Object in Focus (Part 2): From STEM to the Spice Rack: Filming Everyday Design Icons at the V&A
This is the second of two posts reflecting on the Object in Focus series I directed for the V&A’s Schools team, as part of their Innovate and Design Lab Nation programmes. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, these short films were produced to help students access the museum's Design 1900–Now gallery at a time when physical visits weren’t possible.
In Part 1, I explored three films about sustainable design and global impact. Here in Part 2, we move into more personal, playful, and provocative territory; from toys and kitchen tools to protest art and a bottle built to be part of your home.
The LEGO® Research Institute
The LEGO Research Institute is a small but powerful set featuring three women scientists: a palaeontologist, an astronomer, and a chemist. Designed by Ellen Kooijman and released in 2014, it marked a shift in how LEGO represented careers and gender, making waves for offering realistic female STEM role models to a young audience.
Filming this object meant balancing visual charm with cultural critique. The designer and curator discuss not just the set itself, but the broader conversation around play, identity, and representation in product design. We shot close with 2 different styles of macro lens, to emphasise the miniature scale while keeping the conversation expansive.
Tala Curry Measure
From outer space to home cooking, the Tala Curry Measure is an object with layered meaning. It’s a simple kitchen tool that tells a bigger story — about migration, culinary adaptation, and cultural identity. Designed by Jasleen Kaur for cooks preparing Indian-inspired dishes, it reflects a moment in UK history when convenience met cultural borrowing in the post-war kitchen.
In the film, the designer and curator Johanna Agerman Ross explain how the curry measure bridges two worlds: heritage and domesticity.
Extinction Rebellion Woodblocks and Prints
Some designs are made to sit quietly in a home or gallery, but others are made to be seen in the streets. The Extinction Rebellion woodblocks and prints are part of a globally recognised visual identity that has come to symbolise climate activism. Bold, hand-printed graphics and slogans are used to amplify urgent calls for environmental action.
Filming these pieces was about capturing both their tactile, handmade quality and the scale of their reach. The curator situates them within a history of protest art, showing how simple, reproducible designs can transcend borders and inspire collective action.
Heineken WOBO Bottle
A product of 1960s innovation, the WOBO Bottle (World Bottle) was conceived as more than just a container for beer — it was a building material. Designed by John Habraken for Alfred Heineken, the bottle’s flat sides and modular form meant it could be reused as a brick, turning waste glass into walls for low-cost housing.
In the film, the curator (Johanna Agerman Ross) discusses the ambition and limitations of the design, and what it says about sustainability before the term was mainstream. We filmed the bottle to emphasise both its function and its unexpected elegance, using angles that hinted at its architectural intent.
Shooting for Accessibility and Clarity
These films were produced under tight constraints, filmed quickly inside a locked-down V&A with a lean team (co-shot with Liam Allen, Chris Atkins, and Oliver Bloor) and overseen by producers Kate Kennedy and Holly Burton.
Our brief was to bring educational depth in under five minutes, using design objects to unlock conversations around identity, innovation, and representation. That meant trusting in the objects, keeping the visuals simple and consistent, and giving space to the curators' insights.
Design as a Mirror
Across these four films, the objects could not be more different; a toy, a spice measure, protest prints, and a beer bottle. Yet all share a common thread: they reveal how design can reflect, challenge, and shape the world we live in. Whether it’s encouraging girls into STEM, documenting cultural exchange, rallying people to climate action, or turning packaging into housing, each object shows design’s ability to connect everyday life with larger ideas.
These weren’t just teaching tools. They became compact case studies in how even the most ordinary-seeming things carry extraordinary stories, especially when looked at through the eyes of young learners.
If you’re developing films for a museum, archive, or education programme and need a filmmaker who can balance clarity with character, whether working solo or as part of a lean team, I’d love to help. Get in touch to talk about bringing your next project to life.
