The Society of British Theatre Designers

Blue Pages:

The Blue Pages is The Society’s quarterly magazine, it helps us keeps in touch with members regularly and covers news, articles, guidance notes and advice on contracts and working practice, as well as details of events, exhibitions and recent publications.

Select articles are available online, members may also download selected digital back copies.

Blue Pages Editorial March 2012

Material Imagination

March sees the opening of Transformation and Revelation: UK Design for Performance at the V&A. It coincides with the museum’s major exhibition on British Design 1948–2012: Innovation in the Modern Age. Both exhibits celebrate the creativity and innovation of designers in the UK.

One of the founding principles of the V&A is that design ideas are developed through the experience and knowledge of materials. From its early establishment in 1852 as the Museum of Manufactures and later in 1857 as the South Kensington Museum which included a Museum of Construction, materiality was central to the organisation and display of the collections. Machinery and raw materials were exhibited alongside prints, paintings, sculpture, textiles and metalwork. The galleries of the V&A still reflect the ambition and eclectic nature of its origins. While many objects are arranged historically and stylistically, others are organised according to the materials.

In this issue, our contributors demonstrate the power of the material imagination;
They are excited by the potential of materials, the experience of making. Through collaboration, interaction and negotiation, they turn ideas into material objects and physical spaces. Becky Minto creates a flaming heart and brings the sea inside, demonstrating the power of the material detail to form poetic images. Klaus Kruse envelops his audience in the materiality of his spaces while both Michael Spencer and Ilario Martello explore the material possibilities of paper to different but equally original ends.

Imaginative thinking about materials is integral to all design. At the V&A, the processes, materials and methodologies of design for performance will be seen in relation to those of other design disciplines. It is an opportunity to join the larger design community and to make a contribution to the critical and theoretical debates surrounding contemporary design practice. The sound artist, Jan Pitt in her report on the Resilience and Brilliance conference writes about the importance of sharing ideas. We have the opportunity with the T&R exhibition, study days, workshops and events to exchange with the public and other designers, ideas about design, technology and materiality.

Greer Crawley

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