The Princess of Wales turns curator for a new V&A exhibition

The royal has curated her own “mini display”, celebrating past makers and creators

Last month, the Princess of Wales paid a visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum’s new east London outpost, V&A East Storehouse. It’s an enormous space – bigger than 30 basketball courts – across four levels, designed to be an immersive experience to expose visitors to more than 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and 1,000 archives from the V&A’s collections. As it turns out, Kate wasn’t just visiting in her capacity as the V&A Royal Patron; she has turned her hand to curation, selecting a variety of objects from the museum’s vast collection in order to create a new exhibition.

Makes and Creators is described as a “mini display”, consisting of a number of items chosen by the princess in conjunction with the V&A’s curatorial team. The intention is to celebrate past makers and creators, proving the influence of historic objects over all aspects of creativity today.

photo: © david parry/ va


preview for The best fashion moments from Kate, Princess of Wales

The selection includes a costume designed by Oliver Messel and worn by Diana Vere in The Royal Ballet’s 1960 production of The Sleeping Beauty; a watercolour painting by Beatrix Potter; a Morris & Co furnishing screen designed by William Morris’s assistant J.H.Dearle in the mid-1880s; and a Qing dynasty porcelain vase from Jingdezhen, China, circa. 1662-1722.

Perhaps most excitingly of all, the V&A’s new ‘Order an Object’ service means that anyone can book to access any object at V&A East Storehouse, for free, seven-days-a-week. According to a statement from the museum: “The Princess met with V&A East Storehouse’s new collections access team, who have been recruited locally to facilitate this access, and spent time viewing objects, including some of those featured in the final display.”

va east storehouse unveils the new mini display ‘makers and creators’, curated by her royal highness the princess of wales. exploring how historic objects can inspire creativity today, objects include oliver messel’s fairy of the woodland glades costume for the royal ballet’s 1960 production of the sleeping beauty, a watercolour by well known children’s author beatrix potter and childhood photograph album belonging to her father, rupert potter, alongside a qing dynasty porcelain vase (circa. 1662 1722) and a mid 20th century sculpture by clemence dane.va east storehouse is the va’s new working museum store and visitor attraction on east bank, queen elizabeth olympic park, immersing visitors in over half a million works spanning every creative discipline from fashion to theatre, streetwear to sculpture, design and beyond.
David Parry
The Princess of Wales chose a variety of objects for V&A East Storehouse’s new exhibition

The Makers and Creators display is one of more than 100 changing mini displays which will be on show at V&A East Storehouse. Said the V&A in a press release: “Her Royal Highness’ display shows how individual, unique objects can come together to create a collective whole that helps us to explore our social and cultural experiences, and the role we play in the wider tapestry of life.”