accident&emergency

Monday, 27 October 2008

The Man With Kaleidoscope Eyes

Today I went to the Design Museum in London, not because I was particularly interested in the designers exhibiting there (I didn't even know who they were!) but because I know that they always show some interesting work there and for a fiver who can complain? The main exhibition was of the work of Alan Aldridge - 'The Man With The Kaleidoscope Eyes'. Aldridge is a self taught illustrator and designer who is responsible for some of the most striking images of the 1960s and 70s. A great deal of his work is very psychedelic, especially the work that he did for The Beatles. He started as an illustrator for Penguin Books and then set up INK studios in 1968 where he became a star in his own right due to his client list which included Elton John, The Beatles and The Who. Infact it was claimed that the breakup of The Beatles that acted as the catalyst for Aldridge to channel his work and inspiration in new directions.

The exhibition was interesting as it documented his progress from pen and ink drawings into fluency in digital techniques. But to be honest it wasn't really my cup of tea. A lot of it was pure psychedelic illustration which doesn't really speak to me personally. I did however like the more type based creations. That showed that Aldridge really understands how type works and he recognises how important that is for all designers, even illustrators.

These were my favourite pieces in the exhibition.

Also at the museum was a display of some of Patricia Urquiola's work. At first sight, I just thought 'plates... that's great...' but upon closer inspection I began to appreciate the work put into her designs. The way that the moulds for her plates, cutlery and bowls are made allows for patterns to be engraved or raised above the rest of the surface. You can also see the design process she goes through as lots of the bowls had the patterns just printed out onto paper and then stuck on to get a feel for the position and for her to take the exact measurements. The intricate geometric patterns on the surface of the ceramics were really intriguing.

On the middle floor was the Design Cities exhibition which was pretty crap. It basically showed some random objects catagorised by which country the designer came from. Blah. Oh wait this was good: