I am an Emeritus Professor of Design History at the University of Brighton in England, working internationally as a researcher, writer, keynote speaker and consultant. My work explores design histories as critical tools for understanding social, cultural and political change.
My work approaches design history as a plural and interdisciplinary field. Rather than treating design as an isolated aesthetic practice, I have consistently argued for histories of design (I feel that the term ‘histories of design’ is more helpful than the singular, and thus limiting, ‘history of design’) that engage with material culture, industry and business, labour, technology, psychology, ethnography and sociology. This perspective has shaped my research, teaching, editorial work and international collaborations since the mid-1970s.
I have spent most of my career in higher education, researching, teaching and developing degree programmes and research centres, as well as contributing to national and international debates about the scope and purpose of design history. I was appointed Professor of the History of Design at the University of Brighton in 1993 and founded the Design History Research Centre (now the Centre for Design History), serving as its inaugural director. I later directed the University’s Centre for Research and Development (Arts & Architecture).
Alongside my academic roles, I have been involved in professional and scholarly organisations. I have played a substantial part in the Design History Society since its founding years, including a period as Chair, and have been closely involved with the Journal of Design History since its foundation in 1988. I have also contributed to Design Issues (USA), which addresses theory, criticism and practice as well as history. Since its beginnings in Barcelona in 1999, I have been involved with the International Conference of Design History and Design Studies (ICDHS), which has sought to foster design history research beyond long-established Anglophone and Eurocentric centres. I most recently gave the keynote address at ICDHS 14 in New Delhi (October 2025).
My work has taken me internationally. I have delivered keynote lectures and invited talks in more than thirty countries across Europe, Asia, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, and have developed long-standing professional relationships with scholars, designers, museums and institutions worldwide.
Since retiring from full-time university life, I remain active as Professor Emeritus of Design History. I continue to research and publish nationally and internationally, and I undertake advisory work for universities, research groups, publishers, museums and cultural institutions. This site and blog provide a space to maintain and develop conversations around design and design histories with colleagues, collaborators and new audiences.
An overview of my publications is available here.
Background Education
- MA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art (1968–1973)
- MA British Romantic Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (1974)
- Senior Lecturer in Art & Design History, North Staffordshire Polytechnic (1974–1982)
- Principal Lecturer in the History of Design, Brighton Polytechnic (1982–1993)
- Professor of the History of Design, University of Brighton (1993–2017)
- Founder and Director, Design History Research Centre, University of Brighton (1993–1998)
- Director, Centre for Research and Development (Arts & Architecture), University of Brighton (1998–2012)
- Professor Emeritus of Design History, University of Brighton (2017–present)
Awards
- Huntley Macdonald Sinclair Travel Award (1969)
- Baldwin Brown Travel Award (1969)
- Fine Art Class Medal (1969)
- Glaxo Painting and Purchase Award (1972)
- Andrew Grant Postgraduate Travel Award (1973)