Sensuousness in Design Cities

The theme of Design Cities suggests a sprawling epic, something to fill a Royal Academy or a Tate: a century-and-a-half of design, spread over seven great cities, each one captured at its peak. The exhibition starts in London in 1851, and returns to London in 2008, via Vienna, Dessau, Paris, Los Angeles, Milan and Tokyo. Each of these cities would merit at least one exhibition by itself.

The argument is that at critical moments certain cities have acquired a critical mass of economic energy and creative talent to push design, worldwide, to a new level. Located as this show is, however, in a single room of the Design Museum, means that the cavalcade of majestic conurbations becomes more like a conveyor belt of sushi, offering tasty nibbles of each.

There is no room to convey the city-ness of the cities: the horsedung and coalsmoke of London, the tram rattle of Vienna, the dry Martinis of Milan or the neon of Tokyo. So there is not much to bring alive the connection between place and product that the show proposes.

The nibbles are delicious, an array of some of the most brilliant and elegant artefacts of modern times. There is Christopher Dresser’s teapot of 1879, whose cubistic design makes it 50 years ahead of its time. There is delightful glassware and furniture from 1900s Vienna, and some of Charles and Ray Eames’ greatest hits from the era of postwar American optimism. There is Mario Bellini’s 1972 calculator, the sensuousness of which prefigures the iPhone, and Gio Ponti’s superleggera chair. Made of wood, it can easily be lifted head-high with one hand.

The show works best as an educational primer on modern design, a quick introduction to the highlights of the past 150 years. But an air of duty hangs over it as if it were put together to fill a gap of tick-a-box. It lacks the oomph of Design Museum shows at their best.

Until 4 Jan. Information: 020 7403 6933, www.designmuseum.org

Design Cities
Design Museum
Shad Thames, SE1 2YD