasper Morrison, Matthew Hilton, Peter Saville, Jonathan Ive, James Dyson and the extraordinary Tom Heatherwick, to name a few. Think how different Britain would be without their work. Think how different the world in which we live would be.
By and large we are a creative and practical nation that draws on a rich cultural history — I’ve often joked that our creativity comes from Roman times and that those genes are finally getting an outing. Britain has long been at the forefront of invention; pioneering new ideas and processes in engineering, industrial design and new technologies. The introduction of new spinning and weaving machines in the 1870s, launching ships and building bridges, the development of computer coding after the Sixties and the invention of the World Wide Web in the Eighties. Innovation, creativity and restlessness are part of our DNA.
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But I think that the seeds of the modern story of British design were sown at the Festival of Britain in 1951 — that was the beginning of the British public’s understanding that design could add to their enjoyment and quality of life. It was a magical time and very emotional, because it was the first time that people had seen colour since the war. It still makes me smile when I close my eyes and remember the sight of people turning up on the South Bank with their Mackintoshes and gas mask cases filled with sandwiches.
Why do we have so many outstanding, creative designers? The key is that we have invested more heavily in our art and design schools than any other nation since the Second World War — education has and always will be the key. An offshoot of this is that so much good pop music came out of the art schools over the years! But, among many others, the Glasgow School of Art, Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art have consistently produced students who have gone on to make a serious mark on the world.
I recently read that the UK is also a world leader in digital design education. Abertay University in Dundee is one of the world’s most important centres for training and developing computer games designers. It may not be a world that I am familiar with, but I understand its importance to the world in which we live. Once again, Britain leads the way.
So where now? I think that Britain’s real problem lies in manufacturing. The industry has been decimated and there is hardly a furniture manufacturer left in this country. Unless you are actually attached to a factory or workshop and understand how the full design process works, I don’t believe that you can design properly. But there is a noticeable change happening, and while we will never be the workshop of the world again, there is at least the opportunity to become a workshop again.
It is happening, albeit on a small scale, in the British craft industry: more and more people are providing their own backing to start and run their own businesses and are setting up artisan boutiques, pop-up shops and, increasingly, they are selling online. But there is still scope to do more.
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Some years ago the V&A held another excellent exhibition on Modernism and I thought that the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, might be interested in seeing it, partly because it was filled with amazing design and architecture, but also because it had serious social and political overtones. I went round with him and he seemed genuinely interested and excited.
So this time I extend the invitation to David Cameron. I would be delighted to show our current Prime Minister around this even more significant exhibition. I hope that it will inspire him to see that the seeds of our economic recovery can grow through our design, innovation and the creative industries, which contribute billions to the economy and the quality of our lives.
Government must encourage entrepreneurial people and set up initiatives so that they can work with designers and engineers to start up businesses and begin employing people. I also think it would be an absolute criminal waste if design and technology (DT) is taken off the national curriculum. If the Government wants to realise the ambition of “made in Britain, created in Britain, designed in Britain and invented in Britain”, then DT must remain at the heart of our education.
Unemployment, particularly among the young, is a huge waste of talent and one of the most serious challenges facing Britain today. Design won’t solve all the country’s problems, but it can have a positive influence and government must encourage entrepreneurial people to work with designers and engineers, to start up businesses and begin employing people. Look at Dyson — it employs 1,500 people in the UK and more than half of them are designers, engineers and scientists. Albeit on a humbler scale, the furniture company Benchmark, which I run with Sean Sutcliffe, employs 50 staff, largely made up of young locals on apprenticeships. Three of them have gone on to become senior managers in the company.
This exhibition is not purely a retrospective look at a dusty bygone age when Britain ruled the waves — it is about our past, but also our present and future. It is about a country that is the creative centre of the universe and an industry we can be proud of and rely upon for centuries to come.
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British Design 1948-2012 is at the V&A, London SW7 (020-7942 2211), March 31 to August 12
Eight Great British designs
1 Thinking Man’s Chair by Jasper Morrison
Thinking Man is the perfect name — it really is a dream of a chair, you could say daydream, and perfect for sitting back and relaxing in the garden on a summer’s evening. In fact, we love it so much that The Conran Shop is “re-relaunching” the Thinking Man’s Chair this spring as the must-have outdoor chair for your garden. Jasper’s approach to design is unfussy and he has impeccable taste.
2 Road signs by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert
A reminder that design really is all around us and touches our lives in ways we often take for granted. One of the most ambitious and effective information design projects ever executed in Britain is the road and motorway signage system designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert from 1957 to 1967. Their work was intellectually rigorous, yet inclusive and engaging, and has become a role model for modern road signage all over the world.
3 Cutlery by David Mellor
David’s cutlery has always seemed to me to be the perfect design of a modern British designer. Although sensibly ambitious and entrepreneurial, he rejected gimmickry in his design and presentation; you wanted his products because they were useful and beautiful, they were not bought as decorative items to make your kitchen look trendy or fashionable.
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4 Miniskirt by Mary Quant
Did anybody ever capture the entire spirit of an age as successfully as Mary did with her shop, Bazaar, and her miniskirt? I don’t think so. The miniskirt emphasised youth, play, fun and wit, as well as being comfortable and affordable. She made high fashion widely available — and introduced millions of males to the joy of a sexy pair of legs!
5 E-type Jaguar by Malcolm Sayer
The E-Type Jag is an icon of British design and engineering — quite possibly the most beautiful car ever made. At the time it was an irresistible glimpse into the future and captured the sense of expectation and ambition that flooded across Britain in the 1960s.
6 Dyson vacuum cleaner by James Dyson
James links the fields of design, engineering, science and art almost seamlessly, and his work is characterised by commitment, perfectionism, ingenuity and painstaking research. In 1978, irritated by the inefficiency of even the best vacuum cleaners, he began to engineer his thinking and became obsessed with the principle of cyclonic force. Without becoming bogged down in the technicalities, his bagless vacuum cleaner is one of the most successful products ever made and gives indisputably emphatic form to Dyson’s innovation.
7 iMac by Jonathan Ive
Apple’s products fulfil so many of the principles of good design — they are innovative, look beautiful and work well. The iMac was Jonathan’s first big breakthrough at Apple and we are very proud to claim him as one of our own as he was born and trained in the UK. Ive made computers feel exciting and colourful — even to a luddite like me!
8 London Aquatics Centre by Zaha Hadid
In many respects Zaha’s work shouldn’t appeal to me — I’m more a plain, simple and useful fellow. But I’m drawn to her buildings and find her work full of imagination and intensely sculptural. Is anything ever at a right angle? The Aquatics Centre is beautiful — I could stare at it for hours. It looks like it is from the future but feels so right for the times we live in now. Like Concorde, it makes you dream of the future and imagine the possibilities.