A Day at the V and A

I could very happily live in London's Victoria and Albert Museum. (I wouldn't eat or sleep; I'd just live on design alone.) From the moment I stepped into the museum's Grand Entrance and caught sight of the Dale Chihuly chandelier hanging in the classical rotunda, I knew I had found my art and design home: a place that views design from a playful but respectful perspective, that's daring enough to juxtapose modern design elements with traditional work to see what connections arise. In this case, Chihuly's organic glass squiggles appear as post-Modernist descendents of the rock-crystal chandeliers favored by British monarchs. The precise geometry of the classical columns and soaring arches easily contains the chandelier's energy without taming it.

The museum is immense and would take several weeks (or in my fantasy, a lifetime) to take in. Unfortunately the day I was there the Textile gallery that I had so hoped to see was closed. There was no shortage of galleries to explore, with the two-story Medieval & Renaissance Gallery offering monumental works to gaze at from afar, while the Miniatures Gallery required close study of the dainty but masterful works by Nicholas Hilliard and other painters.

I've never been especially interested in the craft of Metalwork, but this long gallery, on the second floor overlooking the Grand Entrance, kept me entranced for well over an hour. What struck me most were the delicate designs in wrought iron that blacksmiths created--a careful dance with intense heat and molten metal, the wielding of strength to create delicate and useful arabesques, loops, vines, organic images, and intricately woven patterns. I could definitely see these shapes translated from metal to thread and popping up in my future embroidery work.