Recent Tendencies in Design

Abstract

As the 1990s take hold in the British theatre, the designer is once again news. Such was the case throughout the 1980s but often for the wrong reasons, as journalists focused on issues of aesthetic overkill and scenic bombardment that did the discipline of design no favours. Now, profiles of designers regularly appear on the pages of colour supplements and glossy magazines, often accompanied by elaborate reproductions of the individual’s work. It’s as if the general public has at last acknowledged what the industry itself always knew to be true: the important theatre of any epoch depends upon important designers, and Britain is lucky to have more than a few whose influence can be felt both on home ground and abroad. As the 1990s take hold in the British theatre, the designer is once again news. Such was the case throughout the 1980s but often for the wrong reasons, as journalists focused on issues of aesthetic overkill and scenic bombardment that did the discipline of design no favours. Now, profiles of designers regularly appear on the pages of colour supplements and glossy magazines, often accompanied by elaborate reproductions of the individual’s work. It’s as if the general public has at last acknowledged what the industry itself always knew to be true: the important theatre of any epoch depends upon important designers, and Britain is lucky to have more than a few whose influence can be felt both on home ground and abroad.