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Composite of four images related to design. A miniature doll sculpture being held between two fingers; Pressed flowers on a black background; a graphic print of two arrows and a tire, one pink and one black; a yellow house with a patterned door in a court

Centre for Design History
  • Centre for Design History
  • What we do
  • Join us for study, work or visit
  • Who we are

Welcome to the Centre for Design History

The Centre for Design History applies a cross-disciplinary research perspective to understand how design in all its forms has shaped things, spaces and actions across time. 

Our approach extends to research across other arts and humanities, the social sciences, engineering, health, and community engagement. A wide social and economic impact develops through our links with the cultural sector, particularly museums and art galleries, government and voluntary sectors and creative businesses. Our research in design history makes an important contribution to cultural life and wellbeing in areas such as heritage, sustainable design, housing and dress histories.

 

PhD applicants - find out more about studying within the centre

Contact the centre regarding membership enquiries, doctoral study, research collaboration or to receive regular updates on our news and events.

CentreforDesignHistory@brighton.ac.uk


 

Blue street graffiti of an X on the pavement and sharp shadow line from railing

What we do

Sepia tinted image of a march in rural setting with males dressed in woodland clothing and carrying rustic banners and lances. Kibbo Kift from Bella Pollen research.

Join us for study, work or visit

Hand dyeing thread pink on a loom with hand pigments

Who we are

Discover our latest research activity
Visit our blog site for work-in-progress, events and opportunities.

Discover our research in detail
Explore our centre on the university's database of research and knowledge exchange.

Head and shoulders portrait of Dr Claire Wintle

Dr Claire Wintle, Director of the Centre for Design History

An introduction to the Centre for Design History from the director, Dr Claire Wintle.

Welcome to the Centre for Design History. We bring together more than 50 University of Brighton specialist historians, practitioners and researchers to understand how design in all its forms has shaped things, spaces and actions across time. We conduct research and enterprise in partnership with designers, artists and makers, as well as local, national and international arts, culture and heritage institutions. 

Researchers at the Centre for Design History apply a cross-disciplinary perspective to examine the production and consumption of visual and material culture – images and things – in their widest social and cultural contexts across diverse histories and geographies.

We are committed to taking global perspectives on how colonial and post-colonial narratives of design have been constructed and to consider what voices and practices these exclude. We contribute to an ‘expanded field’ of design history that embraces the conjunction of professional and non-professional practices; digital and analogue artefacts; the de-centring of design practice away from the singular object to complex ecologies, objects and systems, the role of design and material culture in everyday life, and the embedding of design thinking into management and organisational processes.

 

Our history and future at the Centre for Design History

The University of Brighton contributed significantly to the initial development of design history as a formal discipline in the late 1970s. Since then, it has been a leading institution for research and teaching in the subject, which is provided at all levels of the curriculum and by internationally recognised experts. The university has long been an international leader in postgraduate research in design history, with a thriving MA and PhD community, and it is the home of the internationally renowned University of Brighton Design Archives. The University of Brighton has created the platform upon which many leading professionals have built their careers in academia, archival practices, museums and other cultural and heritage organisations.

We continue to push the boundaries of research in the design history subject area, opening up new areas for research. Our current research focus is on decolonial approaches in our specialist strands:  Design Activism; Fashion and Dress History; Museums, Archives and Collections; Sustainability in Design; Transnational Design Histories. We develop our thinking and practices in dialogue with international colleagues and institutions through the establishment and development of new projects, publications and creative forms of engagement including curated exhibitions. Our members include scholars, archivists, curators, designers and museum and heritage professionals.

We welcome new collaborators at all career stages. We provide supervisory support for PhD design history candidates and host international visiting researchers. Contact us at CentreforDesignHistory@brighton.ac.uk for research consultancy and partnership across all our broad areas of design history expertise.

 

Dr Claire Wintle

 

News from the Centre for Design History

CDH on the University of Brighton news pages

Brighton lecturer brings pub history to life for BBC look to the future

Drinking Photo by Michael Discenza on Unsplash

Dr Damon Taylor has chronicled the place of pubs in the community for a new Radio 4 series looking at the future of Britain's town centres after the pandemic.

National status award for Design Archives

Posters from the Design Council Archive

The University of Brighton Design Archives has been awarded national accreditation.

Displaying 11 to 12 of 12 Next Previous |

 

 

Our researchers write for

Logo for news service The Conversation

  • Rebel youth: How Britain's Woodcraft folk tried to change the world: Annebella Pollen
  • How the humble blouse got women out to work and revolutionised a city’s manufacturing: Suzanne Rowland.
  • Love’s ruin? Victorian Valentines rival our modern age for cynical cruelty: Annebella Pollen
  • Why Louis XIV would approve of fashion at the Oscars: Marie McLoughlin

 

 

News and events from our blog site

 

Event | Workshop with Mathilda Tham

Join us for an afternoon workshop with Mathilda Tham organised by CDH’s Sustainability Research strand leads Sally Sutherland and Chantal Spencer, and programmed as part of the University of Brighton’s Global Challenges Week (2-5 December 2024).

About Us | How the Centre for Design History understands ‘Design’

This is the Centre for Design History’s statement on how our researchers think about ‘Design’, and how we understand our work At the Centre for Design History, we research ‘design’ in its broadest, most inclusive forms.

Event Series | CDH PhD Student Workshops 2022-2023

Each month, the CDH host a workshop for PhD students and recent graduates.

Event Series | CDH IOTA II Seminars 2022-2023

We are pleased to announce a new series of CDH research seminars entitled IOTA II (image-object-text-analysis).

Read more from our research centre blog site

 

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