Thomas Heatherwick: ‘the Leonardo da Vinci of our times’?

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Ian Jones finds much to admire at ‘Heatherwick Studio: Designing the Extraordinary’ at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum

Sir Terence Conran has described the designer Thomas Heatherwick as ‘the Leonardo da Vinci of our times’. Heatherwick’s design studio has worked on a diverse selection of projects from furniture, sculpture and product design to architecture and engineering. Nonetheless, Thomas Heatherwick is not a trained architect or engineer.  He studied three-dimensional product design at Manchester Polytechnic (now the Manchester Metropolitan University) and at the Royal College of Art before setting up his design studio in Camden in 1994.  The studio expanded and transferred to larger premises at Kings Cross six years later. 

The V&A are hosting a major solo exhibition of the work of the studio, which they have described as one of the most inventive and experimental studios practising in Britain today.

The exhibition space has been cleverly designed to give the impression of walking through the Heatherwick workshop and archive.  Objects are grouped together in conceptual clusters rather than on a chronological timeline and, in addition to photographs, maquettes, prototypes, scale models and material fragments, there are accompanying audio and film footage clips featuring the designer discussing stories behind the projects. The Heatherwick Studio has also designed an eye-catching temporary canopy over the front steps of the Museum, which will stay in place during the ‘British Design Season’ of exhibitions.

With such an eclectic collection of projects showcased in this exhibition it is difficult to define or describe the ethos of the studio.  Thomas Heatherwick has said that he believes that problems can be solved by ‘creative design’ and he was described in a recent Radio 4 interview as ‘having a playful approach to design, looking at the properties of materials and asking questions about them’.  Questions such as ‘can you do joinery with books, or if a symmetrical form made by rotational casting can be made into a comfortable chair?’.  It can, and the results on show in the exhibition are spectacular spun chairs that look like giant versions of a Victorian child’s spinning top. 

On show alongside the extraordinary, such as the scale model of the UK pavilion ‘Seed Cathedral’ at the ‘Shanghai World Expo’ (2010) and a full sized mock-up of the end of the new London Routemaster double-decker bus, New Bus for London (2012) are many smaller objects that may at first appear ordinary but still contain the trademark attention to creative use of materials and innovative solutions to design problems.  Examples of note are Plank (1993) which, by the clever positioning of four slightly off set hinges, folds up into a side table or seat.  Paper House (2009), commissioned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, clearly illustrates the ethos of the studio.  The borough commissioned the studio to design a newspaper kiosk that was easy to set up, able to be moved and yet a deterrent to vandalism.  It also had to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  The result, where I have purchased my newspapers each weekday for the past three years, is a beautiful shell shaped kiosk.  Owing to its stepped inverted pyramid shape it is impossible to climb up any of the sides.  The internal layout, with tiered shelving reminiscent of the seating of an amphitheatre, allows magazines to be clearly displayed.  The front of the kiosk opens by virtue of two doors that slide into the body and can be securely fastened to close when not in use. 

A series of events has been organized by the V&A to support this exhibition.  These include a lunchtime lecture and a late evening opening.  There are also model demonstrations each weekday and drop-in design days for families, where children can make extraordinary structures inspired by the exhibits.  The exhibition is sponsored by the financial services company Ernst and Young and is curated by Abraham Thomas, Curator of Designs at the V&A.  The exhibition runs until 30 September and admission is free for V&A members, otherwise tickets are priced at £6 (National Art Pass holder and student concessions are available) admission for many exhibition special events is also included in the ticket price.

There is no catalogue, but the book Thomas Heatherwick: Making has been published to coincide with the exhibition.  Over 140 projects are illustrated and Thomas Heatherwick has written an in-depth behind-the-scenes perspective revealing the creative inspiration, design and manufacture behind each project.  Running to 600 pages and containing over 800 illustrations this slightly smaller-than-A4 hardback book does not follow the exhibition concept but is a stand-alone publication that, at a price of £38.00, will be of interest to serious design students.