Workshop of the World? Manufacturing the British Product

Sugg Ryan, Deborah (2012) Workshop of the World? Manufacturing the British Product. In: British Design from 1948: Innovation in the Modern Age. V&A Publications, London, pp. 265-283. ISBN 9781851776740

Abstract / Summary

This is an invited essay contribution to the book accompanying the V&A’s exhibition ‘British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age,’ which took place from 31 March to 12 August 2012 and attracted 135,868 visitors. The exhibition was timed to coincide with the London Olympiad and was widely previewed and reviewed in British newspapers and magazines. The book’s contributors are leading curators and commentators on design, as well as key British designers.

This essay covers changes in education for design and engineering in art colleges and universities of technology; the development of the design profession and the emergence of design consultancies; the Design Methods movement; the influence of the Design Council; the continuing tradition of the - sometimes amateur - British inventor; women as designers and consumers; the influence of Pop and Carnaby Street; and the development of new technologies and materials, particularly in the hi-fi and automotive industries, in Britain from 1960 to the present. These surveys are set against the critical evaluation of the perceived decline and fall of British manufacturing. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the contemporary emergence of possibilities for design beyond the product with the renewal of interest in user-led design, the growing importance of sustainability, bespoke design and the influence of critical design and digital technologies on young designers.

View Record (staff only)