Innovating Britain, 60 years on

This week sees the start of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Festival of Britain at the Southbank Centre, the original site of this definitive event that set the course for post-war British design. The 1951 event was called a “tonic for the nation”, a nation ravaged by the grimness of war. The comparisons might be applied (if a little exaggerated) for the contemporary context: Britain crippled by debt and the increasing reality of public sector cuts. What better a time to celebrate innovation, ingenuity and resilience many might argue.

Two of the installations that have been commissioned to mark these celebrations are fitting to this very British sense of industriousness. The Black Country Atelier (BCA), a young architecture and design practice that was formed in the midlands, the industrial heart of England, presents a series of uniquely intimate depictions of British industry today. BCA have collaborated with photographers Georgie Clarke and Andy Lo Po who capture the hives of manufacturing, repair, adaptation and developments that can seem as illusive and secretive as long-lost rural folklore. The statement seems to be that power and production has shifted away from big production lines to smaller hubs of innovation i.e in people’s kitchens and sheds. BCA’s other collaborators, Visitor Studio present a series of short films which track production methods, from the traditional to subversive. 

Equally fitting is the festival Bandstand, designed by students of architecture and design and supported by RIBA London. It is playful, experimental and very much in keeping with the principals of the 1951 Festival. Primary colours and tensile disks create a modern day maypole.

Hard work coupled with new found optimism (based in a large part on technological advancement) fuelled the spirit of the day and, 60 years on, it’s easy to see what inspired the 1950s designer and passer-by alike at the Southbank Centre. Who could not be inspired by a giant fox made out of straw, nestled by Waterloo Bridge? 

The four-month festival hosts a feast of site-wide installations and events from artist-designed beach huts to tea with Heston Blumenthal and a cascade of bunting is to be found by the Royal Festival Hall. 

David Plaisant is a member of Black Country Atelier