Do you know what this is?

MoDiP has the kind of collection that you may think you are very familiar with. We have objects which we all use every day, and some pieces which are more unusual.

By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?

Post your answer in the comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the MoDiP catalogue.

Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)

Exhibition changes

The 'You can do it with plastics' exhibition has now finished. Work to install the next exhibition is underway.

'Work Rest & Play with plastics'

will open on 5th December 2011

Pam Langdown

Collections Manager

                     

How students and staff use the collection #6 - Commercial Photography

During my last project (1950s based fashion photo shoot) I approached MODIP to see if I could borrow some items to use as props for my shoot. I wanted to find items from that period to add to the feel of the shoot. They were very welcoming and happy to help me find the right items. There was lots to pick from as the catalogue is very large. I was able to take some of the items I wanted (a 1950s radio, small women's wrist watch and a Box Brownies Camera) on location for the shoot and I think that because of these added props my photo shoot was a real success. In the future I will defiantly be looking to MODIP for individual props to enhance my photography.  

Emma Braun Commercial Photography 

Pam Langdown

Collections Manager

What could this be?

MoDiP has the kind of collection that you may think you are very familiar with. We have objects which we all use every day, and some pieces which are more unusual.


By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?

Post your answer in the comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the MoDiP catalogue.

Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)

Postmodernism at the V&A

Just been to Postmodernism at the V&A. It's a remarkable and wonderful exhibition. I've never seen that not-altogether-easy space so well used - with the the giant quotations, the giant screens, the giant  columns, and some very over-sized (and thus Postmodern) artefacts. The labels are beautifully written and really explain what Postmodernisn was and (mainly) wasn't, and they are presented in such an engaging way - I won't spoil the surprise by saying how. And the exhibits are intriguing, funny, clever and, some of them, really gorgeous. Don't miss it!


BUT  I have one tiny grouse. Postmodernism has had a vast influence on design in the high street. In partnership with plastics, it has probably done more than anything else to make our homes colourful and quirky. The exhibition gives us household names in terms of music - you can hear Blondie, David Bowie and Culture Club - so why not show us some of the everyday affordable designs that have been the movement's legacy? There is a little top-end and, even-when-new, very expensive Alessi but I couldn't, for example, spot any cheaper Koziol,  and, while plenty of space is devoted to Michael Graves, his work for the more popular end of the market, for example for Target, is nowhere to be seen.


There was a slight feeling of the exhibition running out of steam as you turn the last corner or two. Could one of those smaller spaces just before you reach the shop not have shown us the stuff we buy that only looks the way it does because postmodernism happened? The V&A did street fashion successfully (if controversially) in Street Style some decade and half ago; is it still resistant to such an approach in terms of product design? Must every artefact have a known designer? Does significant design have to be expensive? And what about things that need power to work? We were shown some prototypes by, was it, Mendini or De Lucchi? They were probably never made but plenty showing the influence of these designers and Memphis more broadly were. The V&A even has such a pink and mauve machine: the very first Dyson vacuum cleaner to hit the market, as it happens in Japan, where it sold for over £1000.


Susan Lambert
Head of the Musem of Design in Plastics

Happy Anniversary Frogger

2011 sees the 30th anniversary of the arcade game Frogger. 

The game was created in 1981 and is a strangely addictive quest to get a frog across a very busy road to the safety of his pond.  You can find out more by visiting the game designer's website www.konami.com.

MoDiP has an early Frogger game in the collection which can be seen on display as part of the Work, Rest and Play with Plastics exhibition which will be opening in the next few weeks.  More news on this exhibition will follow in due course.

Konami's Frogger

Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)

Do you know what this could be?

MoDiP has the kind of collection that you may think you are very familiar with. We have objects which we all use every day, and some pieces which are more unusual.

By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?

Post your answer in the comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the MoDiP catalogue.


Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)

Planning for Digitisation

On Friday I presented a case study at the British Library as part of the Planning for Digitisation seminar organised by the British Library Preservation Advisory Centre.

It was a really interesting day and included sessions by Richard Davies of the British Library about Planning for digitisation and Patricia Sleeman, ULCC about [digital] Preservation issues.   I presented a case study which had been written as part of the Look-Here! Project.

Alongside me were some fascinating presentations:

• Dr Nicholas Hiley, British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent, who spoke about a JISC funded project they had recently finished.
• Valeria Carullo, RIBA Library, who introduced us RIBApix.
• James Allen, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, who showed us their amazing digitisation project Treasures of the Bodleian.

I have to confess to having not been to the British Library before and was struck by the vibrancy of the place.  It seemed so alive with people everywhere on laptops and chatting with friends and colleagues.  I would definitely recommend a visit; I just wish I had had more time to explore.

C. G. P. Grey released this image under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)

Can you guess what this is?

MoDiP has the kind of collection that you may think you are very familiar with. We have objects which we all use every day, and some pieces which are more unusual.

By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?

Post your answer in the comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the MoDiP catalogue.


Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)