DANAD Design - The Art Of Pop Design (1958 –1962)

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The untold story of the DANAD Design collective (1958-62): An exhibition of works celebrating DANAD’s 60th Anniversary by Peter Blake, Bernard Cohen, Tom Adams, Barry Daniels, Robyn Denny & Edward Wright.

In 2014 a trove of artwork, hidden away in the basement of Marden Hill House in Hertfordshire came to light with much of it unseen for over fifty years. It was the work of DANAD Design, a loose collective of artists who came together in 1958. Widely acknowledged as some of the originators of the Pop Art movement, these artists were buzzing with revolutionary ideas developed in Soho’s infamous Colony Room as the swinging sixties approached. The group lived, hung out and worked in the dilapidated Georgian splendour of Marden Hill House, which became a cultural hub and country retreat for their friends. The house was a perfect party venue where in the revolutionary 1960s artists, designers and musicians mingled with high society.

Mick Jagger, Jimmy Hendrix, Donovan were guests, as were Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, and tastemakers Ossie Clark and Terence Conran. Heralded as artistic pioneers, Barry Daniels and Tom Adams (who gave the collective its name) worked with Peter Blake, Robyn Denny, Bernard Cohen and Edward Wright to cross the boundaries between art and design. They made their bold new art into surface design at a time when homes were largely dull and dreary, producing furniture and wall panels using collage, print and painting techniques.

The DANAD Design exhibition hosted at Paul Smith No. 9 Albemarle Street, London is the first in DANAD’s 2019-20 series of events celebrating the forgotten story of a group of young artists of the pop-art era. Taking the original DANAD Design show in 1960 as inspiration, this world-class exhibition will include previously unseen archival material of original paintings, prints and other ephemera from the design collective. An exclusive relaunched collection of original DANAD furniture will be available to purchase from Paul Smith No. 9 Albemarle Street.