V&A DesignLab Nation: 2025-2026

DesignLab Nation brings together secondary schools, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), regional museums and creative industries to inspire the next generation of designers, makers and innovators through hands-on design projects, whilst being inspired to work with museum collections firsthand.

During the 2025–26 academic year, students from Sirius Academy West, Sirius Academy North and The Boulevard Academy in Hull worked with artist–designer Adrian Riley alongside myself (Rachel Anderson) on a Design Challenge exploring Hull's identity through seating design.
Inspired by Hull as a city of journeys, industry and innovation, students were challenged to create a seating concept that captures what it means to be in Hull. Across four project days, they developed skills in storytelling through design, rapid prototyping, sketching, creativity, critical thinking, and teamwork.

The project began at Hull's Streetlife Museum, where students explored Hull's transport heritage and considered how design can communicate a sense of place. We also introduced the students to the Hull Tapestry, followed the re-development of maritime site Queens Gardens and visited the Ferens Art Gallery to see how place can be coomunicated visually.
This was followed by a visit to the V&A in South Kensington, London, which introduced examples of how designers from around the world tell stories of place through design and objects.

To expand on their ideas, we partnered with Makerspace Hull to give the students the resources to develop their own design concepts.  Working alongside the Makerspace technicians, Adrian and I guided each student to think about how their design 'works' - who is it for, what does it communicate, what purpose does each element of the design serve.

The young people were incredibly thoughtful with their ideas, and lots of the models focused on themes of maritime heritage along with local landmarks and sports teams - but with some surprising themes that were much more specific to the individuals including models inspired by their favourite social activities and places to eat with their friends.

The final models of each student are currently exhibited at Hull's Streetlife Museum until 6th September 2026. The launch event was covered by ITV calendar, which can be seen here.

'The best part was...Being able to visit multiple museums and galleries and to design our own seat with a purpose.' - Participating Student

'I learnt how to solve more problems and come up with new ideas.' - Participating Student

 

DesignLab Nation has been made possible through the generous support of the Adobe Foundation and Sarah Nichols.