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The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA) is a
museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
in North
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, housing one of the most comprehensive collections of 19th- and 20th-century
decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usua ...
for the home. The collection is designated as being of outstanding international value by
Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...
. The collections include the Silver Studio collection of designs for
wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...
s and
textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, the Charles Hasler collection, and the
Crown Wallpaper Crown Wallpaper, also known as the Crown Wallpaper Company, was an agglomeration of wallpaper manufacturers in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain ...
Archive. The museum is part of
Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...
. The MoDA Collections Centre is based at Beaufort Park in
Colindale Colindale is a district in the London Borough of Barnet; its main shopping street on the A5 forming the borough boundary with neighbouring Brent. Colindale is a suburban area, and in recent years has had many new apartments built. It's also th ...
, close to Middlesex University's Hendon campus in the
London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest London borough ...
.


The Silver Studio Collection

The Silver Studio (run by the Silver family) was a commercial design practice, based in West London, which between 1880 and 1963 completed more than 20,000 schemes for items such as furnishing fabrics, wallpapers, tablecloths, rugs and carpets. The Studio employed a number of designers, some of whom were well known in their own right, and others whose work remained anonymous. The Silver Studio's customers were retailers and manufacturers of wallpapers and textiles at all levels of the market, both in Britain and abroad. Designs for wallpapers were sold both to manufacturers producing cheap papers for the mass market, such as Lightbown Aspinall and Potters of Darwen, as well as those selling high quality products for the top end of the market, such as Essex & Co, John Line, and Sandersons. Silver Studio designs were bought by all the leading British textile manufacturers, including Stead McAlpin,
Alexander Morton Alexander Morton (born 24 March 1945) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for his roles as Andy Semple in '' Take The High Road'', Golly MacKenzie in '' Monarch of the Glen'' and Billy Kennedy in ''River City''. Acting career Glasgow-born Mo ...
, and AH Lee, to name just a few. Clients included well known producers of high quality fabrics, such as Turnbull & Stockdale and the famous department store,
Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
. Because the majority of the Silver Studio's clients were mass producers, Silver Studio designs found their way into numerous British homes. The Studio's influence on British interiors over a remarkable length of time can be seen in the huge number of their designs that went into production. After it closed in the early 1960s, the contents of the Silver Studio were given to the Hornsey College of Art, which subsequently became part of what is now
Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...
. The significance of the Collection lies both in its completeness and coherence as a whole and in the importance and uniqueness of its component parts. It spans the period 1880–1960, an important period in the development of mass market furnishings and one less well represented in other collections. Silver Studio designs found their way into many British homes over a long period, because most of its clients were mass producers. The significance of the Silver Studio as a design practice was acknowledged in 1981 with the awarding of an English Heritage blue plaque to 84 Brook Green, Hammersmith, the building that was both the Studio and the Silver family home.


Charles Hasler Collection

This material was the working collection of designer and typographer, Charles Hasler (1908-1992). Hasler played a significant role in many high-profile exhibitions, displays, poster campaigns and book publishing in Britain from the mid-1930s to the mid-1980s. Between 1942 and 1951, Hasler was an exhibition designer for the Ministry of Information and the Central Office of Information. He worked on displays such as ‘
Dig For Victory Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I ...
’, ‘Make Do and Mend’ and ‘Nation and the Child’. After the war, he became a senior designer and chairman of the Typographic Panel for 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: ...
of 1951. Hasler designed and produced the influential Specimen of Display Letters for use by Festival architects and designers. Throughout his career, Hasler lectured in typographic design and history and was involved with the education and professional development of print and graphic designers Hasler was interested in the newly emerging field of packaging and branding and in the role of typographical design. His collection reflects his keen interest in all kinds of printed material and includes postcards, playbills, sheet music, packaging and posters dating from the nineteenth century onwards.


Sir James Richards Library

MoDA holds the Sir James Maude Richards Library on long-term loan. This is a collection of architectural books and journals collected by Sir JM Richards (1907-1992), a leading spokesman and theorist of the Modern Movement in architecture in Britain. Richards was the editor of ''The Architectural Review ''between 1937 and 1971, serving as critical spokesman on behalf of both architect and public alike. ''The Architectural Review'' was launched in 1896. During the 1930s it was central to the debate concerning the Modern movement in Britain. It was international in its scope and became a forum for the best examples of Modern movement architecture. As editor of the magazine Richards met all of the leading architectural practitioners and theoreticians of the day, and this is reflected in the contents of his library. His best-known book, ''Castles on the Ground'' (1946), represents his argument in favour of suburbia, and his appreciation of the 'everyday' built environment. Sir JM Richards' Library consists of over 1500 volumes and contains all his own published work, plus books by leading artists and architectural writers including John Betjeman, John Piper, Osbert Lancaster, Nikolaus Pevsner, John Nash, Herbert Read and John Summerson.


Crown Wallpaper Archive

MoDA's Crown Wallpaper Collection consists of around 5,000 wallpaper albums and samples dating from the early 1950s to the late 1960s, donated to the museum by Crown Wallpapers in 1989. Along with the wallpapers of MoDA's Silver Studio Collection, this collection represents one of the country's finest bodies of non-elite wallpapers of the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth centuries. The majority of the wallpapers held here were intended for the mass market, not for ‘high-end’ consumers, and can therefore be seen as a barometer of British taste over a long period. The Crown Wallpaper complements our other collections, locating the product in its domestic setting and placing it in the context of histories of consumption, in particular in relation to suburbia. MoDA also has a good selection of hand-printed wallpapers from the 1930s, by artists such as
Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...
, John Aldridge and Lawrence Scarfe.


The Domestic Design Collection 1870–1960

This collection consists of over 4,000 books, journals, magazines and trade and retail catalogues relating to all aspects of home furnishing, household management, cookery, house building, DIY, home crafts and gardening. This is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in domestic furnishings, homecraft or other aspects of domestic life; it is also useful as visual reference for those interested in typography, graphic design, book design and so on. A particularly important element is the material relating to the growth of North London suburbia between around 1900 and 1939. It consists of posters, brochures and other publicity material produced by property developers, builders and estate agents. This material complements the other items relating to domestic decoration and furnishing from the same period. Around 2,000 books and catalogues were originally part of the Silver Studio Collection, accumulated and used by the designers as sources of visual reference. A further 1,000 or so items were collected by the former Art and Design Librarian of
Hornsey College of Art Hornsey College of Art (a.k.a. Hornsey School of Art) was a college in Crouch End in the London Borough of Haringey, England. The HCA was "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design ...
during the 1980s. The remainder have been acquired by purchase or donation over many years.


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Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA) is a museum in North London, England, housing one of the most comprehensive collections of 19th- and 20th-century decorative arts for the home. The collection is designated as being of outstan ...
Architecture museums in the United Kingdom
Domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...
Art museums established in 2000 Decorative arts museums in England Design museums
Museum Of Domestic Design And Architecture The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA) is a museum in North London, England, housing one of the most comprehensive collections of 19th- and 20th-century decorative arts for the home. The collection is designated as being of outstan ...
Museums in the London Borough of Barnet Textile museums in the United Kingdom University museums in England