Furniture at the V&A

The new furniture gallery at the V&A offers many treasures, thanks to the curators' efforts to pull out objects from the Museum's extensive stores: many have not been seen in public for over thirty years.

With two hundred objects spanning the Medieval era to the present, the V&A's new furniture gallery is no small endeavour. Opened at the start of December, the Dr Susan Weber gallery is the Museum's first dedicated furniture gallery in its 150-year history, and it is notable for its focus; not on a larger domestic or socio-historical context nor even on the objects themselves — but rather the stories of their making. Amidst much debate over future directions in manufacture and concerns over the ethical and environmental implications of the current production set up, there is an interest in how things are made today that makes this emphasis on technique highly current — a timeliness all the more impressive given that it has been a decade in development.

Named after Dr Susan Weber, the founding director of New York's Bard Graduate Center, the gallery has been curated by Nick Humphrey and Leela Meinertas, both long-time V&A furniture specialists. Tucked up on the Museum's sixth floor, it is part of the transformation of the V&A's displays under its FuturePlan programme. Overseeing its design was Glasgow-based practice NORD Architecture: they have created an airy, light-filled space, whose palette of dark wood and white walls discretely frames the diverse mix of materials, techniques, styles and object types on show.

The gallery is divided into three main displays. The central aisle consists of twenty-five chronologically ordered examples of basic furniture typologies — albeit rather extravagant versions of these, if Boris Dennler's Wooden Heap stacked wood drawers from 2012 and John Henry Belter's 1856 elaborately carved sofa are anything to go by. Their position in the gallery's middle enables them to be seen in the round, exposing aspects intended to be unseen but which reveal how such forms were achieved — like the distinctively unglamorous plywood-like construction that made Belter's showmanship possible.

Top and above: views of the new furniture gallery at the V&A, Dr Susan Weber gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Running along either side of the gallery are sixteen displays divided by furniture techniques from carving to joinery, gilding, cabinet making and digital manufacture. This thematic structure creates some interesting historical juxtapositions but also shows the cyclical nature of techniques, as they fall in and out of fashion in line with larger social mores and technological developments.

View of the Dr Susan Weber gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

There are lots of treasures to be seen here, thanks to the curators' efforts to pull out objects from the Museum's extensive stores, many of which have not been seen in public for over thirty years. Highlights include a medieval casket with its paintwork intact and an eighteenth century bureau by an unknown Mexican maker, whose veneered surface of 7,000 pieces of mother of pearl represents five thousand hours of skilled labour. These displays are however most impressive in their attempts to explain the techniques themselves. Alongside "how-to" videos and illustrated diagrams were several specially made replicas and step-by-step panels devoted to processes such as the lacquerwork used for a sixteenth century Japanese coffer, one of a number of export and Asian pieces included in an otherwise European and America-focused gallery.

Focusing on any one aspect is never going to tell all of an object's story, yet technique is a highly useful perspective for understanding furniture, one that will continue to be relevant for years to come

Gitta Gschwendtner, Chair Bench, at the Dr Susan Weber gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Punctuating these technique-focused sections are seven smaller displays dedicated to individual designers and manufacturers. It is an interesting selection, based not on stature but an individual's significance in their use of a technique. This includes big hitters such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Thonet and Eileen Gray as well as the relatively obscure David Kirkness, whose woven straw Orkney chair was popular in the Arts and Crafts movement.

For all that it is a celebration of craftsmanship, the gallery makes much use of new technologies. Conventional labels are overlooked in favour of touch screens that free up the line of vision between object and viewer and allow you to decide what, and how much, you want to know about an object — although being able to look only at one object at a time is rather frustrating. These are complemented by two interactive "Materials Tables" in the gallery's centre, which provide the opportunity to learn more about materials used in the furniture displayed. Although I wonder about the lifespan of these technologies, the tables do introduce a desired tactile dimension into the gallery, one also met by Gitta Gschwendtner's specially commissioned seating installation, positioned halfway along the gallery. Chair Bench is a pleasing mash-up, a curved bench inserted with ash versions of the backs and legs of six of the gallery's, from the sixteenth century Sgabello to Industrial Facility's 2011 Branca.

Focusing on any one aspect is never going to tell all of an object's story, yet technique is a highly useful perspective for understanding furniture, one that will continue to be relevant for years to come, thanks in part to the rigorous research that underpins the rich displays here. The gallery merits repeat visits and it is an ambitious addition to the V&A's extensive suite of galleries, one that affirms its role as the pre-eminent international authority on design. Catharine Rossi (@cat_rossi)

Marcel Breuer, tubular steel armchair, Germany, 1925-26

Plywood chair designed by Gerald Summers for the Makers of Simple Furniture company in 1934

Furniture at the V&A

The new furniture gallery at the V&A offers many treasures, thanks to the curators' efforts to pull out objects from the Museum's extensive stores: many have not been seen in public for over thirty years.

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