Touring exhibition: British Design 1948–2012

Exhibition available to hire

To coincide with the London Olympic Games in 2012 the V&A will stage a major exhibition on British Post-war Art and Design. The games offer a unique opportunity to celebrate the best of British design and this authoritative show will document the transformation of design in Britain between the post-war ‘Austerity Games’ of 1948 and the global competition taking place in 2012. Drawing on the V&A’s unrivalled collections, the exhibition will include product design, fashion and textiles, furniture, ceramics and glass, theatre design, graphics, photography, architecture, fine art and sculpture. It will be the first exhibition to examine the ways in which designers born, trained or working in the UK have produced innovative, internationally acclaimed and iconic works which have transformed the lives and dreams of many.

Size: Approx 1300m²
Available from late 2012

For further information about hiring this exhibition please contact touringexhibitions@vam.ac.uk

Chair - Model Little Heavy, Ron Arad

Chair; - Model Little Heavy; beaten & welded stainless steel; right ¾ view; number 9 of 20; designed by Ron Arad (b.1951), limited edition made by One Off of London; U.K. (London); designed in 1989, made in 1991.

Plate, Homemaker

Ridgway Potteries Ltd.; shape Arnold, Tom; pattern Seeney, Enid Staffordshire ca. 1957-1968 Earthenware with printed decoration

Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton

Queen Elizabeth II in coronation robes by Cecil Beaton, 1953, Museum no. PH.311-1987

Footed Bowl, Michael Casson

Footed Bowl; stoneware with inlaid decoration of a naïve style landscape in porcelain, with a green-brown dry clay-ash glazed exterior, & a tenmoku glazed interior; by Michael Casson (1925 - 2003); U.K.; 1975.

CONTOUR' CHAIR, David Colwell

CONTOUR' CHAIR : Acrylic sheet shell, chromium-plated steelframe. Designed by David Colwell. Made by 4's Co. Ltd., London; 1968

Diploma, David Hockney, 1962

Diploma; by David Hockney (b.1937); U.K.; 1962. Etching and aquatint on paper.
Diploma; showing a Royal Crest in red and reversed at the top of the diploma with child like drawings of figures, one of which is a man with a hitler style moustache, hairy back wearing medals, and an old school tie, and holding up a figure entitled 1st face, with 2nd face behind it, a strange toothed crescent shaped creature also with an old school tie is on the left, underneath the bottom border of the diploma are a group of artists with their backs bent under the weight of the Diploma. The words Royal College of Art and Diploma, and a word rules pointing at the lion in the Royal Crest are at the top.

Bath toy in the shape of a bird, Patrick Rylands

A bath toy in the shape of a bird made from injection moulded A.B.S. (plastic). It has an internal ballast weight to ensure that the toy keeps its balance in the water. The plastic is white; the eyes of the bird are indicated with a black spot within a black ring.

Afwillite 8.45, S M Slade

Afwillite, sample of furnishing fabric, screen printed rayon. Designed by S M Slade and manufactured by British Celanese Ltd. Produced for the Festival Pattern Group in 1951. Design based on the crystal structure diagrams for Afwillite. Four colourways.