A colour image of colourful plastic cups and saucers piled up high

Catalogue number: DCA-30-7-1968-1-1-1. Design Council Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.

On Saturday 29 October a symposium entitled Design in Mind will be held to explore the central role played by design in the success of the Southend-on-Sea firm of EKCO, one of the country’s leading radio, television and plastic manufacturers between the 1920s and the 1970s. Speakers include Dr Elizabeth Darling, longstanding friend of the Archives, who will talk about Wells Coates who designed for EKCO. An innovative plastic tableware set by the company won a prestigious Council of Industrial Design ‘Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize for Elegant Design’ in 1968, and features in the collection of the Design Archives. An example is on show at present in the display cabinets in the basement foyer of Grand Parade. The exhibition accompanying the symposium is at the Central Museum, Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea and runs between 8 October and 28 January 2012.