Design Museum

Design Museum The world's leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form. The Design Museum's vision is a world where everyone values design.
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The museum's purpose is to make the impact of the design visible. It aims to achieve this by:

- Building public awareness of design by connecting design with people’s lives and passions
- Reflecting the designer’s role at the forefront of social, technological and environmental change
- Serving the design community. Design is a practice, a diverse discipline, infinitely rich in approaches and cha

racters. It is a young discipline, whose role in the world is evolving. Our unique approach to working with designers is to invite them to ‘think in public’ with us.

This striking concrete station is a world away from Kyoto’s traditional architecture ⛩️Designed in 1995 by architect Hir...
21/08/2026

This striking concrete station is a world away from Kyoto’s traditional architecture ⛩️

Designed in 1995 by architect Hiroyuki Wakabayashi, Uji Station is a bold example of postmodern Brutalist architecture. Set near a city best known for its traditional wooden buildings, ancient temples and centuries-old tea culture, the station makes a distinctly modern statement.

Its dramatic form is built from large concrete vaults, curved arches and circular openings. Half-cylinder forms create its distinctive silhouette, while the openings cut through the heavy concrete, giving the structure a surprisingly sculptural quality.

Inside, stained-glass panels and block-glass skylights bring natural light into the soaring, high-ceilinged space. As the light shifts throughout the day, it moves across the exposed concrete, creating ever-changing patterns and shadows.

The station also takes on a different character depending on which side you approach it from. The urban-facing side is open and functional, shaped around the movement of passengers, while the side facing the Uji River and historic town is more monumental and imposing.

In 1996, Uji Station was recognised with a Good Design Award, celebrating its distinctive contribution to Japanese design.

📸 beneaththemeadow on Instagram

Celebrating Eero Saarinen, born on this day in 1910 🎈Finnish American architect and designer Eero Saarinen was one of th...
20/08/2026

Celebrating Eero Saarinen, born on this day in 1910 🎈

Finnish American architect and designer Eero Saarinen was one of the leading voices of mid-20th-century design. Known for his expressive, boundary-pushing approach, he created some of the era’s most iconic works, from the TWA Flight Centre at JFK Airport and Miller House to MIT Chapel and the General Motors Technical Centre.

While studying at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Saarinen explored sculpture and furniture design, while forming close friendships with fellow designers including Charles Eames and Florence Knoll. These early experiences helped shape a career driven by experimentation with form, materials and aesthetics.

As a leading figure of the second generation of modernists, Saarinen pushed modern design in new directions, creating bold architectural landmarks that came to embody postwar American optimism and technological ambition. His influence continues to shape architecture and design today.

📷 2: sean.hazen on IG, 3: richardpowersphoto on IG, 4: Iñaki Bergera

19/08/2026

How did 1980s Japan shape NIGO? 🇯🇵

Our curator Rosa Abbot explores the American influences and subcultures that inspired the designer he became.

Our NIGO: From Japan with Love exhibition is open until 4 October 2026 - book your tickets via the link: https://bit.ly/4v0cryy

Get your hands on a catalogue signed by Wes Anderson himself ✍️To mark the end of Wes Anderson: The Archives, we have a ...
19/08/2026

Get your hands on a catalogue signed by Wes Anderson himself ✍️

To mark the end of Wes Anderson: The Archives, we have a limited number of exhibition catalogues signed by Anderson - a very special memento of the exhibition to take home.

Spanning more than 30 years of his filmmaking, Wes Anderson: The Archives brings together the drawings, paintings, props, puppets and costumes that have shaped his distinctive cinematic world, alongside contributions from longtime collaborators including Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton.

The catalogue also features an extensive interview with Anderson, offering a rare insight into his creative process and approach to filmmaking.

Tap the link to shop: https://bit.ly/4xLBiXk. Please note: maximum two catalogues per customer. This item cannot be gift wrapped.

The wink that shaped culture i_d 😉Founded in 1980 by former Vogue art director Terry Jones, i-D magazine quickly became ...
18/08/2026

The wink that shaped culture i_d 😉

Founded in 1980 by former Vogue art director Terry Jones, i-D magazine quickly became an iconic British publication, reshaping the worlds of fashion and graphic design.

Throughout the 1980s, i-D covers embraced a distinctive DIY aesthetic using neon pops of colour, handwritten typography, and the rebellious spirit of punk fashion. At the heart of it all was the magazine’s instantly recognisable logo and its playful wink, a visual identity that would become one of i-D’s most legendary signatures.

Since the 1980s, cover stars have echoed this symbol by posing with a wink, or with a hand or another object covering one eye, creating the now-famous i-D wink. From Madonna to Rihanna, the covers have featured close-up portraits of some of the biggest names in film, music and fashion.

The first 13 issues were printed in a distinctive horizontal, landscape format before the magazine switched to the more familiar portrait orientation in 1984.

These influential covers form part of the Design Museum’s permanent collection.

Did you know Notting Hill Carnival was once launched from our building?The former occupants of the Design Museum buildin...
17/08/2026

Did you know Notting Hill Carnival was once launched from our building?

The former occupants of the Design Museum building, the Commonwealth Institute, launched the 1977 Notting Hill Carnival from this very site.

The launch featured music from the London All Stars steel band, a performance by Black dance and theatre group Shades of Black, and a friendly musical showdown between pioneering sound systems Shadow Hi Fi and Lord Sam - run by Trevor Charles and Lawrence Chambers, aka Lord Sam Soca Wax.

We’re proud and excited to celebrate this history as Carnival returns to Kensington this year - more details to follow.

📸 Matthew Kaltenborn

It’s the final day of Wes Anderson: The Archives at the Design Museum 💔Over the past nine months, more than 200,000 visi...
16/08/2026

It’s the final day of Wes Anderson: The Archives at the Design Museum 💔

Over the past nine months, more than 200,000 visitors have stepped inside Wes Anderson’s extraordinary world, getting closer than ever to the meticulous craft, imagination and storytelling behind his acclaimed films.

From original storyboards, Polaroids and handwritten notebooks to puppets, props and dozens of costumes worn by much-loved characters, the exhibition brought together hundreds of objects spanning Anderson’s remarkable career.

Thank you to everyone who visited, shared your favourite moments and helped make this such a special exhibition. We hope you enjoyed stepping behind the scenes as much as we did.

If you visited, we’d love to hear your thoughts 👇

This may be the final day at the Design Museum, but it’s not the end. Keep an eye out for news of where the exhibition will travel next…

📸 alwayssickly, porcelain.pixie, londonartcritic, sophiehank, elliemayloveridge, lottiemaeokill, cerys_evans97 on Instagram

14/08/2026

In the final days of Wes Anderson: The Archives, we had an extremely special visitor: Wes Anderson himself 🎬

Take a last look inside the exhibition with Wes, as he shares some of his filmmaking memories and revisits the objects, costumes, drawings and other pieces that feature in his movies.

After welcoming more than 200,000 visitors, Wes Anderson: The Archives closes this Sunday, 16 August - so this really is your last chance to see it at the Design Museum.

And keep an eye out for news of where the exhibition will travel next…

Booking ahead is recommended. Grab your last-chance tickets: http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/wes-anderson-the-archives?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=OS_wes_facebook

Rome is often associated with ancient ruins and Baroque churches, but beyond its historic landmarks lies a striking 20th...
13/08/2026

Rome is often associated with ancient ruins and Baroque churches, but beyond its historic landmarks lies a striking 20th-century architectural landscape.

Throughout the 20th century, Rome became an important centre for Modernism, Rationalism and Brutalism, resulting in a distinctive collection of buildings, public spaces and neighbourhoods.

Much of this transformation began during the Fascist era, when Rationalist architecture became closely tied to ambitious plans to reshape the city and its identity. In the decades that followed, architects continued to develop and challenge these ideas through experimental approaches to form, materials and urban space.

Together, these buildings offer a different perspective on Rome: a city negotiating its ancient heritage while responding to the social, political and cultural ambitions of the modern era.

Often overlooked in favour of Rome’s better-known historic landmarks, its 20th-century architecture offers an important lens through which to understand the city as it exists today.

📸 Stefano Perego. These photographs feature on the Modern Rome Map, published by Blue Crow Maps.

Happy solar eclipse day - introducing the 1965 lamp that lets you create your very own eclipse 🌕☀️This 1965 lamp by Vico...
12/08/2026

Happy solar eclipse day - introducing the 1965 lamp that lets you create your very own eclipse 🌕☀️

This 1965 lamp by Vico Magistretti is named Eclisse - ‘eclipse' in Italian. It was designed at a time when public fascination with the Space Race and the moon was reaching fever pitch.

Magistretti always said the lamp was inspired by the headlamps worn by miners. But more poetically, the lamp's name and function evoke the astronomical phenomenon of the moon and its phases.

Rotate the inner shade and you can ‘eclipse' the light source, controlling how much of the bulb is revealed. In other words, you can create your own little eclipse – right on your desk.

📸 Design Museum collection

Address

224-238 Kensington High Street
London
W86AG

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 9pm
Tuesday 10am - 9pm
Wednesday 10am - 9pm
Thursday 10am - 9pm
Friday 10am - 9pm
Saturday 10am - 9pm
Sunday 10am - 9pm

Telephone

+44 20 3862 5900

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