In 2009, the British designer Bethan Laura Wood took part in the Design Residency programme at the Design Museum, in its previous location at Butler’s Wharf on London’s Southbank. Fifteen years on, in February this year, Wood has become the first artist to have her work exhibited in PLATFORM, a new solo show space at the Design Museum’s new home in Kensington.
It is part-retrospective-part-new, to show how Wood creates her work, exploring her motivation and methods of her craft, and she is an inspirational choice for the inauguration of this new space. As a first-look at what a designer does, it’s a stimulating space for the next generation of designers visiting with schools and colleges and universities. Regular visitors, too, will love it. But what of the choice of designer for this inaugural platform?
Since childhood Bethan Laura Wood has been creative. A book that inspired her, One Piece of Paper by Michael Grater, published in 1963, shows how to create 3D shapes from a flat piece of paper using curving and folding techniques, is on display. It is open at ‘Woodpeckers’, with double page with drawings and instructions to create a lively bird. And within the show ‘Hypernature’, commissioned by the champagne makers Perrier-Jouet, is a full-sized psychedelic tree made from aluminium, with leaves and petals of PVC, which could easily have been informed by this early reading of Wood’s. It is a spectacular piece created to hold champagne flutes. “I like the idea of using ornamentation as the starting point rather than it being the end point,” she says, “It’s a common ethos in design that you strip back to get to the ‘pure’ version of a piece. I wanted to subvert that.”
A section that makes Wood’s point has to be her designs for handles. A simple, arbitrary object, you might think, but anyone who has ordered a new kitchen will recall the time spent choosing the right door furniture – the handles are intrinsic to the completed look. Wood considers handles to be the ‘jewellery of furniture’. For her Meissen Caterpillar Cabinet – which references the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll – it is the scalloped hinges and scooped desk handles that give the cabinet a life form, and her inspiration was a cricket insect’s legs and antennae. Knowing what works – and what doesn’t – explains Wood’s methodology. Her sketchbook – the work in progress – is displayed alongside the finished cabinet to show how she worked through the project. The multiple cabinet drawers mimic the segments of a caterpillar’s body, while the ALPI veneers are designed to evoke the squirls of smoke emanating from the hookah of Carroll’s enigmatic creature.
What comes across throughout is Wood’s vibrant use of colour, it enhances the overall effect of the design itself. When you visit, fall – literally – into the squidgy segmented sofas, the ‘Terrazzo Quarry’, found in the walk-around show. These interactive sculptures were especially made for the PLATFORM display., and the shapes are like giant rocks covered in a psychedelic terrazzo pattern. A few minutes seated here will surely revive the sitter; or prove so relaxing it may be difficult to get up.
Wood’s oeuvre is not limited to furniture, however. Her expansive collection includes ceramics, rugs and carpets, light-fittings and textiles, as well as furnishings, all without boundaries. What comes across is colour, pattern and fabulous textures, all working in exquisite harmony, but what drives this not a complicated process, rather a very simple ethos; “I always hope that my objects bring enjoyment to someone’s life..’. And that is certainly evident in this sassy, stimulating look at one of Britain’s most charismatic designers. It is, simply, a joy.
Bethan Laura Wood’s PLATFORM runs until January 2026 at the Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG. Admission is free. For more information, please visit designmuseum.org.
