Why has all the fun gone out of exhibition design?

Exhibition designer Mark Magidson looks at the structural flaws that have taken the creativity out of exhibition design.

Source: Julian Stallabrass

Martin Creed fills a room with balloons at Tate St Ives in 2011

Is the interpretation exhibition design industry today doing what Starbucks has done to coffee? Corporate, safe, everywhere at any high street near you and, dare I say, repetitive and bland?
I have just visited what is the antitheses of this condition, the sculpture exhibition by the (brilliant!) Martin Creed at the Hayward Gallery in London. It highlighted all the things the exhibition design industry today is NOT doing. It was funny (farting machine soundtrack), thought-provoking (full-size car with timed opening and closing of all doors and radio soundtrack), downright dangerous (humungous MOTHER neon sign revolving inches above your head), fun (a maze room full of balloons) and utterly shocking (giant video of a lady taking a dump and various people vomiting). All things VISUAL and communicated seamlessly, with hardly a word in sight.
Where today are the exhibitions that really matter and can make a difference, and that can be free to use the media of a ‘visualiser’ such as Creed? An exhibition about climate change that offers the science that is honest and populist enough to show the uncertainties and allow visitors a voice? In this centenary year an exhibition that traces the stories behind the outbreak of World War One and offers parallels and contrasts to what is happening now in the Ukraine?
I have just invested 72 of my hard earned pounds attending a conference entitled Chaos at the Museum, hoping to find some answers. US-based consultant Elaine Heumann Gurian was the keynote speaker. She not only brilliantly traced the history of our profession but alluded to where it all started going wrong.
In the halcyon days when interpretation designers were employed in museums, they were embedded within a tight group that worked on the content from the very beginning. Their visual perspective was valued and the day-to-day synergy of working with a development group allowed a project to develop seamlessly – a condition known as ‘joined-up thinking’.
Gurian rightly labelled the exhibition designers of today (myself included) as ‘mercenaries’; guns for hire who are rented on a daily bases and land into the in-house team. They are then expected, in a very short time, to all be talking (and visualising) in the same language – the Tower of Babel comes to mind. Gurian astutely observed that the ‘visualisers’ need to tell the wordsmiths what they needed in order to have a voice in the industry.
It was left unanswered that no one in any position of power is really listening to the voice of a ‘visualiser’, as almost everyone is calling themselves ‘designers’. Respect and much space is given to almost every other part of the design industry: to the professions of ‘architect’, ‘industrial designer’, ‘fashion designer’ and ‘artists’, such a Creed. ‘Interpretation designers’ now are more and more being pushed to the very end of the development process and are quickly becoming ‘decorators’ of preconceived half-transformed concepts, with very few willing to rock the boat. They take the money and run, as Gurian put it, they are ‘mercanaries’.
What can be done? Not an easy answer! At some stage the ‘mercernary’ ‘interpretation designers’ are probably going to have to emulate the ending of the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – a death-or-glory charge. It may not have a gory ending, as the sequel Blackthorn revealed Mr Cassidy alive and well.

(Mark Magidson is creative director at Exhibition Plus.Wed, 30 Apr 2014)

Textile & Wallpaper of an Historic House

So I went to Dunham Massey in Cheshire today, where there is a WW1 exhibit for 2014 showing the house as it was during the war which was used as a hospital for those injured in battle.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunham-massey/visitor-information/

Whilst there I took loads of Photos; here's some I took of patterns around the house

Wallpaper

Wallpaper

Chair Fabric

Bedding

Bedding used in WW1 for hospital beds

Clerkenwell Design Week highlights

This year’s Clerkwenwell Design Festival starts in less than a month, launching its fifth edition with a bigger line-up than ever.

Hyde Stacking Stool by Assemblyroom

The three-day event takes place in various venues across the London area, focusing on four main hubs – the Farmiloe Building, showing bigger, international brands at Design Factory, and Detail presenting high-end interiors and decoration in Priory Church at the Order of St John. Up-and-coming design talent will be on display at the Platform section in the underground Victorian prison at The House of Detention; while the new Additions strand of the fair takes place at the Crypt on the Green at St. James Church, exhibiting small design pieces and accessories.

Camira Silk

As usual, the many design showrooms in the area will be opening their doors to the public and laying on special events over the festival’s tenure.

A Rum Fellow - Tribal Chairs

Vitra on Clerkenwll Road will be using the opportunity to celebrate the 15^th birthday of Ron Arad’s Tom Vac, by commissioning more than 20 architects and designers including Morag Myerscough, Morey Smith and Jump Studios to re-style the chair. The pieces will be displayed at the showroom from 20 May.

Camberwell Collective, SACK chair frame

Product launches taking place at the festival include the new Mews  range of tiles from Domus and Italian ceramic house Mutina , designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.
Elsewhere, Germany-based furniture manufacturer Kusch+Co is unvileing its latest collections and celebrating its 75^th anniversary, while Dauphin will launch its new ‘acoustic sofa’ Cocone.

Camilla Webb Carter, Clapham Installation

Those looking for a little liquid refreshment should head to the Brewhouse Yard Davison Highley showroom, which is hosting a series of brewing-based events to celebrate its first birthday. The upholstered furniture manufacturer has also commissioned ‘Lego professional’ Bright Bricks to recreate pieces from its collection entirely from Lego.
The streets of Clerkenwell are also getting involved thanks to a series of installations, including a pavilion piece by Studio Weave entitled Smith. The work aims to  ‘pay homage to Clerkenwell’s heritage as the home to a range of smiths through history’, according to festival organisers, and will showcase ‘the creative use of tools and equipment, and how they can be applied to materials for product making’.

Studio Weave - Smith Installation

At St John’s Gate, Architects Russ + Henshaw will be creating the Tile Mile installation with Turkishceramics, based on the idea of ‘reflection’, and aiming to celebrate Clerkenwell’s built history and modern-day Turkish ceramics.

Russ + Henshaw - Tile Mile

Clerkenwell Design Week takes place from 20 – 22 May at various venues around Clerkenwell. For more information visit clerkenwelldesignweek.com

 (Mon, 28 Apr 2014 | By Emily Gosling)

Blog's New Look

So I decided I would give the blog a bit of a makeover with one of my newer designs as the background :)

Smart craft: trend analysis

By Helena Amourdedieu, WGSN-homebuildlife, 24 April 2014

For some years now, designers have turned to traditional materials and crafts to inspire and shape contemporary collections. Here we look at how removing crafts from their original context brings them to a new audience and helps rejuvenate age-old techniques.

Shortcuts

• A new generation of 'smart craft' products shows how updated traditional crafts can play a defining role in the future of design
• Time-old crafts such as weaving, knitting or glass blowing are applied to new types of product
• Techniques previously used for the creation of garments are used to make lighting, decorative accessories and furniture
• Basketry and carpentry breathe new life into industrial products and digital technology
• Crafts such as cobbling, caning or crystal cutting give objects a reassuringly authentic and bespoke aesthetic
• Used out of scale and out of context, crochet and embroidery demonstrate their versatility and contemporary appeal

Rug life

Illustrator and designer Oliver James Mayes has taken his practice from 2D to 3D in the form of a range of rugs, designed from London and created in the more exotic environs of Kashmir, India

Origin

Mayes was inspired to create the range on a recent trip to India, where he came across the unusual woollen Numduh rugs in a bazaar. Forging a relationship with a local craftswoman, he set about designing his own rugs, using the 100 per cent wool format he first saw in the markets.

Stuttering

The six rugs are to go on show this weekend in an exhibition entitled Longstop, to be held at the South Place Hotel in London, which boasts interiors by Conran + Partners.
Mayes says, ‘A lot of my paintings have been inspired but the idea of time and distance, and simplifying that down to lines and shapes’.
The pared-based designs are based around a series of vertical lines and rectangles, and have been created in two colourways – orange and black.
Mayes graduated from Central St Martins in graphic design in 2011, though describes himself as an artist – which is evident, perhaps, in the titles he’s given to each of the three patterns.
The series of four long rectangles has been dubbed Returning to Origin:

Direct

Longstop runs from 26 – 27 April at South Place Hotel, 3 South Place, London EC2M 2AF

(Thu, 24 Apr 2014 Design Week)

Handmade in Britain

Next month Chelsea Town Hall in west London will be taking a rather patriotic turn, hosting the Handmade in Britain show.

Source: Photo by Simon Bruntnell

Elliot Walker, Venus

This is the inaugural spring edition of the Contemporary Crafts and Design Fair, held during the winter at the same venue.
More than 100 designer-makers will be showing their wares at the May weekend, in disciplines including homeware, lighting, accessories , ceramics and textiles and fashion.

Adrian Bates, Mobius

All the works, as the name suggests, were created in Britain and are bought directly from the makers at the event.

Source: photo by Andy Tompkins

Jill Ford, Blue Wave Bowl

Joining the more established designers will be new millinery graduates form Kensington and Chelsea college, who are selling their creations in a dedicated gallery space.
Among the designers showing are furniture maker Tim Chadsey:

Source: Tim Chadsey

Tim Chadsey, Impala 59 Settee

Eileen Gatt’s silverware is inspired by the Scottish Highlands, stories and folklore, according to the organisers of Handmade in Britain.
We love the bold colours of Harriet Caslin’s lighting pieces:

Source: Harriet Caslin.

Harriet Caslin, Birdcage Shade

And this very good buoy sculptural piece by Clare McCormish:

Cast Stoneware - Clare McComish, Buoy without encrustations

Handmade in Britain takes place from 9 – 11 May at Chelsea Old Town Hall, King’s Road, London SW35EE. For more information visit www.handmadeinbritain.co.uk/chelsea-14

(Wed, 16 Apr 2014 | By Emily Gosling, Design Week)