The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

incorporated by

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instrumental in the promoting of the concept of inclusive design. The Design Council's archive is located at the University of Brighton Design Archives. The Design Council operates two subsidiaries, the Design Council Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Design Council CABE) and Design Council Enterprises Limited.

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

The Design Council Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (DC CABE, alternatively Design Council CABE, CABE at the Design Council, or simply CABE), is one of Design Council’s two subsidiaries. It supports communities, local authorities and developers involved in

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ...

projects by providing services in three areas: design review, customised expert support, and training and continued professional development (CPD). These services are supported by a network of Built Environment Experts (BEEs), a multidisciplinary team of 250 experts from “architecture, planning and infrastructure backgrounds, as well as academics, health specialists, and community engagement workers”. Design Council CABE, which is intended to operate as a self-sustaining business, was formed on 1 April 2011 with about 20 staff from the original CABE after it was merged with the Design Council. The BEE network was formed in 2012.

History

The Design Council began on 19 December 1944 as the ''Council of Industrial Design'' (COID), founded by

Hugh Dalton Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton, (16 August 1887 – 13 February 1962) was a British Labour Party economist and politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947. He shaped Labour Party foreign policy in the 19 ...

President of the Board of Trade The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th century, that evolved gradually into a government ...

in the wartime Government. Its objective was 'to promote by all practicable means the improvement of design in the products of British industry'. S. C. Leslie, the Council's first director, played an important part in the ''

Britain Can Make It ''Britain Can Make It'' was an exhibition of industrial and product design held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1946. It was organised by the '' Council of Industrial Design'', later to become the ''Design Council''. Background ...

'' exhibition of 1946. His 1947 successor Sir Gordon Russell established the organisational model for the next 40 years. Under Sir Paul Reilly the organisation changed its name to the ''Design Council'' in 1972. The Design Council was incorporated as a registered charity by Royal Charter in 1976, although it continued to operate as a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

. In December 1994 it was restructured, resulting in a functional change from being both an advisory body and a provider of goods and services to a primarily strategic mission “to inspire the best use of design by the United Kingdom in the world context, in order to improve prosperity and wellbeing”. On 1 April 2010 it incorporated a subsidiary trading company called Design Council Enterprises Limited to transact “fundraising activities that are not primary-purpose charitable activity.” On 1 April 2011, it ceased to be a non-departmental public body of the

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills , type = Department , logo = Department for Business, Innovation and Skills logo.svg , logo_width = 200px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Лондан. 2014. Жнівень 26.JPG , seal = , se ...

and became an independent registered charity, although it continued to receive grants from the Department. It also officially merged with the

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...

(CABE) on the same day although Design Council CABE was incorporated four days earlier. In 2017, Design Council appointed Sarah Weir (OBE) as their CEO.

The Design Centre

Sir Gordon Russell, who was heavily involved in the 1951 ''

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

'', examined ways to reform the education and training of new

industrial designers Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactur ...

. The Design Centre, in London's Haymarket, was officially opened on 26 April 1956. The Council under Russell combined exhibitions with product endorsements, direct services to industry, commercial publishing and retail. After the Design Council’s restructuring in 1994, the Design Centre was closed to the public. The Design Council continued to operate from the Design Centre until 1998.

The ''Design'' journal

Between 1949 and 1999, the Design Council published ''Design'' (), a “well-regarded magazine of its own” The journal ceased publication after the summer issue of 1999.

Awards given

The Council has hosted the ''British Design Awards'', with the 1987 logo rights co-owned with

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

. It was suggested in 1995 in ''

Business Strategy Review Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separate ...

'' magazine that the awards made suitable benchmarks, contributing to industrial competitiveness.

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Design Council Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives

Design Council YouTube channel
{{Authority control British design Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Design institutions Industrial design Organizations established in 1944 Charities based in England Compasso d'Oro Award recipients