Subterms
Spooky puppets, original costumes and childhood drawings feature in The World of Tim Burton, an exhibition at London’s Design Museum charting 50 years of the American filmmaker’s work. More
The Barbie dolls and Dreamhouses featured in Barbie: The Exhibition at London’s Design Museum reflect shifts in visual culture over the famed toy’s 65 years.
With over 250 objects on display, Barbie: The Exhibition opens today and examines the history of the doll since it was created by Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler in 1959.
Barbie: The Exhibition opens today at London’s Design MuseumAccording to curator Thom, the exhibition was conceived to unpack the toy’s design influence over the last 65 years and explore the “myriad technical, aesthetic and cultural decisions that go into creating Barbie”.
“What I would really like visitors to take away from the show, whether they’ve come as Barbie fans or Barbie skeptics but with an interest in design, is that there is actually a very complex and intentional set of design processes that go into creating the dolls and the accessories,” said the curator.
A first-edition Barbie is included in the collection”And that intentionality does reflect the social context in which any given Barbie is being produced,” she told Dezeen at the Design Museum.
“I want people to realise that Barbie is a worthy proposition from a design point of view,” she added.
The show features dolls throughout Barbie’s 65-year historyCreated by architecture firm Sam Jacob Studio, the exhibition design includes iridescent colourful plinths and cylindrical toy packaging-style cases displaying past and present-day Barbies and their accompanying Dreamhouses and accessories.
Among the collection is a first-edition, hand-painted doll from 1959, positioned next to archival footage of the earliest Barbies being manufactured in Japan. The exhibition also features Christie, the first Black Barbie designed in 1968, and the first Hispanic and Asian Barbie dolls created by Mattel.
An entire section is dedicated to the evolution of Barbie’s hairThere is a specific section dedicated to the evolution of Barbie’s now 76 hairstyles available in 94 colours, crowned by a bespoke chandelier made of dolls’ hair.
“In the 90s, I found that a lot of the Black Barbies had straightened hair,” said Thom. “Today, Barbies come with different hair textures.”
“Obviously, hair play is fun. Children like to brush Barbie’s hair. But there’s more to it than that. How Barbie’s hair is represented is a way in which the importance of her is conveyed to children,” she added.
The show highlights past and present furniture trendsBarbie dolls from the 2016 Fashionista line are also on display, which were created to include more body types and skin types. Launched last year, the first Barbie doll with Down’s syndrome also features in the show.
“I think since the Fashionista line redesign, there has been a much more concerted effort to provide as many different visual frames of reference as possible in the doll line so that in theory, every kid can see something of themselves,” said Thom.
“I’ve found that more recently, there’s that level of attention to cultural details,” added the curator.
Sam Jacob Studio created the exhibition designElsewhere in the exhibition, a selection of Dreamhouses chart how architecture and furniture trends have influenced the Barbie universe.
Designed in 1962, the first Barbie Dreamhouse is on display. Created entirely out of cardboard, the single-storey home features mid-century modern furniture similar to the designs of Florence Knoll, the late pioneer of the modern open-plan office.
The first Barbie Dreamhouse didn’t have a kitchenWith the absence of a kitchen, the first Dreamhouse positioned Barbie as an “independent woman”, argued Thom, created at a time when it was “virtually impossible” for an American woman to gain a mortgage without a male guarantor.
Visitors can also find the yellow-hued A-frame Dreamhouse from 1978, complete with a pitched roof and angular windows, which recalls the early work of California-based architect Frank Gehry.
“It was a little avant-garde for its time,” reflected Thom. “The house doesn’t look very Barbie by our contemporary understanding of Barbie – no pink whatsoever – but these moments in Barbie’s design history reflect what was going on in the world of design,” explained the curator.
Later Dreamhomes reflect more decorative architecture trendsLater architecture trends also feature in the show, with a Dreamhouse from 1995 revealing a return to more traditional American 19th-century motifs including corner turrets and decorative mouldings, with all-pink, “chintzy” sofas placed in the interior.
“It’s this kind of colonial-style architecture with sash windows, a portico and vines climbing up the side,” explained Thom.
Kartell recreates pink Philippe Starck-designed chairs to seat both humans and Barbies
Shifts in fashion over the years are also acknowledged in the show, with various displays documenting Barbie’s many looks. There is a doll with a cropped hairstyle wearing a tiny version of a dress from the late designer Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 Mondrian Collection, while a host of more “everyday” Barbie garments were arranged within a bright pink cabinet.
Although Thom explained that the exhibition has been in the works for a few years, as opposed to a response to last year’s high-grossing Barbie film directed by Greta Gerwig, the show features a pair of fluffy pink mules and the multicoloured roller-skating look worn by actor Margot Robbie in the movie.
“We had a fascinating, kind of informal chat with the set designers about their process,” said the curator.
Select pieces from last year’s Barbie film were also includedShe also explained why the museum sought the exhibition design of Sam Jacob Studio.
“We wanted to work with Sam because we felt that his aesthetic, which is obviously very pop-inspired, very playful and colourful, would be a great fit for how Barbie has been presented over the years.”
“Almost all the objects in the show are tiny,” added Thom. “So we wanted to design something that gave her a sense of presence, and almost in some cases monumentality.”
“We needed to come up with a design that worked with that, but also augmented it,” she explained.
The show aims to present “Barbie as a reflection of culture””The idea that Barbie is a reflection of culture I find interesting,” considered Thom, who noted the inclusion of various dolls in the exhibition designed with specific “careers” – Barbie has had over 250 of them in her history.
“Because it does suggest that her meaning, or meanings, are in the eye of the beholder – the eye of the consumer. And I think that’s one of the reasons for her longevity,” continued the curator.
“I think there can be a tendency to write things off that might be feminine-coded or child-orientated, as being somewhat lesser when it comes to design,” she added.
“Barbies are toys – they are mass-produced. They are designed first and foremost to be played with. But that doesn’t negate the possibility that they are important objects.”
The photography is by Jo Underhill.
Barbie: The Exhibition is on display at the Design Museum from 5 July 2024 to 23 February 2025. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Read more: More
The first sari to be worn at the Met Gala and sequins made from discarded X-ray film sourced from hospitals feature in the Offbeat Sari exhibition, which showcases around 60 contemporary saris at London’s Design Museum.
The Offbeat Sari is the first UK exhibition to explore the contemporary sari, according to the Design Museum. The show opens today in a cavernous space within the museum’s subterranean gallery, illuminated by thin neon pendant lights.
Hailing from India and wider South Asia, a sari is traditionally thought of as an unstitched drape wrapped around the body from shoulder to waist.
The Offbeat Sari opens today at London’s Design MuseumIn recent years, designers have been reinventing the 5,000-year-old garment to serve young people’s growing interest in the sari, which has led to its revival, according to Design Museum head of curatorial Priya Khanchandani.
“Women in cities who previously associated the sari with dressing up are transforming it into fresh, radical, everyday clothing that empowers them to express who they are, while designers are experimenting with its materiality by drawing on unbounded creativity,” said the curator.
The first sari worn to the Met Gala features in the exhibitionSplit into various themes such as identity and resistance, the exhibition presents around 60 contemporary saris created by a range of established and emerging designers.
Among the garments is the first sari to be worn at New York’s Met Gala in response to the annual ball’s 2022 theme, Gilded Glamour.
Embellished with semi-precious stones, the tulle Sabyasachi-designed sari worn by Natasha Poonawalla features a statement train and was paired with a gold Schiaparelli bodice with protruding, orbit-shaped elements.
Fashion brand Abraham & Thakore created sequins from recycled X-ray filmAnother navy blue sari by Abraham & Thakore is characterised by delicate sequins that were made using discarded X-ray film salvaged from hospitals – a design that aims to address the issue of sustainability within the fashion industry.
Also on display is a purple georgette silk sari embroidered with shimmering acrylics, sequins and crystals. Founder of the #DeGenderFashion movement, author and comedian Alok previously wore the garment to highlight their belief that saris can be worn by anyone, regardless of gender identity.
Photographs showing different ways of wearing saris are pasted across a blue wallContrasting textiles such as distressed denim and woven stainless steel make up other saris in the exhibition, highlighting the garment’s versatile evolution.
Within the show’s “movement” section are a number of saris worn by young people while engaging in sports. These include a garment adorned with cherry blossom motifs that was donned during a cricket match as well as a polyester chiffon sari, which is among the outfits worn by a group of women who have begun to skateboard in saris – a growing trend, according to the museum.
Sari wearers are increasingly wearing the garments to engage in sports, especially skateboardingThere is also an area dedicated to the craftsmanship involved in sari-making that explores how its history has transformed over the 21st century.
“The sari is experiencing what is conceivably its most rapid reinvention in its history. It makes the sari movement one of today’s most important global fashion stories, yet little is known of its true nature beyond South Asia,” explained Khanchandani.
“Genuine inclusivity in design is not a fantasy and need not be tokenistic”
“For me and for so many others, the sari is of personal and cultural significance,” reflected the curator.
“But it is also a rich, dynamic canvas for innovation, encapsulating the vitality and eclecticism of Indian culture.”
There is also an area dedicated to materials and craftsmanshipChinese artist Ai Weiwei’s first design-focussed exhibition is another show that is currently on display at the Design Museum until late July. In other recent fashion news, designer Rick Owens has released a collection of wearable helmets that double as fluorescent floor lamps.
The photography is by Andy Stagg.
The Offbeat Sari is on display at London’s Design Museum from 19 May to 17 September 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Project credits:
Curator: Priya KhanchandaniAssociate curator: Rashmi Varma3D design: Studio Mutt2D design: Stuthi Ramesh
Read more: More
Hundreds of thousands of cannonballs, donated Lego bricks and a marble toilet roll feature in Making Sense, the first design-focussed exhibition by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at London’s Design Museum.
Showing a range of new and historical works spread across a single gallery, Ai Weiwei: Making Sense opens at the Design Museum this Friday and marks the artist’s first design-focussed exhibition to date.
Still Life is an installation of thousands of found objects from the Stone Age”I had to do something after the pandemic to celebrate how life goes on,” explained Ai, who is globally recognised for using art as a tool for activism.
Central to the space is five “field works” made from rectilinear arrangements of found objects that the artist has been collecting since the 1990s.
Ai Weiwei also created a “field work” from porcelain cannonballsStill Life is a group of several thousand Stone Age axe heads, knives, spinning wheels and chisels sourced from flea markets and laid side-by-side. The installation intends to humble visitors and serve as a reminder that design was originally based on survival.
Another untitled work created last year brings together over 200,000 Xing ware porcelain cannonballs made during China’s Song dynasty – seemingly delicate objects that were once war weapons.
Left Right Studio Material collects Ai’s sculptures that were destroyed by the Chinese government”It’s a matter of intelligence,” Ai told Dezeen, discussing his long history of collecting artefacts.
“It is to keep the memory and to try and build yourself with what has happened to other human beings in very dramatically different times through history.”
Other pieces feature thousands of Lego bricksSpouts is an installation of thousands of ancient porcelain teapot spouts, while Left Right Studio Material collects fragments of Ai’s sculptures that were destroyed by the Chinese state when it demolished the artist’s Beijing studio without warning in 2018.
“The remains are a form of evidence of the repression that Ai has suffered at the hands of the Chinese government, as well as a testament to his ability to turn destruction into art,” said the Design Museum.
Among the found objects is a Han dynasty urn painted with a Coca Cola logoThe fifth “field work” features piles of Lego bricks that were donated by members of the public after the toy manufacturer stopped supplying bricks to Ai because he used the toys to create portraits of political prisoners.
Called Lego Incident, the work is presented alongside a vast recreation of French impressionist Claude Monet’s famed Water Lillies series that is also made entirely out of Lego, as well as a dramatic wooden sculpture made of columns sourced from a Qing dynasty temple and tables from the same period.
In 2020, the artist created a toilet roll from marble in response to the pandemicAmong the other pieces in the exhibition, the artist presented a pair of large sculptures made from life jackets and children’s school bags respectively.
The objects were arranged in two snake-shaped formations dedicated to the victims of China’s 2009 Sichuan earthquake and the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe.
Also on display are two life-size toilet rolls made from marble and glass, which were designed in 2020 in response to our dependency on everyday objects at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Photography also features in the exhibition, including the artist’s Study of Perspective series”They work as one,” said Ai, who said he does not have a favourite piece in the exhibition – rather, he feels the projects complement each other.
“All my works work as one – the bad ones, the so-called ‘good’ ones, the random ones or the ones being neglected.”
“It’s just like, can you choose one part of your body as the most important one?”
Chinese government sees architectural discussion as “dangerous” threat, says Ai Weiwei
Various photography was also shown, including colourful new editions of the artist’s Study of Perspective series – images of the artist pointing his middle finger at recognisable landmarks including Berlin’s Reichstag building and New York’s Trump Tower.
Prints displaying the National Stadium, widely known as the Bird’s Nest, being constructed prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics were also mounted to the wall.
While the artist helped to conceive the stadium in collaboration with architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron, he later distanced himself from the project in protest against the Chinese government.
One image shows Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium in construction”I never really have a particular hope,” said Ai. “I just focus on my own practice,” he said discussing how he would like audiences to engage with the exhibition.
“I think it’s a good idea to present to others as people may share the same kind of emotions or concepts [to you]. But I have no idea – I just don’t know.”
Other recent projects contained in Ai’s extensive portfolio of political work include a cage-like structure in Stockholm and a Quebec City installation made of a wall of life jackets that were used by Syrian refugees while attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea.
The images are courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio.
Ai Weiwei: Making Sense is on display at London’s Design Museum from 7 April to 30 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Read more: More
Curator Kathryn Johnson explains the story behind surrealism and its impact on design in this video Dezeen produced for the Design Museum about its latest exhibition.
Titled Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 – Today, the exhibition features almost 350 surrealist objects spanning fashion, furniture and film.
The exhibition, which was curated by Johnson, explores the conception of the surrealist movement in the 1920s and the impact it has had on the design world ever since.
The exhibition features nearly 350 pieces of art, design, photography, fashion and filmIt features some of the most recognised surrealist paintings and sculptures, including pieces by Salvador Dalí, Man Ray and Leonora Carrington, as well as work from contemporary artists and designers such as Dior and Björk.
“Surrealism was born out of the horrors of the first world war, in a period of conflict and uncertainty, and it was a creative response to that chaos,” Johnson said in the video.
“It saw in the fracturing of the world an opportunity to shake things up, to do things differently, to think differently, and to acknowledge the subconscious and its importance for our everyday lives.”
The exhibition explores the beginnings of the surrealist movement in the 1920sThe exhibition explores surrealism’s impact on contemporary design, with nearly a third of the objects on show dating from the past 50 years.
“We want to start a conversation about what surrealism is and why it matters now,” Johnson said.
The name of the exhibition references the importance of the concept of desire within the movement. In the video, Johnson explained that the surrealist movement began with poetry, with French poet and author André Breton penning the first surrealist manifesto.
Breton described desire as “being the sole motivating force in the world” and “the only master humans should recognise.”
The exhibition’s name refers to the importance of the concept of desire within the movementThe exhibition is segmented into four themes. It begins with an introduction to surrealism from the 1920s and explores the influence of the movement on everyday objects, as well as its pivotal role in the evolution of design throughout the twentieth century.
Another part of the exhibition explores surrealism and interior design, since early protagonists of the movement were interested in capturing the aura or mystery of everyday household objects.
Objects on display include Marcel Duchamp’s Porte-Bouteilles, a sculpture made from bottle racks, and Man Ray’s Cadeau/Audace, a traditional flat iron with a single row of 14 nails.
Early surrealists were interested in capturing the mystery of ordinary household objectsThe exhibition moves along to the 1940s, where designers started using surrealist art for ideas to create surprising and humorous objects. Items borne from this include Sella by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni and Jasper Morrison’s Handlebar Table.
A key section of the exhibition includes a spotlight on surrealism’s significance in the UK, documenting the partnership between Salvador Dalí and the British poet and art patron Edward James, whose collaboration resulted in some of the most notable works of surrealism such as the Mae West Lips sofas and the Lobster Telephone.
The exhibition features a number of pieces by Dalí including the Lobster TelephoneAnother section of the exhibition examines surrealism and the body in relation to the human form, sexuality and desire.
Included in this section are Sarah Lucas’ Cigarette Tits, in which the language of tabloids is used to expose stereotypes of female sexuality, and Najla el Zein’s Hay, which highlights the sensory pleasures provided by everyday materials.
Photographs, vintage magazine covers and fashion items are on display to show the impact of surrealism on the fashion industry starting from the 1930s.
The exhibition features fashion and objects exploring the human form, sexuality and desireAccording to Johnson, “surrealism attracted more women than any other movement since romanticism.” As a result, she wanted to ensure there was a wide representation of female artists and designers in the exhibition.
“I think that was partly because of concerns about the body, about sexuality, and how the domestic were key themes of surrealism from the beginning,” she said.
“But those themes were approached in a very original and critical way by the women associated with the movement – some of whom would not have considered themselves surrealists but were in dialogue with those ideas.”
Surrealism attracted more women than any other movement since romanticism, according to JohnsonThe final section of the exhibition looks at the surrealist preoccupation with challenging the creative process itself and how this resulted in original works of art and design.
According to Johnson, contemporary designers are still using ideas from early surrealism, such as welcoming chance into the creative process, or using techniques like automatism.
“The surrealists try to write and draw without thinking, and we see in the exhibitions and studies where they are drawing in an automatic way. But now, of course, contemporary designers have other tools to use to try and bypass the known and the conventional,” Johnson said.
The exhibition is on show at the Design Museum until 19 February 2023An example of this in the exhibition is Sketch Chair by design studio Front, which was produced using motion capture technology to translate the movement of drawing in mid-air into a 3D-printed form.
“The surrealists knew that changing the mind would change the material world and we’re now at this frightening but thrilling juncture where we’re creating a computerised intelligence that can be creative,” Johnson said.
Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 – Today opened at the Design Museum on 14 October 2022 and is on show until 19 February 2o23.
Tickets are available at designmuseum.org/surrealism.
Partnership content
This video was produced by Dezeen for Design Museum as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen’s partnership content here.
Read more: More
Brightly coloured chairs and personal memorabilia feature in the Parables for Happiness exhibition showcasing the works of London-based designer Yinka Ilori at the Design Museum.
Opened during London Design Festival, the exhibition is the first major display of Ilori’s vast number of vibrant designs, including graphic murals, furniture and public installations.
Parables of Happiness showcases a wide selection of Ilori’s designsIlori’s designs are exhibited alongside pieces that influenced his work and objects representing his Nigerian heritage, including Nigerian textiles adorned with colourful geometric patterns and a traditional Dùndún drum that visitors can play.
The show also includes models of some of the 80 sculptural chairs that Ilori has designed.
Ilori started his career designing chairsOne of Ilori’s chair designs is presented in a line-up of iconic and recognisable chairs with the aim of giving context to his work. Included in the display is the RCP2 chair by Jane Atfield, who was Ilori’s tutor at university.
“One of the reasons I started designing was because of a brief given by Jane Atfield called Our Chair,” Ilori told Dezeen. “Purely because of her brief is why I started designing chairs when I finished uni.”
A chair designed by David Adjaye is exhibited alongside Ilori’s workAnother chair on display is the Washington Skeleton Side Chair designed by British-Ghanian architect David Adjaye, who Ilori credits with having “opened doors for designers like me”.
“Over the years, my work has gained recognition for the strong use of colour, pattern and narrative that comes from my Nigerian heritage,” said Ilori. “However, it has often deviated from design trends and has been misunderstood”
“This display charts my inspirations and creative journey as I transitioned from furniture design to community-driven public installations,” he continued.
His work is influenced by Nigerian textilesVisitors to the exhibition can discover Ilori’s architectural projects through photographs, drawings and models including his Colour Palace pavilion, which was erected in Dulwich in 2019.
Details of Ilori’s Launderette of Dreams – an installation that involved reimagining a launderette in London as a children’s play zone for Lego – are displayed. A lego chair that formed part of the Launderette of Dreams installation is also on display at the show.
Yinka Ilori builds colourful Lego launderette in east London for kids to play in
“A fast-rising star of contemporary design, Yinka Ilori’s unique aesthetic – drawing on Nigerian textiles with a nod to postmodernism – employs a mix of visual references that come together to inspire joy,” said the exhibition’s curator Priya Khanchandani.
“This display is a testament to how cultural fusions, frissons and juxtapositions can be rich fuel for creativity and for generating more inclusive architectures in the city.”
Chairs and details of the designer’s public installations are included in the exhibitionAs well as showcasing Ilori’s bright, playful designs and examples of his design influences, the exhibition features some of the designer’s personal items.
Visitors can see his name badge from working at Marks and Spencer and a pair of paint-splattered trousers that Ilori wore while painting a number of his graphic murals.
Ilori is known for his use of colour and graphic representation”I’m a huge believer in memory making and storytelling – how do we relive or revisit memories?” said Ilori.
In Parables of Happiness, Ilori hopes to “open up new conversations about design in the UK and internationally, to see how other people view design around the world”.
“I am truly humbled and honoured to have my work exhibited at such an early stage in my career and hope the display provides inspiration for the next generation who might feel they don’t fit into the status quo,” the designer continued.
Known for his colourful designs, Ilori has recently completed a pavilion in Berlin with a canopy made up of brightly coloured translucent disks and transformed his London studio and office with bold hues indicative of his signature art style.
The photography is by Felix Speller.
Parables for Happiness takes place from 15 September 2022 to 25 June 2023 at the Design Museum in London. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Read more: More
An exhibition highlighting London-based designer Bethany Williams’ waste-combating, social-driven vision for the fashion industry has opened at the Design Museum.
Exhibited in the atrium of London’s Design Museum, Bethany Williams: Alternative Systems is a celebration of Williams’ work which explores and responds to social issues through the use of community-led enrichment initiatives.
Bethany Williams: Alternative Systems is a free display in the atrium of the Design MuseumA number of key works by the designer were exhibited across the four walls of the atrium’s balcony gallery, which is free to entry.
Mannequins are displayed among textiles samples, photography and raw waste materials in efforts to highlight the studio’s commitment to sustainable fashion.
The display was chosen to be shown in a free entry space in the museum”I decided to organise the display thematically rather than by collection,” said Design Museum’s head of curatorial and interpretation Priya Khanchandani.
“It opens with a section about the studio specifically and then there’s a part about creative process, intellectual references and the way in which they propose alternative infrastructures of working, followed by a section about reuse and another about community collaborations,” she told Dezeen.
“Bethany’s work not only tackles the question of the environmental impact of design, but it also has an amazing social purpose.”
The exhibition design was completed by EditWilliams is a fashion designer, humanitarian and artist. She graduated from Brighton University with a degree in Critical Fine Art before receiving a master’s from the London College of Fashion in Menswear.
She launched her namesake brand in 2017 and has strived to spotlight and respond to social and environmental issues, her works see her partnering with local grassroots programs and manufacturing collections using waste materials.
Garments are exhibited alongside research, drawings and materialsA section of the display exhibits Willliams’ work as part of the Emergency Designer Network. The initiative is a collaboration between herself and designers Phoebe English, Cozette McCreery and Holly Fulton.
The group of creatives, with their textile manufacturing knowledge and teams of volunteers, produced 12,000 scrubs, 100,000 masks and 4,000 gowns for frontline healthcare workers during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Waste crisis a “design-made mess” says Design Museum show curator
Waste from packaging tape sourced from Rimini, Italy was handwoven and constructed into functional items and garments as part of Williams’s Autumn Winter 2018 collection, which was on display.
“I felt it was very important to show not just the finished garments, which you would see in a retail fashion context; being a museum display I wanted to add other layers of information,” explained Khanchandani.
Williams’ work merges streetwear and craft”There are process materials like drawings and sketches, and also source material,” said Khanchandani. “For instance, a jacket made of waste newspaper is shown alongside some of the waste material, the Liverpool Echo, which is dangling next to the garment.”
“You’re able to see the journey of the objects from inception, to finished product.”
Williams has collaborated with San Patrignano, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmeEach season, the fashion studio collaborates with different local charities and grassroots programs and donates a percentage of its profits to its causes.
“With our work, we hope to continue to reach new audiences, encourage inclusivity and positive change for the fashion industry,” said Williams. “The Design Museum continues to be aligned with this via the exhibitions curated, including their Waste Age exhibition, which we featured in last year.”
“We are so proud to showcase our new exhibition: Bethany Williams: Alternative Systems, a celebration of the new way of working proposed for the fashion industry by the studio’s work.”
Dresses and corsetry feature boning constructed from waste materialsThe opening of Bethany Williams: Alternative Systems was timed to coincide with Williams’ Autumn Winter 2022 collection, titled The Hands that Heal Us, which was presented at the museum.
The collection included a cactus leather jacket, and garments made from recycled and organic-based denim with detachable metal hardware that aid the recycling process at the end of its life.
A skeleton suit was informed by a 19th-century children’s playsuitIn 2016, Williams graduated from London College of Fashion and showed her MA graduate collection in the university’s show as part of London Fashion Week.
Last year’s Waste Age exhibition at the Design Museum, which featured Williams’ work, explored how design has contributed to the increasing throwaway culture and how people can create an alternative circular economy that doesn’t exploit the planet.
Photography is by Felix Speller.
Bethany Williams: Alternative Systems is on display at the Design Museum from 22 February 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Read more: More
The Design Museum’s latest exhibition Waste Age has a carbon footprint of 10 tonnes, equal to what the average UK person emits in a year, according to a sustainability assessment by environmental collective URGE. More
Dezeen promotion: a range of carbon-negative furniture items created by designers including Ini Archibong and Thomas Heatherwick for London’s Design Museum can now be viewed as part of a permanent virtual exhibition.Jointly commissioned by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), Benchmark Furniture and the Design Museum, the Connected exhibition tasked nine designers with creating a table and seating object for their own home offices.
Top: Studiopepe’s geometric table and chair. Above: The Connected exhibition was on show at London’s Design Museum
Designed for their personal use, each designer’s creation was made to suit their new ways of living and working from home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The exhibition aimed to explore how designers and craftspeople have adapted their working methods during lockdown.
Designers were also invited to record video diaries documenting the process of creating their pieces, which have been compiled and made into a documentary.
Ini Archibong’s design was informed by the rock formations of The Giant’s Causeway
Participants included Archibong, who is based in Switzerland, London-based Heatherwick Studio, Jaime Hayon from Spain and Netherlands-based Sabine Marcelis.
Other designers involved were Maria Bruun, Sebastian Herkner, Maria Jeglinska-Adamczewska, Studiopepe and Studio Swine.
Ini Archibong designs rock-like furniture with its own drainage system
While Archibong took cues from the undulating rock formations of Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland for his Kadamba Gate table and seating design, Heatherwick Studio created a modular desk with wooden planters for legs.
The nine furniture pieces were displayed at London’s Design Museum from 11 September to 11 October. The show, which was digitally scanned by V21 Artspace, is now permanently available to view online as a virtual exhibition.
Thomas Heatherwick designed a table with planters as legs for the Connected project
Each design was made from a choice of three sustainable American hardwoods: red oak, maple or cherry. According to AHEC, the resulting collection of objects removed more carbon from the atmosphere than they generated.
“When considered as a group, the Connected designs are better than carbon neutral,” said AHEC. “The total global warming potential (GWP) – often referred to as the ‘carbon footprint’ – of the nine Connected designs is minus 342 kilograms of CO2 equivalent.”
Heatherwick Studio unveils modular desk with wooden planter legs
“It takes a little over 10 seconds for the hardwood logs harvested to manufacture all the Connected designs to be replaced by new growth in the US forest,” it continued.
“The full environmental Life Cycle Assessments on each of the nine projects prove that these pieces are environmentally sound, going beyond carbon neutrality and leaving a negative carbon footprint.”
Sabine Marcelis designed a work-from-home cubicle with a bright yellow interior for the show
Details on the exhibition can be found via the Design Museum website, while more information on the work AHEC does can be found on its webpage.
Read more: More
