Dublin Castle / Ireland Irish Design 2015 was a year long programme to promote and celebrate Irish design. Barber Osgerby were asked to bring the In the Making show to Dublin as the inaugural exhibition. This was a rare opportunity to represent the studio in my own county.
In the Making was first shown at London’s Design Museum. The show, curated by Barber Osgerby presents everyday objects, unfinished and just part of the way through the design process, from the £2 coin to the Olympic torch.
We had to source two additional objects that were specifically Irish and finally chose the River Boyne Currach boat which Meitheal Mara were commissioned to provide in its unfinished state. The second object we chose was the Triathlon artificial knee joint from Stryker.
Both new additions had to be documented, photographed and filmed to add to the existing show. We also worked with Studio.Build, in London, to create silhouettes, information leaflets, and additional graphic material.
As it was different to the London layout, we also had to reconfigure and adapt the two gallery spaces for the Irish venue.
Warehouse 421 / Abu Dhabi In the Making was presented in partnership with the British Council for the UK/UAE 2017 year of Creative Collaboration Program with Abu Dhabi, being opened by the British ambassador.
Discovering Abu Dhabi for the first time, I worked with Universal Design Studio to oversee the spatial layout for this ambitious and constantly evolving show.
We were asked to choose two new objects for the show; one central to Abu Dhabi culture and one a ‘Universal’ object. We chose the ‘Sound board- Oud’ instrument as the local and a book as the ‘Universal’. The installation of both objects was challenging; the ‘Book’ had to be kept open seamlessly showing no detail whereas the ‘Oud’ hung freely as the dramatic centrepiece on entry.
We sourced and illustrated these objects using photography, film, installation and graphics, caption blocks and visitor handouts, all in dual languages.