Martin Roth: Great design boosts our economy and democracy

Great designers change society. Think of the impact Terence Conran has had on British life by his commitment to the idea that good design is for everyone, not just the few.

Conran drew his energy from a passionate belief that Britain deserved better than the glum austerity of the post-war world. It had to change. And he was instrumental in changing it.

He achieved his vision through the successful design businesses he founded and also through great public education initiatives such as the Design Museum, which he grew from an experiment begun in a basement of the V&A.

Today’s best designers increasingly draw their energy from a different source: the street. Think of the amazing design vigour now coming out of east London, affecting everything from fashion to furniture to web design.

This is not new. The great British fashion designer Alexander McQueen took the raucous and disruptive energy of the street and turned it into fabulously original clothes — his achievements will be showcased in a major V&A exhibition next year.

But McQueen was successful not just because he understood the energy of the street. He also had a deep knowledge of the designs of the past — he spent long hours in the V&A absorbed in the riches of our textile and fashion collection. In addition he had a complete mastery of his craft. He learned his legendary tailoring skills in Savile Row.

I worry that not enough of today’s budding designers share McQueen’s respect for traditional skills. The V&A keeps in close touch with the new generation of design students. We see too many students lacking basic skills in drawing and making, and with only the sketchiest knowledge of the history of art and design. The reason is simple. These subjects are not considered “core” to the national curriculum and so they lack funding and facilities.

Great design is not just about having wonderful ideas but also having the skills and knowledge to realise them. We should be educating every British child in the basics of design and making. A new generation of great designers will keep our creative industries world class. But the clear economic benefit this will bring the UK is not the only outcome. It will also strengthen our democratic culture.

Our new exhibition at the V&A, Disobedient Object, which opened on Saturday, celebrates the energy of the street and the way it finds political expression through objects that marry democratic passion, design brilliance, and superbly practical making skills.

During last year’s mass protests in Turkey, when the authorities were firing huge amounts of tear gas at the demonstrators, the pro-democracy activists devised a smart, cheap design to turn plastic drinks bottles into very effective gas masks. The design has now gone global. It recently turned up on the streets of Caracas in Venezuela.