Despite being confined to one gallery, Design Research Unit 1942–72 at Tate St Ives makes a considered examination of four decades of DRU’s collaborative practice through a mixed display of design drawings, advertising material, mockups, and poster art. Glass vitrines presenting manuals and books published by the DRU, such as The Practice of Design (1946) and The Practical Idealists (1969), are on view alongside art by contemporary St Ives artists Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, and Bernard Leach, who were associate designers on DRU projects at the time. A Tate-produced guide designed by APFEL accompanies the show, detailing each exhibit.

Organised into seven sections, each arranged by key design commissions, the exhibition begins with the DRU’s formation as the first British practice to unite the disciplines of architecture, graphic design, and industrial design. Architect Misha Black, designer Milner Gray, and art critic Herbert Read originally founded the practice as a means of bringing elegant and functional design to all. The objective, was to ‘serve a co-operation of artists and designers’ in technological design projects and to use consumer research for the development of a wholly modern school of design. These technological projects included the development of ‘house styles’ for Ilford and ICI, and the concept car designed for Jowett in 1944 by Russian sculptor Naum Gabo; too advanced for the technical capabilities of 1940s production, the car never got made. The DRU’s most iconic legacy is the corporate identity programme developed for British Rail during 1955–66. Strategic design input by DRU extended to all BR operations, including logo and typography, signage, staff uniforms, and carriage interiors. As an illustration of the DRU’s progress and development, Tate presents a linear array of design-specific material set against a selection of DRU-related artworks by Cornish artists.

Until May 2

ROO GUNZI