Half term, time for a proper little holiday for the first time in a long time. Time away from the current gig, time with the family, time to reflect on a few things, time to do some other stuff. Also, my 40th birthday was in there.
I took full advantage of Birthday Privilege to drag the family to the Barbican for their World of Ray and Charles Eames exhibition.
In short: Excellent.
Lots to look at, watch, and read, including a full multi-screen recreation of Think!. Two hours well spent in the breadth of the Eameses’ consistently excellent work and thinking. (There’s a solid overview on Creative Review.)
Worth noting: The Barbican’s wall text and captions are excellent. I respectfully didn’t take shots of any (instead writing notable excerpts on the back of our tickets). There’s an excellent one at the top of this post.
And this Alexander Girard quote particularly struck a chord.
Handily, to save you deciphering my handwriting, the Barbican have now uploaded the wall text and captions to their website. You can view them on a PDF here.
One of the wall texts had me coming away feeling I am not the only person seemingly concerned with the process of design. (It’s my little paranoia, and undercurrent in a recent post.) So, thanks for whoever wrote that. Reaffirming.
Fellow process enquirers can view Charles Eames’ design process diagram on the Eames Office website.