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Royal Designers For Industry
Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for industry". Those who are British citizens take the letters RDI after their names, while those who are not become Honorary RDIs (HonRDI). Everyone who holds the distinction is a Member of The Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry (founded in 1938). Their work is diverse, ranging from fashion to engineering, theatre to product design, graphics to environmental design. New RDIs are elected annually and the Faculty continues to support initiatives to further excellence in design, including an annual Summer School for innovative young designers. Only 200 designers may hold the distinction RDI at any time and it is regarded as the highest honour to be obtained in the United Kingdom in a diver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Society Of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, social progress, and sustainable development. Through its extensive network of changemakers, thought leadership, and projects, the RSA seeks to drive transformative change, enabling “people, places, and the planet to thrive in harmony.” Committed to social change and creating progress, the RSA embodies a philosophy that values the intersection of arts, industry, and societal well-being to address contemporary challenges and enrich communities worldwide. From its "beginnings in a coffee house in the mid-eighteenth century", the RSA, which began as a UK institution, is now an international society for the improvement of "everything and anything". An "ambitious" organisation, the RSA has "evolved and adapted, constantly reinventing itself ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Casson
Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect, also active as an interior designer, an artist, and a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for the 1951 Festival of Britain. From 1976 to 1984, he was president of the Royal Academy. Life Casson was born in London on 23 May 1910, spending his early years in Burma—where his father was posted with the Indian Civil Service—before being sent back to England for education. He was the nephew of the actor Lewis Casson and his wife the actress Sybil Thorndike. Casson was educated at Eastbourne College in East Sussex, then at St John's College, Cambridge (1929–31), where his subject was architecture, after which he spent time at the Bartlett School of Architecture in Bloomsbury, London, and the British School at Athens. He met his future wife, Margaret Macdonald Troup (1913–1995), an architect and designer who taught design at the Royal Coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uffa Fox
Uffa Fox CBE (15 January 1898 – 26 October 1972) was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast, responsible for a number of innovations in boat design. Not afraid of courting controversy or causing offence, he is remembered for his eccentric behaviour and pithy quotes, as much as for his original boat designs. Life Fox was born on the Isle of Wight and was raised in East Cowes. He lived for a while in Puckaster on the Isle of Wight. In July 1921, Fox and a crew of nine sea scouts departed for the western Solent in a open whaler under the parental expectation that they were on a camping/sailing trip. He decided to extend the itinerary up the Seine towards Paris. In seven days, they travelled within 70 kilometres of the city when they turned around to return another five days later. After being met by the coast guard as presumed castaways, Fox was relieved of his role in the sea scouts. He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in January 1963 when he was surpr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Fletcher (graphic Designer)
Alan Gerard Fletcher (27 September 1931 – 21 September 2006) was a British graphic designer. In his obituary, he was described by ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "the most highly regarded graphic designer of his generation, and probably one of the most prolific". Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Fletcher moved to England at age five, and studied at four art schools: Hammersmith School of Art, Central School of Art, Royal College of Art (1953–1956) and lastly Yale School of Art and Architecture at Yale University in 1956. Fletcher was noted for use of bold colors and a humorous graphic design approach to advertising and branding. Early life Fletcher was born in Nairobi, where his father was a civil servant. When his father was terminally ill he returned to England at the age of five with the rest of his family. He lived with his grandparents in Shepherd's Bush in West London, before being evacuated in 1939 to Christ's Hospital in Horsham. He studied at the Hammersmith School of Art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Eckersley
Tom Eckersley OBE (30 September 1914 – 4 August 1997) was an English poster artist and teacher of design. Early career Tom Eckersley was born on 30 September 1914 in Lancashire. His artistic training began in 1930 when he enrolled at Salford Art School, where his abilities were soon recognised and he was awarded the Heywood Medal for Best Student. One of his instructors was Martin Tyas. In 1934 Eckersley moved to London with the express purpose of becoming a freelance poster designer. He was accompanied by Eric Lombers (1914–1978), a fellow student and future collaborator on commissioned poster designs. He later cited poster artists Adolphe Mouron Cassandre and Edward McKnight Kauffer as major influences. Eckersley-Lombers posters were both aesthetic and functional, thereby perfectly fulfilling advertisers' criteria. Eckersley-Lombers always supplied full-size artwork with hand drawn lettering for their poster designs. Eckersley was involved not only in graphic des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucienne Day
Désirée Lucienne Lisbeth Dulcie Day Order of the British Empire, OBE Royal Designers for Industry, RDI Chartered Society of Designers, FCSD (''née'' Conradi; 5 January 1917 – 30 January 2010) was one of the most influential British textile designers of the 1950s and 1960s. Day drew on inspiration from other arts to develop a new style of abstract pattern-making in post-war British textiles, known as 'Contemporary' design. She was also active in other fields, such as wallpapers, ceramics and carpets. Childhood Born in Coulsdon, Surrey, England, and raised in nearby Croydon, Lucienne Day was half-Belgian, the daughter of an English mother (Dulcie Conradi) and a Belgian father (Felix Conradi), who worked as a re-insurance broker. Initially educated at home, she attended Woodford School in Croydon from 1926–29 and a boarding school at the Convent of Notre Dame de Sion in Worthing, Sussex, from 1929 to 1934. At the age of 17 Lucienne enrolled at Croydon College#History, Croyd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Day (designer)
Robin Day Order of the British Empire, OBE Royal Designer for Industry, RDI Chartered Society of Designers, FCSD (25 May 1915 – 9 November 2010) was one of the most significant British furniture designers of the 20th century, enjoying a long career spanning seven decades. An accomplished industrial and interior designer, he was also active in the fields of graphics and exhibitions. His wife Lucienne Day, née Conradi (1917–2010) was a renowned textile designer. The couple married in 1942 and had one daughter, Paula Day (born 1954). Career Early life, education and marriage Robin Day grew up in the furniture-making town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. High Wycombe Technical Institute, where he was a junior day student, had close links with the local furniture industry. Being gifted at drawing, Day progressed to High Wycombe School of Art in 1931 and then won a scholarship to study design at the Royal College of Art in 1934. On leaving the RCA in 1938, there were no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Cullen
Thomas Gordon Cullen (9 August 1914 – 11 August 1994) was an influential British architect and urban designer who was a key motivator in the Townscape movement. Cullen presented a new theory and methodology for urban visual analysis and design based on the psychology of perception, such as the human need for visual stimulation and the notions of time and space. He is best known for the book ''Townscape'', first published in 1961. Later editions of ''Townscape '' were published under the title ''The Concise Townscape''. Life Early life and education Cullen was born in Calverley, Pudsey, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England. He studied architecture at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, the present day University of Westminster, and subsequently worked as a draughtsman in various architects' offices including that of Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton, but he never qualified or practised as an architect. Career Between 1944 and 1946 he worked in the planning office of the Development and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Henry Gordon CraigSome sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig". (born Edward Godwin; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings. Craig was the son of actress Dame Ellen Terry. The Gordon Craig Theatre, built in Stevenage (the town of his birth), was named in his honour in 1975. Life and family The illegitimate son of the architect Edward Godwin and the actress Ellen Terry, Craig was born Edward Godwin on 16 January 1872 in Railway Street, Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, England, and baptised at age 16 as Edward Henry Gordon. He attended Bradfield College in Berkshire from May 1886 to July 1887. He took the surname Craig by deed poll at age 21.Hamilton, James"Craig, (Edward Henry) Gordon (1872–1966)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susie Cooper
Susan Vera Cooper OBE (29 October 1902 – 28 July 1995) was a prolific English ceramic designer working in the Stoke-on-Trent pottery industries from the 1920s to the 1980s. Life and work Born in Burslem, Staffordshire, she was the youngest of seven children. From an early age she developed an interest in drawing, and began her art education by attending night classes at the Burslem School of Art. In 1922 she joined the ceramics firm A. E. Gray & Co. Ltd, partially as a means to gain entry to the Royal College of Art. A. Edward Gray quickly discovered her talents as a painter and designer, and soon she was producing her hand-painted floral designs. In 1923 A. E. Gray launched the Gloria Lustre Range employing the technique of lustreware. In 1929, motivated by her desire to design ceramic shapes in addition to decors, she broke away with her brother-in-law Albert "Jack" Beeson to set up her own business, as Susie Cooper Potteries. She worked for many other pottery firms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Cockerell
Douglas Bennett Cockerell (5 August 1870 – 25 November 1945) was a British bookbinder and author. Early life and education Douglas Bennett Cockerell was born on 5 August 1870 in Clifton Cottage, Sydenham in London, England to parents Alice Elizabeth (née Bennett) and Sydney John Cockerell. They were a middle class family but when his father died in 1877, the family struggled. He attended the St. Paul’s School, until age 15 when he moved to Canada. Cockerell wasn't doing well in school and Canada gave him new opportunities, initially he worked on a farm. At the age of 20, he ended up managing a bank at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Cockerell returned to England in 1891 and worked as a secretary of the Chiswick School of Arts and Crafts in west London. His brother Sydney Cockerell was a secretary to William Morris of the Kelmscott Press, which gave him an introduction to book arts. Cockerell apprenticed under T.J. Cobden-Sanderson from 1893 until 1897 at the Doves Bindery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Cockerell
Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell (4 June 1910 – 1 June 1999) was an English engineer, best known as the inventor of the hovercraft. Early life and education Cockerell was born in Cambridge, where his father, Sir Sydney Cockerell, was curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, having previously been the secretary of William Morris. His mother was the illustrator and designer Florence Kingsford Cockerell. Christopher attended the preparatory school of St Faith's. Christopher was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk. He matriculated at Peterhouse, Cambridge to read mechanical engineering. He later returned to Cambridge to study radio and electronics. Early career He began his career as a post graduate pupil working for W. H. Allen, Sons & Co. of Bedford from 1931 to 1933. After returning to the University of Cambridge in 1934 to study radio and electronics, he went to work at the Radio Research Company. In 1935, he went to work at the Marconi Company, and soon afterwards he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
