Exhibitions currently running:

Sit Down: Seating for Kids - When is a seat not just for sitting on? When it’s for play, for eating, for learning or even for a quick snooze of course! Taking the classic children's tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears as a starting point, major new exhibition Sit Down: Seating for Kids invites the visitor to consider just what makes the perfect seat. Is it comfort? Style? Ease of use? Spanning four centuries, Sit Down features over 70 examples of seating made for children, ranging from school chairs to armchairs, saddles to swings, highchairs to potties. Designs by Charles Eames and El Ultimo Grito are on display, as well as the Modernist highchair by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld and Spotty, a 1960s paper chair designed by Peter Murdoch. Until 5 September.

How Are Seats Designed? - Designing a child's seat is a complex process. The brief will invariably raise important questions, such as 'Is it multi-functional?', 'Is it economical?' and 'Will it appeal to parents and school decision-makers as well as to children?'. How is a Child's Seat Designed?, a display to complement major exhibition Sit Down: Seating for Kids, shows how Furniture Design & Technology students from New Bucks University have responded to Ercol Furniture's challenging brief for a functional and original child's school chair. As part of the display, Ercol have produced a prototype of the students' resulting design, which Museum visitors are invited to try out, giving their verdict on style, comfort, form and function. Until 5 September.

 

The V&A Museum of Childhood is open from 10:00 until 17:45 every day. Admission is free.
V&A Museum of Childhood
Cambridge Heath Road
London E2 9PA
Map
www.vam.ac.uk