Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things

What do the original iMac, the G-Force Cyclonic vacuum cleaner and a Kartell stacking chair have in common? They’re examples of everyday objects that have shaped the modern world. At the Design Museum, these works and dozens of others, including Jasper Morrison’s Handlebar table, are given the red-carpet treatment. Drawn largely from the institution’s permanent contemporary collection, this selection of furniture, products, and architecture is fodder for six themes, including the history of British nationalism, which is illustrated with phone boxes, road signs, and coins; and plastics, which presents a 75-year history of the material that includes early bakelite luxury items to modern fashions crafted from recycled PET bottles.