Last night I went to a fascinating talk at the lovely Vitsœ shop by Alex Goddard, assistant keeper at The Geffrye Museum. The talk was to celebrate the opening of a great exhibition at Vitsœ showing 50 years of the famous 606 Universal Shelving System.
The Geffrye explores ‘the home’ over the past 400 years, from around 1600 to the present day, situated in East London, in the former almshouses of the Ironmongers’ Company.
Alex took us on a journey through the museum and why it was initially started in East London surrounded by all of the Regency furniture makers.
‘eBay has changed the way in which we consume furniture,’ she said. ‘Pieces which are old in one view and destined for the scrapheap are now re-purposed into the home of another person.’
Even as I write this I am sitting on my Ercol studio couch that came to me from eBay (via some re-upholstery) and will no doubt live on to serve me well.
All photos courtesy Vitsœ
Her point that sustainability need not be bamboo furniture but can be ‘well-made, durable furniture that lasts for years’ is certainly one that I will take home with me and use when buying whatever I do buy next for my home.
Admission to the museum’s eleven period rooms, special exhibitions and herb and period gardens is free.
You can find out more about visiting the museum at www.geffrye-museum.org.uk
The exhibition at Vitsœ ’60′s 606 is 50′ is on until 16 October 2010.
Daniel Nelson is mydeco.com's Social Media Manager and the art editor for Heart Home magazine. Having worked in design for the past decade, he also started ateliertally.com as a discussion of timeless, modernist product design. You can follow him on Twitter @mydeco and @ateliertally. Read more posts by Daniel.
1 comment
PopArtRockGirlYeah! says:
Oct 6, 2010
I love the Geffrye Museum – it is a national treasure!