Designing a British National Brand: Empire Remains Shop Talk by Patrick O’Shea (Modern Interior Research Centre, Kingston University)

Stanley Picker Gallery presents two off-site events in collaboration with Cooking Sections, at the Empire Remains Shop. On Friday 23 September, 6.30-8pm, to coincide with the London Design Festival, Patrick O’Shea will illustrate how Britain redefined itself in the aftermath of the Second World War. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) occupied a unique position in enabling, through design, the promotion of British products and services where the traditional influence of Empire had retreated. By establishing foreign terminals, using certain aircraft and flying certain (in some case exclusive) routes, BOAC was able to create itself a platform from which to show itself off as a progressive and transnational company. O’Shea’s research is the very first examination of the role played by BOAC in relation to British design.