I’ll be honest, I didn’t much like the old Design Museum when it was situated by Butler’s Wharf but at least it had one thing going for it: a great view of Tower Bridge. But now they’ve shifted it to South Kensington it hasn’t even got that.
The inside of the building is definitely better but it’s the objects that let it down. I’m standing in front of a load of teapots from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, then a load of seats, stools, road signs, desk lamps, lights, a collection of spoons (teaspoons, dessert spoons, plastic spoons). Not amazingly great spoons, I hasten to add, but normal spoons. Actual spoons. Like the ones you’ve got in your kitchen drawer at home.
Luckily things get better when you reach the electronics because you can re-visit everything you had as a kid: Casio calculators, Sony Walkmans (my god they are huge – how did we ever fit them into our pocket?), the very first PlayStation, Apple’s first iBook… if you remember all of these things from your youth then it’s quite amusing to see how big they were.
They’ve got a BBC Micro (I remember using that at school), ZX Spectrums (I played on that), Game Boys (had that), those ten-tonne ribbon typewriters that went clackity-clack, 3-inch floppy disks, green screen monitors… it’s all there. This is easily the best bit of the Design Museum because it’s like taking a trip down memory lane. It’s not so much fun when you’re just looking at tables and chairs and trainers and teapots, because you don’t have any childhood memories associated with those.
I still don’t think I’d recommend a visit, though. If you want to learn about the history of design then visit the V&A Museum instead, or the Science Museum, which are a million times better.
If you enjoy this then try Science Museum (walk it in 24 mins or travel from High Street Kensington to South Kensington via tube) and Victoria & Albert Museum (walk it in 26 mins or travel from High Street Kensington to South Kensington via tube). Whilst you’re in Kensington you might like to visit the Leighton House Museum and Linley Sambourne House at 18 Stafford Terrace
