Barbara Paleka-Lucas

About

An industrial designer turned design historian; Barbara has always been fascinated by how things are made. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design and the Royal College of Art over fifteen years ago, she became a professional product designer leading and co-producing projects in furniture, footwear, and fashion around the world. Her background as a practising designer and craftswoman with global manufacturing knowledge is the foundation of her work as a historian. With direct experience of the cultural, economic, and ecological consequences of design, and first-hand knowledge of ancient craft traditions, Barbara is fascinated by the impact of design decisions on our lives and the wider world.

During the History of Design MA, Barbara questioned dominant narratives of progress, examining the use of toxic new materials in the manufacture of Christian Barman’s HMV Electric Heater, 1934/1938. She also explored manufacturing failure in the Victorian period, focusing on another new material: the first synthetic plastic, Parkesine, and the life of its creator, Alexander Parkes. Situated between art, science, and manufacture, Parkesine failed, both as a product and as a business venture, but Parkes’ eighty patents continue to touch nearly every part of modern life. His work allows us to examine broader notions of success and failure that continue to define the working lives of every designer today.

Barbara has also been a part of the V&A Rapid Response and Furniture curation teams for nine months where she is still actively involved in cataloguing, conservation, research, and curatorial tasks. Drawing on both her practical experience and original research, Barbara aims to tell the untold stories behind the journey of ideas into artefacts, hoping to introduce the histories of making and mass manufacture to a wider audience, so that the importance of design is better appreciated. Fascinated by the intersection of art, science, and industry, Barbara plans to further explore  themes of risk, failure, and play. All of us have been makers at some point in our lives, even if only as children, and all of us have direct experience of the link between creativity, imagination, and making mistakes. Barbara is fascinated by craft traditions that persist despite mechanisation and believes we should question contemporary perceptions of value, and challenge notions of progress.