Image: View across the Collections Hall at V&A East Storehouse © Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Its largest move since World War II sees objects in place at a new public space in East London.
The V&A has completed its move of over 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and nearly 1,000 archives to a purpose-built new home, the V&A East Storehouse.
The storehouse is a 16,000m2 space, the first of its kind in the UK to provide open public access to collections through self-guided tours and changing displays. Based at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, it is set to open next year at Here East, part of East Bank, the new cultural quarter.
The now completed move has been five years in the making, and is the V&A’s largest since World War II. Objects and archives moved include haute couture, historic and contemporary fashion, furniture, textiles, and musical instruments, ceramics, cameras, paintings and prints.
Final objects moving into the space included three life-size fibre-glass panda sculptures, an icon of one of the most popular streetwear brands in China, Hi Panda, by artist Jiji.
The V&A said the move has presented opportunities to develop new object storage solutions – among them custom-designed shoe trays, versatile enough to accommodate various footwear, from ancient Egyptian shoes to 1950s Christian Dior heels. These trays allow each shoe to be moved, fully viewed, and handled without touching the shoes themselves.
For the V&A’s collection of over 1250 pieces of Japanese netsuke, custom-cut foam sheets were created. Each netsuke was nestled in tissue paper, immobilizing and protecting the objects for safe transportation, storage, and future viewing.
Tim Reeve, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the V&A, says: “The completion of this monumental move, which has been years in the planning, marshalling expertise from across the V&A, represents a huge milestone in our mission to radically transform access and remove barriers between the public and their national collections.
“We are particularly excited to be bringing the collections and archives to communities across the four Olympic boroughs, in a part of London with a rich creative heritage and great contemporary creative potential, for a new audience to discover a radically different type of museum experience when Storehouse opens in 2025.”
