William Morris famously advised: ‘have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’. The Design Museum’s latest exhibition is filled with over 150 domestic designs both useful and beautiful, all created with the intention of revolutionising how we conduct ourselves behind closed doors.
The medium-sized show is split into six sections: ‘living smart’, ‘living on the move’, ‘living autonomously’, ‘living with less’, ‘living with others’ and ‘domestic arcadia’. The interesting bit is that the exhibits were all designed at any point from 1950 onwards, with more on display from the past than the present. So the end product is a show that’s more focused on what people hoped the future would hold than what it necessarily did.
There’s a bit of everything included here, from dream-big plans for entire new homes, to dream-small inventions of new table lamps. Some of it’s brilliant, some of it’s bonkers and some is just flat-out confusing.
Highlights include micro-environment shower and toilet pods (useful); contemporary tapestries featuring modern appliances (beautiful); a multi-functional ’70s kaftan capable of transforming into other garments (useful); frequent use of pastel pinks, space-age white and happiness-inducing orange (beautiful); and an inflatable pod to live in (vaguely useful, especially for anyone wanting more personal space on the tube).
But the best part is ‘domestic arcadia’, a room filled with lumpy, bumpy, generally odd-looking soft furnishings – because who hasn’t found themselves in need of an armchair made entirely of oversized foam grass, or a sofa in the shape of a massive bird’s nest? The best part is that you’re invited to try them all out, making the final room the adult gallery visitor’s equivalent of a soft play area.
In the interest of writing a fair review, I treated my creaking, desk-sore body to a rest on all of them and discovered that a silver mass of chain-link metal and bent poles (imagine the most ergonomic children’s playground equipment possible) is INCREDIBLY COMFORTABLE. Like lying on a cool, metallic cloud gently cradling each knotty, contorted muscle, while angels pluck harp strings and sing lullabies about how beautiful you are. Designed by SO-IL, it’s ugly and useless. But I really, really want one.