The Design Museum in Kensington is the world's leading museum devoted to contemporary design and architecture and is a critical force for education in the twenty-first century harnessing the potential design to tackle the challenges of today's complex world, from local to global.
Education is at the heart of the museum; it is at the root of founder Sir Terence Conran's vision for the inception of the museum on Shad Thames in 1989. This vision was based on the principle of promoting the importance of design for all - for industry, for education, for our lives, for the future. The Design Museum offers world-class facilities such as a creative workshop and digital design studio, alongside inspiring temporary exhibition galleries, and a residency studio for young designers.
The Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning
The Swarovski Foundation was a major donor to the Design Museum's re-launch in 2017, and helped create the new Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning. This innovative facility attracts 40,000 learners each year, bringing together the worlds of formal education, informal learning, and professional design.
The campus model of learning at the museum offers 500 m² of dedicated, world class museum learning spaces designed by John Pawson to support a range of learning formats and styles, commensurate with the scope of the learning program and drawing on the exhibition and residency spaces for content inspiration and reference.
The Swarovski Foundation Centre for provides space for design education:
- Creative Workshop: Double aspect space equipped with work bench, sinks, blackboard wall, display cabinets for handling collection, plan chest storage
- Common Room: Locker and lunch provision for visiting groups and family break out space for weekends and holidays
- Bauhaus and Ulm Rooms: Self contained and adjoining professionally presented seminar rooms
- Design Studio: Digital studio including breakout space and display cabinets for handling collection, adjoins the Ulm Room