Getting ready for 'Life on Foot'

The current Design Museum

Sadly the Collection Lab exhibition at the Design Museum will be closing at the end of the month, it will though I understand help to inform the 'public space' in Kensington when the Design Museum moves there.

The volunteer tours that I've been a part of for the last 6 months or so will migrate to other exhibitions the first will be the current Life on Foot with its twin themes of walking and the  design led Spanish footwear company Camper.


On Saturday I was given the opportunity to start my personal preparations for a Volunteer led  tour of this exhibition.

To me at this stage I see the exhibition as holding  two themes, one the ethos, history and culture of the Camper brand (Camper incidentally translates from the  Majorcan term for 'rustic' ) and the other covers more about the way we traverse our environment.

So the  camper brand

A strong logo helps

Camper is a very different proposition from Nike and other in your face trainer companies - it is rooted in it's Majorcan home where the design function remains although manufacture unsurprisingly perhaps is now performed in the Far East.

Tools of the footwear assembler

The central element of the show designers' toolkit remains the last which acts as the foot inspired 'mould' that the show should wrap - but alongside this are a  host of other specialist  accoutrements.






As we know we live in  a world where brand is the zeitgeist, particularly for the fashionista and Camper have used a knowing anti consumerist message to their advantage alongside some sexy designs and skilful high end  retail experiences.

A message from Camper

Desirable and branded

 

 

The Walking

So we (Homo-sapiens) are noted for being erect and the way we travel on two legs has been fundamental to our success and evolution -

Our first exploration on another planet (the moon) was summarised in terms of footprints.

A giant leap

The city is investigated in this exhibition within an exhibition and there are displays  that allow interaction on the topic of our life on foot and the idea of the Flaneur is recorded, a French term for artist/traveller  with no exact translation.


Other items reflect the way that  increasingly we carry 'tech' with us that reports back on our health and potential encouragement by the state  for us to walk more.

An interactive screen shows cities footfalls

There is (for me) a further area around the Flaneur  I may try to touch on which is the Art movement which was spearheaded by  Richard Long  when he was a student at St. Martins  around 1967 (you can see a critique of this form here)