Brighton honoured with the Sir Misha Black Award

The award, considered one of the most prestigious of its kind, is in recognition of the “innovative work in building an impressive complex of resources that embrace teaching, research, the preservation of knowledge and its dissemination nationally and internationally”.

The Sir Misha Black Awards Committee said: “Their pioneering use of digital technologies since the 1990s and the ensuing debate has brought about a wider understanding of the material legacy of the past and its worth for the future.”

Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, representative of the College of Medallists on the Awards Committee, cultural historian, author and broadcaster, said: “The University of Brighton has been at the forefront of the study and teaching of Design History ever since the subject first came to prominence in the 1970s. More recently the University’s archive, with its rich holdings of primary materials about British design, has become THE key resource in this area for scholars, writers and interested members of the public - well looked-after, well catalogued and welcoming. This Award is well deserved.”

Professor Debra Humphris, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, said: “This is a great honour for the university. Our Design Archives welcome scholars and students from many academic disciplines researching the designed environment, the design profession and design practice. We are incredibly proud that this award recognises and enhances our reputation as a centre of excellence for research, study, and teaching.”

The award will be presented on 22 November at the Royal College of Art in London.

Sir Misha Black (1910-1977) was an industrial designer who, with his partner Milner Gray, founded the Design Research Unit in the late 1940s. It became one of the first international, interdisciplinary design practices with major clients in industrial design, architecture and graphics. In 1959 Misha Black was appointed the first Professor of Industrial Design at the Royal College of Art, a post he held until his retirement in 1975. He was considered the most influential design teacher of his time.

A new book celebrating 40 years since the first Misha Black Medal was awarded in 1978 and the collective achievements of all those recognised in that time, ‘Fitness for what purpose?’, edited by Professor Frayling and Awards Committee Chairman Mary Mullin, will be published in November. It features a range of contributors and views on the future of design education.

The Sir Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education was inaugurated in 1998 to recognise those who, by contributing to the theory and or practice of design education in the UK and who, through innovation and vision, have ensured the education of designers has been measurably improved and the profile of design education enhanced.

The university’s Design Archives, based at the university’s City Campus in Brighton, is recognised as an internationally significant research base with a curatorial team that initiates and promotes collaborative activity through a programme of projects. Founded on a scholarly resource focusing on British design and global design organisations in the twentieth century, the archives team has been contributing to the research profile of the University for over 20 years.