Ahead of the Game; Christopher Dresser Was the Conran of the Victorian Era. A New Exhibition Celebrates the Man Who Invented Branding and Brought Style to the Masses. by Corinne Julius HOMES & PROPERTY

Byline: CORINNE JULIUS

THE lionisation of designers is at a peak; Philippe Starck, Ron Arad and Marc Newsom have been elevated to celebrities. Yet the first industrial designer, whose designs still look shockingly modern, is less well known.

Victorian polymath Christopher Dresser designed furniture, metalwork, ceramics, glass, wallpaper and textiles for a mass market.

He wrote influential books, was a design consultant to a host of companies, ran his own successful design studio and promoted a love of Japanese arts and design.

Dresser notched up a number of firsts; from embracing the machine as a means of raising design standards for the mass market, to creating his own brand.

He was the first designer to really understand manufacturing processes and to design accordingly, for more than 50 different manufacturers.

Now the centenary of his death is being celebrated in a new exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

From a modest …

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Publication information: Article title: Ahead of the Game; Christopher Dresser Was the Conran of the Victorian Era. A New Exhibition Celebrates the Man Who Invented Branding and Brought Style to the Masses. by Corinne Julius HOMES & PROPERTY. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Evening Standard (London, England). Publication date: September 1, 2004. Page number: 14. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group.

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