Designing Innovation: Loans from the V&A
06 September 2018
V&A announces over 60 loans to regions in educational initiative backed by Grayson Perry
The V&A has announced that over 60 objects will travel to five locations across England from September 2018 to support the teaching of art, design and technology in secondary schools, as part of its educational initiative DesignLab Nation.
Highlights include a ceramic tile by the Turner prize-winning artist Grayson Perry to Blackburn Museum, a brightly coloured scarf by luxury fashion designer Mary Katrantzou to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry and ceramics by Christopher Dresser to the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent.
Scarf, woven cashmere and modal foulard, digitally printed, designed by Mary Katrantzou, AW 2011 (c) Victoria and Albert Musuem, London
From September 2018, the V&A will work with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry and other museums across the UK. Selected in consultation with the DesignLab Nation partners, the loans will ensure that all visitors to the partner museums have the chance to experience the V&A's collections in the context of their regional histories.
Alongside Mary Katrantzou's scarf and other objects on display, will be a design for a Jacquard woven wall tapestry created by Gunta Stölzl. She was a German textile artist who played a fundamental role in the development of the Bauhaus school’s weaving workshop. She created immense change within the textile field by uniting art practices taught at Bauhaus with traditional textile techniques.
Design for a jacquard woven wall hanging, Gunta Stölzl, Germany, 1928 (c) Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Director of the V&A Tristram Hunt, said: “As our creative economy grows, international competition accelerates, and the provision of creative subjects in schools is squeezed, art and design education is needed more than ever. By bringing together local industry, museums and schools, DesignLab Nation will ensure that the V&A works with communities across the country to educate and inspire the artists, innovators and designers of tomorrow.”
The items from the V&A will soon go on display in the History Gallery on the ground floor, and in the Sculpture Gallery on the first floor.
