The Design Research Unit (DRU) was one of the first generation of British design consultancies combining expertise in architecture, graphics and industrial design. It was founded by the managing director of Stuart Advertising Agency, Marcus Brumwell with

Misha Black Sir Misha Black (16 October 1910 – 11 October 1977) was a British-Azerbaijani architect and designer. In 1933 he founded with associates in London the organisation that became the Artists' International Association. In 1943, with Milner Gray ...

and

Milner Gray Milner Gray may refer to: *Milner Gray (politician) Milner Gray (11 May 1871 – 10 April 1943) was a British Liberal politician. Family life and business Gray was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, the son of a Baptist Minister,''Who was Who'', OUP ...

in 1943. It became well known for its work in relation to the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

in 1951 and its influential

corporate identity A corporate identity or corporate image is the manner in which a corporation, firm or business enterprise presents itself to the public (such as customers and investors as well as employees). The corporate identity is typically visualized by ...

project for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in 1965. In 2004, DRU merged with

Scott Brownrigg Scott Brownrigg (originally Scott Brownrigg & Turner) is a British architecture practice with nine offices in the UK and abroad, with staff of 280. It was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in London. Company The company was originally establis ...

architects.

History

The group officially formed in 1943 following discussions begun by Marcus Brumwell, and the poet and writer

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...

the previous year. An early set of notes proposed a "service equipped to advise on all problems of design", addressing the needs of "the State, Municipal Authorities, Industry or Commerce." They anticipated a post-war demand for technical expertise and a need for "the reconditioning and re-designing public utility services" recommending "contact... with the railway companies, motor coach lines and so on." Herbert Read became their first member of staff, sharing offices in Kingsway with

Mass-Observation Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex. Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...

, another initiative that Brumwell supported under the umbrella of the Advertising Services Guild. Read was joined by

Bernard Hollowood Albert Bernard Hollowood (3 June 1910 – 28 March 1981) was an English writer, cartoonist and economist. He was editor of the humorous weekly magazine ''Punch'' from 1957 to 1968. Life and career Born on 3 June 1910 at Burslem, Stoke-on-Tre ...

in 1944 and after an unsuccessful tour of factories in the Midlands they engaged the sculptor

Naum Gabo Naum Gabo, born Naum Neemia Pevsner (23 August 1977) (Hebrew: נחום נחמיה פבזנר), was an influential sculptor, theorist, and key figure in Russia's post-Revolution avant-garde and the subsequent development of twentieth-century scul ...

to design a new car for Jowett. The contract was terminated by the company in 1945. Black and Gray were initially committed to wartime roles within the Exhibitions Department for the Ministry of Information. Under their leadership, DRU made important postwar contributions to the

Britain Can Make It ''Britain Can Make It'' was an exhibition of industrial and product design held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1946. It was organised by the '' Council of Industrial Design'', later to become the ''Design Council''. Background E ...

exhibition (1946) and

(1951). At the invitation of the Council of Industrial Design (afterward

Design Council The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom charity incorporated by Royal Charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instrumental in the prom ...

), DRU designed the Quiz Machines that sought to gauge public taste at BCMI, as well as the highly didactic ‘What

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

Means’ display (by Black, Bronek Katz, and R. Vaughan). This marked the beginning of a long association between the two bodies. For the Festival of Britain they were the architects for the Regatta Restaurant and designed a series of displays for the

Dome of Discovery The Dome of Discovery was a temporary exhibition building designed by architect Ralph Tubbs for the Festival of Britain celebrations which took place on London's South Bank in 1951, alongside the River Thames. The consulting engineers were Fr ...

Key DRU commissions included the 1954 Electricity Board Showrooms, by Black, Gibson, and H. Diamond, the

BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

engineering hall at London Airport (Heathrow) by Black, Kenneth Bayes, and BOAC staff from 1951 to 1955, and a number of interiors for the P&O

Orient Line The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% shareholde ...

's new liner ''

Oriana {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 Oriana is a given name, primarily of a female, that is widespread in Europe. Variants include ''Orianna'', ''Oriane'' or ''Orianne''. Sometimes ''Orian, Oreste'' or '' Dorian'' may be a male given name or a famil ...

'' by Black and Bayes in 1959. Other companies for whom DRU worked included Ilford,

Courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...

Watney Combe & Reid Watney Combe & Reid was a leading brewery in London. At its peak in the 1930s it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. It produced Watney's Red Barrel. History The Watney family were the mai ...

Dunlop, London Transport, and

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. The 1968

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

street name signs by Misha Black (typography and implementation by Christopher Timings and Roger Bridgman) have become an integral part of London's streetscape. Since this time, DRU has worked for many high-profile companies, in interior design, graphic design and architecture. Projects of note include: * Architectural design for:

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...

extension works,

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Londo ...

(DLR),

Copenhagen Metro The Copenhagen Metro ( da, Københavns Metro, ) is a 24/7 rapid transit system in Copenhagen, Denmark, serving the municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, and Tårnby. The original system opened in October 2002, serving nine stations on t ...

, Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

's guided bus system * Graphic design & wayfinding for:

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

, Lee Valley,

Tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...

Their work is the subject of a Cubitt Artists touring exhibition and publication by Michelle Cotton.

Notable partners and associates

* Kenneth Bayes, joined 1945 *

, 1943–77 * Marcus Brumwell, 1943–74 * June Fraser, 1957-80 *

Frederick Gibberd Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd (7 January 1908 – 9 January 1984) was an English architect, town planner and landscape designer. He is particularly known for his work in Harlow, Essex, and for the BISF house, a design for a prefabricated council ...

, 1945–46 * Alexander Gibson, (joined 1948) *

, joined 1943 *

Jock Kinneir Richard "Jock" Kinneir (11 February 1917 – 23 August 1994) was a British typographer and graphic designer who, with his colleague Margaret Calvert, designed many of the road signs used throughout the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies, an ...

, 1949–56 *

, 1943–68 *

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British architect noted for his modernist and Functionalism (architecture), functionalist designs in high-tech architecture. He was a senior partner a ...

, 1967–71 * Su Rogers, 1967–71 *

Felix Samuely Felix James Samuely (3 February 1902 – 22 January 1959) was a Structural engineer. Born in Vienna, he immigrated to Britain in 1933. Worked with Erich Mendelsohn on the De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (1936), the British Pavilion for the B ...

, 1945–46 *

Sadie Speight Sadie Speight, Lady Martin (26 May 1906 – 23 October 1992), was a British architect, designer and writer, and a leading figure in, and chronicler of, the Modern movement of art, architecture and design in early 20th-century Britain. She was a fou ...

, 1945–46 * Ian Thomas Liddell, 1970–98

References

External links

Official website

Design Research Unit 1942–72 by Michelle Cotton

Design Research Unit 1942–72 exhibition
* {{Authority control Design companies of the United Kingdom British industrial designers British graphic designers Logo designers Exhibition designers Design companies established in 1943