Meet the new DHS Ambassadors

Features

28 June 2016 -

Zara Arshad & Janine Barker

As the Design History Society continues to grow in membership and influence, the Board has appointed two Ambassadors with the aim of promoting the Society as a site of conversation, debate and reflection on design history. The Ambassadors will be utilising Twitter, Instagram and the DHS Blog to keep our members up to date with events and dialogues in the field.

Introducing the Ambassadors:

Janine Barker: I have recently completed my AHRC funded PhD at Northumbria University on the craft proprietor Henry Rothschild. Given Rothschild’s position as a retailer, exhibitor and collector of craft, I came to define him as a ‘non-maker’ and I am currently researching the role of the non-maker in wider craft and design networks. More broadly, I am interested particularly in the production and consumption of craft, and its significance in wider society. My background is in archives and collections, and I am interested in the ways we form narratives from and around objects.

Zara Arshad: I was born and raised in the UK, but I have also lived in Indonesia, Syria and China. I am a recent graduate of the RCA/V&A MA History of Design programme, where I studied as the 2013-2015 Friends of the V&A Scholar. My MA thesis, titled “Design Museums in Contemporary China: Localising Global Models”, investigated the collections of Chinese design museums - specifically that of the China Industrial Design Museum in Shanghai, the China Design Museum in Hangzhou, and M+ in Hong Kong - and how these institutions engage with historical research in order to impact design practice today. I am currently working at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, in the Design, Architecture and Digital department.

We are looking forward to developing the DHS blog and invite members to view this platform as a channel for exchanging ideas and creating networks. If you are interested in contributing, please do get in touch. We are particularly interested in hearing from student members and those outside the UK.

Contact Details:

Twitter: @dhs_ambassadors
Instagram: ambassadorsdhs
Email: ambassadorsdhs@gmail.com