On Thursday the 5th I travelled up to London on the train after college, heavy bag and gifts in tow, I made the tube journey from Victoria to Mile End to meet my cousin. We headed back to her house to put our feet up and chat over a glass of wine whilst waiting for Alex, her boyfriend, to come home from work at the V&A. When Alex arrived home we decided to venture out into the cold of Shoreditch, we got off the warm bus to go in search of Vietnamese food and a nice bar. Having never been to that particular area of London before I found it really interesting to see, it had a really good atmosphere through the streets, with a variety of individual shops open exhibiting their stock/work , all vastly crowded with young people with drinks in hand. We came across a restaurant they had visited before and thought was good, so with a few beers to share (bring your own alcohol) we sat down and ordered summer rolls and rice noodles with chilli chicken and lemon grass.
Unable to finish the meal, we took the leftovers in a box and decided a mulled cider would be a good end to the night, after a mini tour of Shoreditch we found a small bar packed with people enjoying their friday night. Generally I would choose mulled wine over mulled cider, however I was pleasantly surprised, it was like a warm cinnamony apple pie in a cup, very seasonally appropriate! Glasses emptied we made our way home for a decaf tea and chocolate, in preparation for the early start and long day ahead on Friday.
The day begun at 7am with tea and cereal, we left for the tube at 8.30am to get to the museum by 9.30, rush hour tube take 2 was interesting, again with my heavy overnight bag. On arrival at the V&A I got signed in, with a brief tour of the Learning department on the way to Alex's office on the 3rd floor. Alex took me to the staff canteen to grab a tea ready to explore the museum, we started at the exhibition 'Tomorrow: Elmgreen & Dragset' created by the Scandinavian design duo, based on the elderly architect Norman Swann, it was a site specific exhibition, shown as his luxury South Kensington apartment.
Walking through the building Alex pointed out various rooms, such as the textiles and sculpture conservation studios, Tapestry halls, and special areas only staff have access to. Walking around it is easy to notice how the building changes dramatically, each section different but as beautiful as the one before, this is becasue the building was built over 80 years, so the architecture of the building from the inside changes throughout. Another interesting point Alex made was whilst walking through one of the larger rooms with columns from coliseums in Rome, he explained that architects and historians travelled the world taking plaster casts of monuments which were then rebuilt inside the museum, however today many of the original monuments have been destroyed or decayed, meaning the V&A holds many of the best versions of the monuments.
I made notes on some interesting points of the museum, these are written below:
- Lots of courses and events
- Many studios for workshops and courses
- Resident artists hold courses
- 700 employees, 400 on main site
- Departments and archives are scattered around London
- Many different departments on main site, such as conservation, digital learning, cleaning, exhibitions
Digital Learning Department
- 40 employees
- Many free events e.g digital design weekend, digital kids, digital futures, digital design drop in
- Courses to create income: soft circuits, toy hacking, fashion photography, iPad and smartphone photography
Events happening on the Friday included a workshop on how to use a Rasberry Pi, a small simple computer designed to work with a tv and keyboard on electronic projects. Whilst discovering the Rasberry Pi, Kickstarter entered the conversation, I'd never heard of Kickstarter before then, but I found the idea really interesting. Kickstarter is a website set up to help fund creative projects, anyone can start a project and apply for funding on the site. It works by creators asking for backers to pledge money to enable their project to succeed, a funding goal is set which must be reached for the project to receive any money. Kickstarter would be something to consider for unemployed artists or creative entrepreneurs.
Other events I had the chance to experience were the amazing Club To Catwalk exhibition of 80's fashion, and Fashion in Motion: Meadham Kirchhoff fashion show. I hadn't expected to see either of these events, so I was thrilled when Alex offered me the opportunity, knowing that I have a large interest in fashion.
Overall my day at the V&A was incredibly eye opening, I felt I learnt alot about how things work behind the scenes of large organisations, also gaining an insight into what it's like to work at a prestigious museum and to have a managerial role.
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