Saturday, 5th March 2022, 09:00 to 16:30
Organised by Arnolfini with the Stradling Collection and the Twentieth Century Society
£25 / £3 concessions
No internet, no social media, little TV advertising, few specialist magazines – yet somehow this was a time in which design and craft at last reached deeply into Britain’s popular consciousness.
This seminar will examine how institutions and enthusiastic retailers like Ken Stradling worked to achieve this. They brought us colour, fun, quality and a real appreciation of design and the craftsman’s art. This is not just history though – their selling skills and understanding of their market still have relevance for both makers and retailers today.
Speakers will look at legendary individuals like Muriel Rose who ran the Little Gallery, Henry Rothschild of Primavera and Ken Stradling at the Bristol Guild. We’ll also explore institutional influence such as the Festival of Britain and the Crafts Council.
There will be time at the end of the day for a free visit to the exhibition A Lifelong Passion for Design: Ken Stradling at 100 at 48 Park Row, specially opened for participants.
Access to seminar papers
If you wish to access the papers given at this seminar, please email info@stradlingcollection.org
Supported by:
Full seminar programme
Chairs: Catherine Croft, Director, the Twentieth Century Society (morning) Cleo Witt, Stradling Collection Trustee (afternoon)
| Time | Session | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Registration | |
| 09:30 | Introduction | Marketing Design: Ken Stradling and his context Cleo Witt MA, FMA, Stradling Collection Trustee |
| 09:40 | Session 1 | Championing Craft pre-War: Muriel Rose and the Little Gallery Barley Roscoe, former Director, the Holburne Museum and Crafts Study Centre |
| 10:20 | Session 2 | Selling design and selling the notion of “design”: the Council of Industrial Design in the Post-War decades Dr. Lesley Whitworth, Deputy Curator, University of Brighton Design Archives |
| 10:45 | Coffee | |
| 11:05 | Session 3 | The 1951 Festival of Britain and its impact Peter Metcalfe, Product Designer and Stradling Collection Trustee |
| 11:30 | Session 4 | The 1951 Festival of Britain and its impact Peter Metcalfe, Product Designer and Stradling Collection Trustee |
| 11:55 | Questions | Panel of speakers |
| 12:15 | Lunch | |
| 13:00 | Session 5 | Championing the Crafts in Post-War Britain – Henry Rothschild and Primavera Dr Janine Barker |
| 13:40 | Session 6 | Design and Craft outside London: the Bristol Guild David Whiting, art critic and curator, Chris Yeo, Valuer at Clevedon Sale Rooms and Dr Oliver Kent |
| 14:20 | Session 7 | Formidable Partners: the founding of New Craftsman at St Ives Professor Simon Olding, Director of the Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts |
| 15:00 | Tea | |
| 15:20 | Session 8 | From Crafts Advisory Committee to Crafts Council – the Crafts come of age Peter Longman, one-time Stradling Collection Trustee and Deputy Director of the Crafts Council |
| 16:00 | Plenary session | Panel of speakers |
| 16:30 | Close | Viewing of exhibition at 48 Park Row open until 18:00 [Find us] Also on view at Arnolfini will be work by Paula Rego, Donna Huenca and Polly Braden. |
