History of Design (MA)

Decorative.

Introduction

The V&A/RCA History of Design programme is a unique MA, jointly delivered with the Victoria and Albert Museum. Straddling the art college and the museum, we combine rigorous scholarship with experimental methodologies and cross-disciplinary collaborations. Our expansive chronology ranges from 1400 to the contemporary and our geographies are truly global. Our work is public-facing and socially and environmentally engaged, encompassing histories of material culture, photography, and performance.

This year’s graduating cohort of 29 students collaborated on a sell-out symposium (‘I Love Things’), and accompanying publication, exploring the themes of identity, technology and experience in relation to their many and wide-ranging dissertation projects. They range confidently between the intensely personal, and the monumentally public. From Caribbean dress cultures to New York brides, from seventeenth century pageantry to the twentieth century Polaroids, from English sacred wells to cinemas in colonial Bombay, and many more fascinating stories that can be told using a design historical lens.

This year we were also proud to see exciting student-led projects that were seeded in our teaching and learning activities but took on a life of their own. These included two other dynamic and insightful publications: PUB (exploring the ‘third’ spaces of cafes, bars, restaurants, and of course pubs), and On the Bias (a captivating book of contributions from across the RCA). Then, there was ‘Fashion Becoming’ (a collaborative symposium with postgraduate students from Parsons New School Paris and London College of Fashion). In fact, if we also take into account their blog posts for the V&A Museum and so much else besides, we start to get an even fuller picture of the energy and talent of this group of emerging design historians. Resourceful, creative and unstoppable, we hope you enjoy a glimpse of our students and the fruits of their labours across these profile pages.

Our students

Colour photograph of woman smiling at the camera. Róisín Hurley Hirschkop
This is an Art Deco poster for the Orient Express Train. The image shows a collage of Middle Eastern iconography and famous sites with the text Simplon Orient Express and Taurus Express in a circle around them. Chella de Bay
Megha Kyal Megha Kyal
Marta Szurmiej Marta Szurmiej
Two women photographed in Harajuku wearing tiaras, Japanese yukata, and geta sandals Lan-Tien Sophia Guo
Photo of Kshiraja Krishnan. Kshiraja Krishnan
Elis Parry Mutlu, the author of the post, is standing in a busy Parisian street, smilingly facing the camera with an ice cream in hand. Elis Parry Mutlu
A black and white photo of Katherine Easthill Katherine Easthill
Girl in a leopard print jacket posing for a photo on the street. Clara Enola Jones
Blonde female with bob, smiling at the camera. Tabitha Blackburn
Philippa Bogle Philippa Bogle
Louise Maguire Louise Maguire
A smiling woman facing the camera wearing a brightly patterned dress and cardigan. Barbara Paleka-Lucas
An image of Rosie. She is sitting on a bench in a park wearing a blue dress. She has brown hair and glasses. Rosie Simon
profile image Yingzi Chen
A portrait of me wearing a printed top and a black skirt, standing next to installations of artworks. Amber Kim
Black and white image of Bhavi Vora Bhavi Vora
Taken by Aisha Olamide Seriki. Isabella Tranter-Richards
Bori working on a costume for Semele at Blackheath Halls Opera, September 2023 Bori Papp
Hattie Bennett Harriet Bennett
Kleinfeld Bridal, New York, Main Showroom, 2024. Photo by Inbal Erez. Inbal Erez
Head and shoulder photograph of a women standing in Silver Gallery at the V&A Museum. Teri Stevens
Colour photograph of a pub called 'City of London' with people sat outside and cars in front at night. Greer Lockyear
A radio operator wearing standard tropical-wear with spine pad and high waist trousers, ‘Wireless station receiving the last message from Kut, 1916’, World War One, Mesopotamia, National Army Museum, Yisai Luo 罗翊赛