Photo Peter Kelleher/© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
On Wednesday, the V&A in London reopened several galleries dedicated to design from the past 126 years. The newly installed Design 1900-Now spaces, which had been closed since November, showcase 250 objects from the 20th and 21st centuries, from a first edition of Kim Kardashian’s coffee table book Selfish, published in 2015, to a bottle of Finlandia vodka from 1969-70, to a “Crate” chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1934.
The collection is a reminder of how design infiltrates everyday life, whether through technology, trendy toys, or modes of communication. The galleries are not organized chronologically, but around six themes: automation and labor, housing and living, crisis and conflict, consumption and identity, sustainability and subversion, and data and communication.
Below are several highlights from the 1900-Now galleries, including a few new acquisitions. Those include a package of star-shaped pimple patches; a circular blue badge that says “Please offer me a seat,” designed for public transportation users who have trouble standing, a green polyester travel prayer mat with an embedded compass, so a user can always be sure they are facing toward the east, and a YouTube watch page featuring “Me at the zoo,” the first video uploaded to the now-ubiquitous video sharing platform in 2005.
-
Egg Chair, 1968
Image Credit: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London -
Boombox, 1984
Image Credit: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London -
First YouTube Video, 2005
Image Credit: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London -
Transport for London Button, 2017
Image Credit: Photo Olivia Singleton/© Victoria and Albert Museum, London -
Portable Prayer Mat, 2023
Image Credit: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London -
Labubu, 2025
Image Credit: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London -
Pimple Patches, 2025
Image Credit: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London -
The V&A’s Newly Installed Design 1900-Now Galleries
Image Credit: Photo Peter Kelleher/© Victoria and Albert Museum, London