Bethan Laura Wood's first solo UK museum show is a "living body of work"

Tea-stained cups, caterpillar-shaped cabinets and colourful flower lights feature in an exhibition celebrating the work of English designer Bethan Laura Wood at London's Design Museum.

Opened on 14 February, Wood's first solo exhibition at a UK museum features over 70 objects, spanning some of the most striking work her studio has created over the last 16 years, alongside a selection of newly created pieces.

The display shows a range of pieces including furniture, lighting, jewellery and installations, showcasing Wood's characteristically bold use of colour, eclectic patterns and unexpected material combinations.

"We wanted to include works that people knew less about, as well as projects that show different ways of interacting with design or getting into design," Wood told Dezeen.

Among the highlights is Terrazzo Quarry, an interactive installation designed especially for the exhibition in collaboration with Italian design brand Poltronova.

Comprising three soft seating sculptures resembling giant rocks, the installation invites visitors to lounge, lean and physically engage with the pieces.

"I loved the idea of having a living body of work on display – something that can physically be touched within the museum space," Wood said.

The exhibition is divided into three thematic sections – Desire, Adornment and Hyperreality – each offering insight into the recurring motifs in Wood's practice.

The Desire section explores the emotional connections people form with everyday objects. On display is one of Wood's earliest works, the porcelain tea set Stain, which was designed to develop patterned stains with repeated use.

Wood is showing the project alongside wall-mounted flower lights made in collaboration with Mexican and Italian artisans and inspired by her travels.

"The Bloom lamps were inspired by my first trip to Mexico City," Wood said. "I had never been outside of Europe at the time, so the diversity and the intensity of colour of that city had a big influence on me."

"I also spent a lot of time in Italy during my residencies in Venice, so the nuance of the Italian palette has definitely fed into my practice."

The Hyperreality section examines how Wood layers materials and patterns to blur the line between what is natural versus what is man-made.

Featured here is Particle Stack, a modular furniture system inspired by crates and packaging materials, which the artist created for her first display at the Design Museum in 2009.

Composed of interwoven faux-wood laminates that resemble oriented strand board (OSB) from afar, the display case combines marquetry techniques with repeat pattern blocking to blend the different materials.

"I developed this body of work specifically around the Design Museum's previous location in Butler's Wharf," Wood explained.

"I loved the shapes and forms of crates and packaging materials and the contrast between the industrial warehouse that the museum was located in and the surrounding houses, so I translated their language into a display case," she added.

"At the time, I was looking for a way to continue a conversation with industrial materials and the museum provided me with a stepping stone to do that and carve out an identity in design."

Also on display is Wood's latest work Mother Tongue, a shelf resembling a small shrine. It forms part of her Travelling Bluestocking Salon series, in which she creates a new design for each location she travels to.

The Adornment section highlights Wood's use of ornamentation and pattern to create functional yet decorative objects, such as the Meisen Caterpillar cabinet, which references the hookah-smoking caterpillar in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

The cabinet's multiple drawers mimic the caterpillar's segmented body while the colourful texture of the bespoke Alpi veneer echoes the colourful tendrils of hookah smoke.

Many of Wood's pieces, including Particle Stack and Meisen Caterpillar, remain in the designer's personal collection, reinforcing the intimate relationship between her work and her daily life.

The exhibition marks the artist's return to the Design Museum, where she first exhibited in 2009 as part of the Designers in Residence programme.

Wood's presentation is the inaugural exhibition in Platform, a new annual display series at the Design Museum that aims to champion contemporary design practices across the nation.

Also currently on display at the Design Museum are exhibitions celebrating the work of filmmaker Tim Burton and the world of Barbie, from dolls and Dreamhouses.

The photography is by Jo Underhill, courtesy of the Design Museum, unless otherwise stated.

Bethan Laura Wood's Platform exhibition takes place from 14 February 2025 to January 2026 at The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG, UK. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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