We’ve adapted so much of how we work during lockdown. We’re working very successfully remotely, although we miss meeting our clients and suppliers in person, and visiting our sites quite so often.
There are little things we miss too… the places that give us inspiration, the galleries and the museums. Probably none more than the V&A Museum – the world’s leading collection of art and design – which I always visit when I have the chance.
Thankfully they’ve just launched a new way to Explore the Collection online… here are my picks from three of the collection’s categories:
Furniture Design
Long Chair, Marcel Breuer, 1936.
“Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) has been described as one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. He was an architect and furniture designer, working in both Europe and America. During a brief period in England, Breuer worked on private commissions and as a designer for the furniture manufacturer, Isokon.
“The most important achievement of Breuer’s two year union with Isokon was the Long Chair. Although the chair’s design derives from a Breuer aluminium chair of 1932-33, the use of plywood is influenced by the moulded furniture of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. The British taste for Modernism favoured the soft curves and warm appearance of wood rather than the harsher aesthetic of metal furniture.”
Wallpaper & Decoration
Toccata Wallpaper, Peter Shuttleworth, 1952.
“Portion of ‘Toccata’ wallpaper, a design of black and white squares on a pale-brown ground; Colour screen print, on paper; Design by Peter Shuttleworth; Produced by the Lightbown Aspinall branch of the Wallpaper Manufacturers Ltd. as one of their ‘Palladio’ range; England; ca. 1952.”
Architectural Design
Architectural Model of the Royal Albert Hall, 1864.
“This model was submitted to Queen Victoria by Sir Henry Cole and Richard Redgrave at Osbourne House on 30th January 1865. It shows the proposed design for the interior of the Hall which was intended as an exhibition venue. Cutting away roofs or walls is a technique often used to show the relationship of interior schemes.”
These are just three examples of wonderful design, and of course the website is somewhere you can get lost for hours on end, just like the real thing.
We were in the V&A all the time when we recently completed a full interior design project in South Kensington, and we hope with lockdown easing that we’ll have the chance to visit again in person before too long.
