Design in Industry

Abstract

AT the opening meeting of the new session of the Royal Society of Arts on November 4, the chairman of the Council, Sir Henry McMahon, announced the institution of a new distinction of D.I. (Designer for Industry) for designers for industry who have attained eminence in creative design. The distinction is limited in the first instance to ten and the number of holders of it at any one time will not exceed thirty. The essence of the scheme is to encourage the improvement of industrial design by enhancing the status of the designer in the public regard, and thereby arousing a more general recognition of the importance of industrial art. This latest step is in continuance of the Society's efforts in this field from the eighteenth century onward, and is a natural development of the annual competition of industrial designs initiated in 1923 and of the Exhibition of British Art in Industry organized at Burlington House last year in co-operation with the Royal Academy. The very success of the Exhibition, which stimulated a widespread movement advocating the cause of art in industry, emphasized the fact that no recognition or distinction was heretofore available for designers, who through their great work for industry are deserving of wide public recognition of their valuable services to their country. This gap, it is hoped, will be filled by the new distinction.