Catalog of the exhibition "British design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age" at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Mar. 31-Aug. 12, 2012.

Spaces & Places: British Design 1948 - 2012 provides a much needed series of new perspectives on British Design's recent history.

In 1957 the UK Design Museum launched the first annual Designs of the Year Awards to identify and promote the very best of British design. For the next 30 years, the awards celebrated designed objects in all forms, from the domestic (cutlery, glassware, textiles, and furniture) to the communal (streetlights, signage, and public seating) and everything in between, including fitted kitchens, schooners, bicycles, and electronics. This beautifully designed book introduces and illustrates the quirky breadth of the awards. Iconic objects by Robin and Lucienne Day, Kenneth Grange, and David Mellor sit alongside retro classics.

British Design brings together leading international scholars, designers and journalists to provide new perspectives on British design in the last sixty years, and how it at once looked back to the past with the continuation of traditions that spoke to Britain's design heritage, and looked forwards with the embrace of modernist and postmodernist style. The book responds to and develops new ways of understanding the recent history of design in Britain, with case studies on designed spaces and objects, including domestic interiors, retail spaces, schools and university buildings and transport. The contributors address significant moments and phenomena in the historical and social history of British design, from the rise and fall of the English Country House style and the Brutalist architectural boom of the 1960s to the modern shopping space, and consider the work of key contemporary designers ranging from Tommy Roberts to Thomas Heatherwick. British Design provides new criticism and analysis on how design, from the immediate post-war period to the present day, has developed and changed how we live and how we interact with the spaces in which we live. British Design is split into 13 chapters and is richly illustrated with 65 images, 16 of which are in full colour.

This publication is a highly visual celebration of the massively popular, but now largely forgotten, Britain Can Make It exhibition. Organized by the Council of Industrial Design, it was held in empty ground-floor galleries of the Victoria & Albert Museum, from September to December 1946. A groundbreaking, morale boosting exhibition, it showcased British design and manufacturing. Despite its short run, it boasted an incredible 1.5 million visitors, and remains one of the most visited exhibitions ever held at the V&A. Long before the end of the Second World War hostilities, the government's Post War Export Trade Committee recognized the importance of promoting the country's manufacturing capabilities. Plans for an exhibition of 'National Importance' were set in place in October 1942, for an event that would illuminate the gloom of austerity, educate the public in the value of good design, and most importantly, boost much needed foreign trade. Britain's need to promote, manufacture and export its goods was urgent. The job of organizing the exhibition was given to the Council of Industrial Design on behalf of the government's Board of Trade. From its early planning stages, there was a desire to create an exhibition that was full of color, light and airy, and far removed from the browns and greens of the inter-war years. The exhibition was also intended to work as a public morale boosting exercise and it did, attracting visitors from around the country. Mile-long queues constantly formed outside the V&A. Interviewed in 1984, James Gardner, the designer of the exhibition, commented on the motivation for it: 'We'd got to get British manufacturers to produce well-designed goods quickly and to cheer the British public up. They were so depressed. Give them something to look forward to. You know, this was the dream of the future, if you like.' BCMI was not a trade show. Manufacturers had to put forward their products and only those deemed the best examples were chosen by specialist committees. An accompanying catalog detailing the manufacturers of products (and significantly, wherever possible the names of the designers of each product), could be bought by visitors from one of the bookstalls dotted around the exhibition. The catalog explained when goods would be available for the home and trade markets: 'Now, ' 'Soon' or 'Later.' Most often they were 'Later' for the home market which led to negative comments in the press, such as: 'Britain Can't Have It, ' 'Britons can't buy it, ' and 'Britain Can't Get It.' Products representing key consumer groups, including clothing, leisure, and domestic products were displayed. These were diverse, from pottery and glass, to radios, women's and men's wear, furniture, fabrics, toys, jewelry, boilers, taps, and sporting equipment. The Furnished Rooms section showcased room sets that sought to show how a range of people from different professional groups might live. By taking its structure loosely from the exhibition itself and from the accompanying Design '46 catalog, Britain Can Make It will take the reader through an eclectic range of subject areas and consumer products. The book begins with a discussion of the political climate and economic motivations that led to this exhibition of 'National Importance' taking place, and an overview of the contemporary social context. Additional essays will cover specific aspects of the exhibition itself, including the surrealist design of the exhibition, the art and artists involved, the naming, and the 'Design Quiz.' Most chapters will be in the form of short illustrated essays.

Published for Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, New York.

This write-on, wipe-off board for the family kitchen, a kid's room, or dorm room door comes with a dry erase pen. Illustrations.

A landmark publication offering a definitive overview of one of the most influential transatlantic magazines produced in the 1980s and 1990s Launched by NME editor and Smash Hits creator Nick Logan in 1980, The Face became an icon of “style culture,” the benchmark for the latest trends in art, design, fashion, photography, film, and music being defined by a thriving youth culture. The Story of The Face tracks the exciting highs and calamitous lows of the life of the magazine in two parts. Part one focuses on the rise of the magazine in the 1980s, highlighting its striking visual identity—embodied by Neville Brody’s era-defining graphic designs, Nick Knight’s dramatic fashion photography, and the “Buffalo” styling of Ray Petr— and its unflinching approach to journalism. Contributors included a host of writers who subsequently made their impact in the wider world, from Julie Burchill, Robert Elms, Tony Parsons, and James Truman to Jon Savage, Richard Benson, and Sheryl Garratt. Part two shows how in the 1990s, after surviving a disastrous Jason Donovan libel suit, the magazine heralded the post-acid house era of Britpop and Brit Art. However, after the magazine had become the engine of the booming British magazine industry, the end of this decade also saw the eventual demise of The Face. Including an introduction by Dylan Jones, The Story of The Face is an engaging behind-the-scenes look at the rise and fall of one of the 80s and 90s’ most influential music and style publications.