The design superpowers of the 21st century will not be those who narrowly focus on traditional domestic production and markets, but those who enthusiastically embrace the import and export of creative ideas.

The character of British design has been revitalised over the last decade by the international influx and outflow of ideas. In the past, although we generated plenty of creativity, there were few ways of producing products as a designer other than to go it alone. Now, we send ideas off to Europe and the Far East to be manufactured and built, while we, in return, get injections of new blood in the form of design students from abroad. Initially attracted by the quality of the design education available in Britain, many of these designers choose to settle and practise in this country, adding diversity to the British scene.

Focusing on fourteen UK-based designers and design practices from furniture, graphic design, fashion, architecture and product design backgrounds, curator Lesley Jackson has examined a range of questions that this flow of ideas raises. What is it about the British design education system that attracts so many aspiring designers from abroad? What makes foreign designers want to work in Britain? What benefits do British designers gain from working with manufacturers and clients abroad and what do those clients, in turn, get from a British designer in Britain? And with so many foreign designers practising in Britain, and so many British designers collaborating with foreign firms, is there such a thing as British design? What does the British experience demonstrate about the value of cultural exchange in creativity?

Import Export will expand during its tour into a global exhibition. An “appendix” to the core exhibition is being developed for every country or region to which it tours – starting with Global Local in India. These special sections will examine the exchange of influence between the host country’s design language and other cultures. The full exhibition, with all its appendices, will be shown in London in 2005/6.

A catalogue with texts by Lesley Jackson and Emily Campbell accompanied the exhibition ISBN 0863555217; available from Cornerhouse www.cornerhouse.org

Collection Artist(s)

Glossary

  • Curator

    A person who creates exhibitions or who is employed to look after and research museum objects.

  • Design

    The arrangement of elements or details in an artefact or a work of art.