Two designers one company

Claire’s passion for museums stems from many years of valuable experience working in the in-house design departments of the National Museum of Science and Industry, and the National Media Museum. Today, she combines this expertise with a lifelong love of design to create original and thought-provoking exhibition concepts.

Having worked at the highest level, it is Claire’s personal mission to bring every project she works on, however small, up to that same high standard. Claire is one of few professional designers to have become an Associate of the Museums Association.

Museum:

I have two, The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, which I first visited in 1985, and Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres.

Object exhibited:

The death warrant of Thomas Percy 7th Earl of Northumberland, signed by Elizabeth I. This was one of the objects included in the exhibition we designed to commemorate 700 years of the Percy family at Alnwick Castle.

Piece of design:

The Japanese flag; it’s quite simply perfect.

Artist / designer:

Vivienne Westwood.

Building:

Glasgow School of Art, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, completed in 1909. Having risen from the ashes of the first devestating fire, it is heartbreaking to see this wonderful building again ravaged by a second one.

Plane or journey:

The journey between the hot springs of Cacheuta and the crossroads town of Uspallata in the foothills of the Andes, Argentina.

Most treasured possession:

126 letters written between 1887 and 1892 by my Great Grandfather to his fiancé who he had left behind in England while he worked as a foreman on an Estancia in Argentina.

Invention:

Not really an invention, but whoever it was that first decided you could ride horses!

Film:

Brief Encounter, well what can you say! It’s beautiful to watch and listen to; it’s what wet winter Sunday afternoons were made for.

Hero:

My Great Grandfather, William Robert Parry. Like many emigrants he displayed huge amounts of bravery, cunning, ingenuity, determination, faith and passion when trying to make a living in the volatile 19th century Republic of Argentina.

Period in history:

At the moment 1700s and early 1800s, not sure why, but probably reading too much Peter Ackroyd.

Loves:

The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton films, gothic stuff, Edwardian crime stuff, Peter Ackroyd, Who Do You Think You Are?, Japanese packaging and design, the Cohen Brothers’ films, cowboys, Argentina, white interiors, Englishness, iPhones, Apple Mac, The BBC, tea, coffee and Levi’s.

Hates:

I’m not keen on Cliff Richard.