Browse Our Archives | University of Brighton Design Archives

Brighton School of Art

The Brighton School of Art was established above the kitchen of the Royal Pavilion in January 1859, moving to its own building in Grand Parade in 1877. Achieving national standing and expanding substantially in subsequent decades, the school moved into larger modern premises on the same site in 1961. In 1970 Brighton Polytechnic was formed…

Paul Clark

Born in 1940, Paul Clark established his reputation with designs that represent the emergence of British Pop culture. The archive comprises almost forty objects, from mugs to clocks, as well as documentation relating to their manufacture and consumption. It is an invaluable complement to the bureaucracy at work in the Council of Industrial Design, helping…

Theo Crosby

Theo Crosby (1925-1994) was an architect, sculptor, writer and designer. Working collaboratively across a range of disciplines, he was influential in shaping perceptions of the built environment of the late twentieth century. Crosby studied in South Africa, before coming to Britain in the late 1940s. In London he became involved with the Independent Group and…

Keith Cunningham

Keith Cunningham (1929-2014) was a graphic designer and painter. Born in Sydney, Australia, he moved to London at the age of 20 and studied graphic design at the Central School of Art, and later painting at the RCA. He was assistant to the designer Gordon Andrews and worked on projects including the Festival of Britain. …

Dorrit Dekk

Dorrit Dekk (1917-2014) was a graphic designer and artist. Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, she studied theatre design in Vienna and then display and commercial art at the Reimann School in London. Working for the Central Office of Information in the 1940s, and then as a freelance designer for a range of high profile clients such…

Woman in orange jumper looking at a framed advertising image for BOAC at the British Design Exhibition in North America (no date), picture taken from the Willy de Majo Archive housed at the University of Brighton Design Archives.

Willy de Majo

De Majo played a major role within the international design community in the second half of the twentieth century. He founded ICOGRADA, whose archive came to the university in 2003, and was vocal in his support of designers and in his defence of their professional status. De Majo’s archive will allow the development of two…

Design Council

This major collection charts the extensive activities of the Council of Industrial Design, founded in 1944, through to its re-designation as the Design Council in 1972 and its restructuring in 1994. It includes material relating to all spheres of the Council’s activities, particularly design promotion in industry, national and overseas exhibitions, publications, education and the…

Joseph Emberton

Joseph Emberton (1889-1956) was one of Britain’s most significant architects during the inter-war period. His projects, introducing modern design to broad audiences, include the British Empire Hall at Olympia (1929) and Blackpool Pleasure Beach (1935-39). Emberton designed the striking Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham-on-Crouch (1931), which represented Britain at the Modern Architecture: International Exhibition…

Edwin J Embleton

Edwin J Embleton (1907 – 2000) is most widely recognised for his work as studio manager at Odhams Press and in the Publications Division of the Ministry of Information during the Second World War. The Archive includes a diverse range of Ministry of Information printed propaganda from 1939-1945, including over 80 magazines, pamphlets and other…

Anthony Froshaug

Anthony Froshaug (1920 -1984) studied at the Central School of Arts & Crafts in London in the 1930s. He established himself as a freelance printer, typographer and exhibition designer influenced by the progressive European typography of Jan Tschichold whose work he sought to publish in Britain. Froshaug taught at the Central School of Arts &…