'Purgatory of taste' or Projector of Industrial Britain? The British Institute of Industrial Art.

This article explores how the British Institute of Industrial Art (BIIA), the first governmental organization to deal specifically with modem industrial design, endeavoured to project the nation via design. The Institute held exhibitions at Knightsbridge, the Victoria and Albert Museum, in provincial cities and abroad. Its collaborations with the General Post Office and the Ministry of Transport gave birth to several products of modern design. It published a number of research reports on the varied aspects of industrial art. These achievements were later utilized at the Council for Art and Industry. The BIIA's history by no means indicates that it had a critical impact on the debate of modern taste, but it does demonstrate how the power structure within the debates shifted. It also marked a significant prelude to the state patronage, or institutionalization, of modern design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]