Es Devlin said of this archive show at the Design Museum that she wanted to, “show a trajectory of 50 years of decision-making in such a way that whether you’re a designer, an artist or whether you’re in business or medicine, whatever it is, you can find a thread in this show that’s relevant and some guidance.”
Which is the exactly the pleasure in this show, expertly identified and carried out by this modern master of design, so that you are simply carried along through it in most satisfying manner. It begins with timed entries into a room which is an exact replica of her studio. A screen appears on one wall, showing a tabletop and Devlin’s hands appear, to draw and montage as her voice talks through some of the highlights of a career which has taken her from being a young artist in Richmond, into becoming one of the world’s most in-demand creatives, designing acclaimed theatre productions and operas, and stage shows by the likes of Adele, U2 and Kendrick Lamar, as well as beloved public installations like her Come Home Again dome which celebration London wildlife outside the Tate Modern... and with a typically winning flourish, her hands then ‘push open’ one wall of the studio to let you into the exhibition proper.
