Cathy's Art Diary

Delightful exhibition at the Design Museum highlighting the work of Bethan Laura Wood. This exhibition is first in an annual series showcasing contemporary design practice. I loved Wood's maximalist approach and the range of projects which were featured. It also highlighted her own collections and how her work draws on these. I loved her cups and saucers treated to stain as they are used inspired by her own stained tea mug. Each one’s pattern will develop in a slightly different way. It was also good to see work she had done during her year at the museum as a designer in residence. My favourite piece was this cabinet which started with a project to design handles for furniture which she describes as "the jewellery of furniture". Closes 25 January 2025

Novel and beautiful exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery looking at flowers in art and design. The show was divided into nine clear sections covering broad themes and categories for which flowers have been used such as fashion, science and new artists. I loved the fact it started with a room on the history including a lovely Dutch still life and large reproduction of Botticelli’s “Primavera”. This really grounded the show and you could trace clear links back to these works in the contemporary art.   One section just consisted of a fabulous installation of dried flowers by Rebecca Louise Law which provided a quiet, grounding moment in a vibrant show. I liked the variety of art shown and particularly the inclusion of old and new designers from Sanderson fabrics to Vivienne Westwood. There was also a good balance of fine art and photography. Stand out pieces included this bouquet made of spoons by Ann Carrington and a pair of Converse trainers by Cristina Alcantara. There was ...

Disappointing exhibition at the Design Museum looking at 60 years of Habitat. I would have loved a lot more of this but it had a feel of being an advertising installation and was style over substance. This anniversary deserved more detail. I did like a fun display of iconic items like a chicken brick shown with modern versions designed to mark the event. There was also a sweet swing outside based on a classic chair design. Closed 11 August 2024

Dry and over intellectualised exhibition at the Design Museum on the designer Enzo Mari. I thought the show failed to give an overview of Mari’s career and ideas but instead delved straight into the detail of his process with dense labels. The show made a point that it had been curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli but I couldn’t find any information on either of them and why this was significant. There were some beautiful objects many of which I recognised as taste influencers in the 1970s and 80s but I wasn’t sure how they fitted together and some sections like a display of scythe had me very confused. Close 8 September 2024 Reviews Guardian Telegraph

Fun exhibition at the Design Museum looking at the phenomena which is Barbie. The show is everything you would want looking at the doll as a fashion icon, leader of sociological change and an innovator of manufacturing techniques. Women of different ages were going starry eyed at different eras and I was definitely in the late 1970s pack. There was a brilliant section looking in detail at the different models of doll and how the design adapted over the years which showed dolls in bright boxes. There was also a section on the Dreamhouse and other accessories. I would have liked more on the clothes you could buy as that was my favourite aspect of the doll. I was fascinated by how it was designed to promote imaginative play and that’s certainly how I used mine. Closes 23 February 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard    

Intriguing exhibition at the Design Museum on the work of Attua Aparicio who has been chosen as this year’s Ralph Saltzman prize winner. The prize goes to someone whose work points to a new direction in design and Aparicio was chosen for her creative approach to waste materials. Aparicio mainly works in ceramics but had started including borosilicate glass, which is used in industry and is not recyclable, in her work. In some cases this is applied to found ceramics or failed pieces from ceramic factories. I am a sucker for both ceramics and glass so I loved this work aesthetically as well as finding her ideas fascinating. Closes 15 April 2024  

Interesting exhibition at the Design Museum on the development of skateboarding. OK I admit this was a stretch for me but, I was there and as you know I’ll go to see anything. That said you can always learn something. The show looked at the technical developments in skateboards since the 1950s with an emphasis on how design was driven by skaters themselves. It also looked at the social changes in the sport culminating with its inclusion in the Olympics. I’ll be honest the technical side made me gloss over but it did show me that skateboards had changed more than this non-user had imagined. Have pictures of the earliest pieces in the show, basically a plank of wood with roller skate wheels, to one of the most recent marking the listing of the skating area on the South Bank which I walked past later in the day. Closes 19 May   2024    

Fascinating small exhibition at Somerset House looking at cutting edge design solutions and how they come about. Makerversity is a community of over 300 creatives based at Somerset House and this show highlights work by current and previous members. The central room included a workshop hosting four projects in rotation showing their working practice. There were some brilliant projects and I was drawn to a process inspired by a Candy Floss machine to turn waste plastic into usable fibres. It seemed a simple solution for a small manufacturer. I was also intrigued by a headband which delivered low electrical impulses to eradicate period pains and other symptoms. If the girls being interviewed on the video were anything to go by I wish this had been available to me. I wasn’t so convinced by the idea of a crop to grow fully formed hats but I’m prepared to be proved wrong. Closes 4 February 2024  

Interesting exhibition at the Design Museum by their current designers in residence. I wasn’t sure how all the work fitted the theme they had been asked to respond to of Islands but there were some interesting ideas. I liked Marianna Janowicz’s investigation into how we dry clothes now. As people no longer use laundries clothes are washed and dried at home often leading to condensation and damp issues. It was interesting to think about how we think we’ve improved things but may in fact have created other problems. My favourite idea was the creation of pigeon lofts to hang along railway lines in London by James Perlow Powell. The pigeon poo or guano would be collected for fertiliser. Closes 24 September 2023  

Calming yet thought-provoking exhibition at the Design Museum of Design by Ai Weiwei which focuses on his work looking at design and what it reveals about our changing values. The whole gallery space was opened up and was dominated by five ‘fields’ of repetitive objects laid out on the floor from Stone Age tools at one end to Lego at the other. I love this sort of approach and found them very beautiful particularly the field of teapot spouts but as you read more you found out they were deeper than at first view. For example the Lego had been sent to him by members of the public when the company stopped supplying him after he used it for portraits of political prisoners. Around the walls were then pieces either made from ordinary objects or imitating them. One wall had two snakes, one made of children’s rucksacks to reference the children killed in the Sichuan earthquake and the other of life vests too represent the European migrant crisis. There were also pieces like three coat ha...

Eclectic exhibition at Somerset House for this bienniale design show. The theme of the show was international collaboration and all the projects, presented by countries, organisations and universities, highlighted global issues or work with other organisations around the world.   Other themes which seemed to grow out of the exhibits were response to crisis, aging and weaving as a metaphor. I very quickly became annoyed by the convoluted commentaries on some of the exhibits, many of which were verging on incomprehensible. An example would be "living collective of initiatives". I understand that some may have originally by people for whom English isn’t the first language but could someone please read them for sense plus cut out the academic, philosophical twaddle. Just tell me the problem you are addressing and its solution in simple language. That said there were some fascinating displays. I loved these sheep stools from the Japanese room on rural life. Also a chair des...

Small display at the Design Museum celebrating this year’s winner of this design award, Marco Capardo. The prize is awarded to an emerging product designer whose work points to a new direction for design and Capardo's work was chosen because of his diverse and creative approaches to materials and making   imaginative use of waste materials. The display highlighted a selection of Capardo’s projects. I loved his reversible temporary furniture is made from powdered sugar and expanded clay. The objects can be completely dissolved with water into their original components when the pieces are no longer needed. My favourite was this chair using linear pieces of wood which fit together in a modular system. Closes 3 April 2023  

Interesting exhibition at the Design Museum organised by the Royal College of Art Design Age Institute looking at initiatives which might help us live, work and socialise into our 70s, 80s and 90s. The show presents 10 projects with a small display on each. There was a mix of the inspiring which I’d like now and the weird. A couple were poorly explained and I’m not sure what the inclusively designed bank was offering that was any different. Of the inspiring I liked this work Station designed to be put in retirement homes which would actually be good in any flat. I loved the smart inner soles which connected to an app and analysed your gait to help with balance. Can I have them now? The best thing in the show was a link to sign a petition being run by the Institute calling on government to introduce a minimum design standard for packaging as in a survey people identified consumer packaging as the most frustrating household item in need of redesign. I don’t think that’s older age ...

Vibrant exhibition at the Design Museum looking at the Design practice of Yinka Ilori. Ilori draws on his Nigerian heritage and the community around him in North London for his influences with an underlying aim of bringing joy and happiness through his work. The show examines his collaborative practice and how his studio works with a section on his influences from music to African cloth. It then looked at some of the projects they have worked on starting with his love of chairs and how he feels they tell stories. He set up workshops where people who attended each restored an old chair. As part of this show he has also helped the museum choose new items for the collection including a chair. I particularly like the section on his work in public spaces using bright, district colours for projects ranging from a bridge to a playground and taking in billboards during Covid. Closes 25 June 2023 Review Guardian    

Fantastical exhibition at the Design Museum looking at Surrealism in design. Beautifully designed with velvet covered pillars and deliberately peeling labels, the show struck a good balance between explaining surrealist ideas and showing off wonderful objects. I liked the way it blended paintings, where a lot of the ideas had originated, with furniture and clothes. It also subtly gave a sense of interiors. I began by making notes but then just got blown away by pieces I wanted. Can I have a life-sized horse with a lamp on its head please? Also a handbag glove combo? Oh and a glass table top on bicycle wheels plus a typewriter dress? Closes 19 February 2023 Reviews Guardian Telegraph  

Lovely display at the Sam Wannamaker Theatre at the Globe of work by Rutgers BFA theatre designers from New Jersey, USA, who are currently in residence there. Costume design and costume technician students had to design and create a cocktail hat that embodies a Shakespearean character which would work under candlelight. I loved these two for Olivia and Titania. My favourites though were by scenic and lighting design students who were tasked to create an object that with the addition of a single light source there a Shakespeare related shadows. These were small open boxes, each beautiful in their own right, which, when you pressed a switch, produced a shadow on the back which seemed was stunning created from the seat in front. I loved this one for Julius Caesar created from sheets of the US constitution. No end date given

Strangely compelling exhibition at the Design Museum on design in football. I’m not a football fan but as the commentary says the game does shape how many people organise their time, dress and relate to communities. The opening section became a history of the game via developments in design of basic events like balls and boots. There were some significant objects to demonstrate this eg two balls from the first FIFA world cup final where each team provided a ball for half the game to ensure fairness before balls were standardised. It also looked at developments in player health and different game formations. This was followed by a section on Identity looking at how kits developed and the fan culture which included a colourful display of kits and a fan made Hillsbough banner.   Next came stadiums and crowd behaviour looking at things like how chants make a crowd breath and move together. Sadly it also had to look at disasters. It moved on to spectacles including the developm...

Interesting exhibition at the Design Museum focusing on six deign initiative for older people. By 2040 over a quarter of the UK population will be over 60 and this show looks at how design is reimagining products, services and environments. The Design Age Institute set up in 2020 bringing together 5 organisations and research facilities to work on this. There were some good ideas but other things feel more like what young people think older people want. I admit I have just had a significant birthday so am a bit oversensitive about age at the moment! I liked an upright mobility scooter like a chair which was narrow enough to go through doors and fits under tables and desks. It would not just good for old people. My favourite was Gita, a cargo carrying robot which adapts to a person’s walking pace and manoeuvre round objects. I want one now for shopping etc. Basically a shopping trolley you don’t have to pull! I did worry about the idea they were encouraging people to talk to ...

Interesting exhibition at the Design Museum looking at what design can do to reduce waste in what we produce and consume. You enter the show through some shocking statistics some too huge to take in, such as the world produces 2bn tonnes of rubbish a year, seven times the weight of the world’s population, and others more personal such as a T shirt is worn an average of seven times in its life. There were some good installations/art works to bring these figures to life such as a large handing made of plastic bottle tops which was just one winter’s worth from the beaches of Cornwall. There was a fascinating section on how we got to this place with a timeline on the invention of plastics and the introduction of convenience goods. I could see how, unwittingly, we were all involved in this. It looked at how we planned obsolescence into the life spam of a product to boost the economy after the Depression and the Second World War. The show became more positive when it began to look at ...

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum for this triennial award for contemporary art inspired by the Islamic tradition. I have been to previous shows for this prize and they always throw up new ideas. This time the show included the work of eight artists and designers. The winner, Ajlan Gharem, had a mosque made to chicken wire, the material used for border fences and refugee detention centres. so that the interior was visible. There was a section of it in the show and a video of it in use in a desert. The idea was to demystify Islamic prayer for non-Muslims. Fashion designer, Kollol Datta, draws on the traditional clothing from around the world to make connections between communities and looks at how dress has been used to control women. Also on the theme of clothing, Bushra Waqas Khan, makes miniature dresses, like the one shown here, made of affidavit paper used for official document which often carry national motifs. The nod to Victorian fashion hints at co...