Museums

August 13 2024

London Transport Museum’s Canteen is Built Out of Real Memorabilia from Tube Stations

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Mind the Gap! London Transport Museum’s café, Canteen, is more than just an ordinary café within the museum’s shop. From the wooden benches to the signs, tiles and posters, everything is original and reclaimed from the Underground.

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Mind the Gap! 🚇 [BLOG POST IN BIO] @London Transport Museum café, Canteen, is more than just an ordinary café within the museum’s shop Did you know that from the wooden benches to the signs, tiles and posters, everything is original and reclaimed from London tube stations? 🚉 For example, there are original tiles from Sloan Square and light fittings originally planned to be installed at Embarkment station 🚥 @Covent Garden #londontransportmuseum #londonhotspots #transportforlondon #museumlondon #coventgarden #mindthegap #londonunderground #londontiktok #CapCut

♬ Soulful Strut – Shogo Hamada & The J.S. Inspirations

Mind the Gap and Grab that Insta Moment

London Transport Museum Canteen

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London Transport Museum’s café, Canteen, is named after the static and mobile canteens used to cater the staff during the 1940s and 1950s.

The café’s interior is celebrating the changing design of London transport by using original furnishing and furniture once used at stations all over London.

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There are original tiles from Sloan Square and light fittings originally planned to be installed at Embarkment station.

The wooden benches were found in the basement of Wembley Park and Gloucester Road, while the original posters and maps once helped passengers find their way at different stations all over the city.

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There are also luggage racks from 1960s A stock trains.

The signs you can see all over the café are all reclaimed from the Underground.

Mind the Bite!

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Park your bum on one of the glorious moquette seats and explore the food and drink offerings.

The menu has a range of hot and cold meals, including soup of the day, sandwiches, Great British specials, such as all day English Breakfast and fish & chips, as well as salads.

Vegan and vegetarian options also available.

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They also have the cutest kids’ meal in the fridge. The meal comes in an adorable London Transport Museum-themed box and contains a sandwich, a drink and some snacks.

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The highlights on the menu are definitely the Underground-themed cocktails. There are two cocktails: ‘Routemaster’ and Elizabeth Line’, and a mocktail: ‘Central Line’ on the menu.

Bonus point to the Canteen for being breastfeeding friendly.

London Transport Museum Canteen is on the first floor of the shop and open to all. Make sure you a pay visit next time you’re in Covent Garden and travel back in time while sitting on a moquette seat surrounded with all those memorabilia.

Ready for your next adventure? Covent Garden is taken over by cute smiling inflatable clouds. The installation is on display at Covent Garden Piazza to deliver joy and happiness this Summer.

August 7 2024

New Interactive Exhibition to Enjoy with Kids at NOW Gallery – ‘Up in Smoke’

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Celebrating the industrial history of Greenwich Peninsula in a colourful way, a new exciting exhibition opened at NOW Gallery: ‘Up in Smoke’ is showcasing five vibrant installation of chimneys and you can climb them and peer through them.

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Fun day out with kids 👧🧒 [BLOG POST IN BIO] NOW Gallery: ‘Up in Smoke’ exhibition is showcasing five vibrant installation of chimneys @NOW Gallery Visitors can climb the chimneys, go inside them and peer through them 👀 You can also design your own colourful chimney on the spot ✂️🖍️🎨 📍NOW Gallery | Soames Walk, London SE10 0SQ 📆 Until 22 September 🎟️ Free #nowgallery #dayoutwiththekids #familydayout #familytime #kidsactivities #exhibition #funtime

♬ A Sky Full of Stars – Coldplay

‘Up in Smoke’

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NOW Gallery is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, and to mark this milestone, they have teamed up with designer-architect duo John Booth and Mat Barnes from CAN (architecture and ideas studio) to transform the gallery into a vibrant, colourful and interactive installation, kids and grown-ups can equally enjoy.

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Climb, peek, colour and design!

‘Up in Smoke’ is a fully interactive exhibition, featuring supercharged chimneys that visitors can climb, go inside and peek through them.

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Visitors also have the opportunity to express themselves by creating their own chimney artworks.

There’s everything you need from templates to scissors, pencils and glue to express yourself and create your very own chimney design.

No skills needed. Simply sit down and enjoy yourself.

Celebrating the Historic Skyline of Greenwich Peninsula

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The 5 reimagined chimneys are representing the diverse history of Greenwich Peninsula. One of the chimneys represent the Powder magazine which was used to store gunpowder in the 18^th century, while more slender tubes represent modern gasworks, others look like those we often see on the roofs of terrace houses.

Despite technological and industrial advances, chimneys still define our collective silhouette of a city, and they can be found in any child drawings of a house.

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‘Up in Smoke’ combines John Booth’s playful, colourful design aesthetic and Mat Barnes fresh, outside-from-the-box approach to architecture.

Chimneys are something we all link to the view of a city, and they hold a collective romanticised position on how we view and inhabit the city.

Practical Info

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Address

NOW Gallery | Soames Walk, London SE10 0SQ

Opening Times

21 June – 22 Sept 2024

Mon: CLOSED

Tue to Fri: 10am – 7pm

Sat: 10am – 5pm

Sun: 11am – 4pm

Tickets

FREE | Booking recommended. You can book your time slot on Eventbrite

Ready for your next adventure? Check out Harry Styles famous silver outfit at Somerset House’s new pay-what-you-can exhibition, ‘The Lore of LOVERBOY’.

July 31 2024

New Jurassic Garden Opened at Natural History Museum

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As part of a £3 million Urban Nature Project, Natural History Museum transformed their gardens into two prehistoric gardens.

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🌿🦕[BLOG POST IN BIO] Natural History Museum transformed their gardens into prehistoric gardens The gardens feature: 🦕 A 22m-long and 4m-high bronze Diplodocus skeleton 🧬 An Evolution Garden that transports visitors 2.7 billion years back in time 🐚 An ammonite pavement 🔬 A living laboratory …and much more! @Natural History Museum London #naturalhistorymuseum #dinosaurs #jurassic #jurassicpark #fossils #familydayout #dayoutwithkids #londonlife #londonadventures #CapCut

♬ At Jurassic World’s End Credits / Suite – Michael Giacchino

Connect, Learn and Cherish the Nature

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Natural History Museum has rebuilt its five acres garden for the first time in 140 years to open an urban oasis in the heart of the city where people can connect, learn and cherish the nature.

The large green space features a Jurassic Garden with a 22m-long and 4m-high bronze Diplodocus skeleton, an Evolution Garden that transports visitors 2.7 billion years back in time, an ammonite pavement, a living laboratory and much more!

There are two gardens for visitors to enjoy: The Evolution Garden and the Nature Discovery Garden.

The Evolution Garden

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Visitors entering the garden from the Exhibition Road exit from South Kensington Station will find themselves deep in a canyon of two robust ancient stones. The two heavy rocks have been built using blocks collected from all over the UK.

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The canyon guides visitors through the evolution of life starting 2.7 billion years ago and frames the view of a prehistoric forest with its magnificent species flourished millions of years ago.

“You travel 5 million years every metre.” – says Dr Paul Kendrick, lead scientist of The Evolution Garden.

While walking, make sure you keep your eyes open because there are many things to discover on the walls of the rocks, among the ferns and even under your feet.

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The interactive garden allows visitors to learn interesting facts about ancient plants and animals and touch footprints, Trilobite shells or the columns of prehistoric trees once inhabited our planet.

Further down there is the main attraction of the garden: a life-size bronze skeleton of ‘Fern’ the Diplodocus.

‘Fern’ is a replica of Natural History Museum’s famous ‘Dippy’ who used to stand in the main hall of the museum. ‘Fern’ is more anatomically accurate thanks to the advance technology and skilled 3D artists, engineers and modellers. Plus, ‘Fern’ is made from bronze, which is weatherproof, so he can tower above the us in the garden without getting damaged by the weather.

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There are other, smaller skeletons, bronze dinosaur skulls, fossils and footprints to discover all over the garden leading visitors to the dawn of human civilisation and the modern world.

Nature Discovery Garden

Nature Discovery Garden is showcasing the biodiversity that can be found all over the UK’s urban spaces today.

In this garden, visitors can explore how nature thrive in wetlands, woodlands, grasslands, and in modern urban spaces in present day.

Nature Discovery Garden is dotted around scientific sensors to gather environmental DNA and acoustic data (bird singing, bats, traffic noise etc.) to understand and protect urban nature, making the garden the most intensively studied urban sites of its kind.

The data collected is curated and processed with Natural History Museum’s new Data Ecosystem to help support the UK’s urban nature recovery and sustainability.

Guided Tours and Summer Family Activities

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Visitors can explore the new gardens on their own, but they can participate in an immersive 1hr guided tour to learn more about our evolutionary history by following the footsteps of the past.

Tickets can be booked here.

Throughout the Summer holiday the museum is running a bunch of fun family activities, including nature-themed arts and crafts, pond explore tours, family nature talks, ‘meet the scientist’ events and much more.

And the best part is, most of the activities are free!

Discover all the available Summer family activities here.

Natural History Museum’s new interactive gardens provide a perfect space for families to explore, socialise, play, and relax while enjoying the beauty of the nature and nurture their curiosity.

The Nature Activity Centre and the Garden Kitchen will open later in 2024.

Ready for your next adventure? Now that you walked through the evolution timeline on Earth, embark on an epic journey to our closest celestial neighbour: the Moon. Learn about the Apollo Mission and experience the Moon landing during an immersive 360 degree experience. The Moonwalkers immersive experience is open until 13 October 2024.

July 12 2024

Barbie®: The Exhibition – The Design Museum

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Major exhibition opened at The Design Museum London to celebrate one of the most iconic dolls in the world. Barbie®: The Exhibition is exploring the evolution of the renowned Barbie brand, featuring over 250 items.

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???????? [BLOG POST IN BIO] Hi Barbie! Come with me to the Barbie exhibition at The Design Museum London ???? Barbara Millicent Roberts is celebrating her 65th anniversary this hear and this major exhibition has taken three years for @the Design Museum to bring it to life ???? Barbie®: The Exhibition is exploring the evolution of the renowned Barbie brand, featuring over 250 items ????️ Including the first Barbie released in 1959. If you’ve seen the Barbie movie, you’ll recognise it instantly ???? @mattel #barbietheexhibition #barbie #hibarbie #barbieexhibition #mattel #designmuseumlondon #barbiedoll #exhibition #londontiktok #CapCut

♬ Dance The Night (From Barbie The Album) – Dua Lipa

How It All Started

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Barbie was a creation of Ruth Handler, a co-founder and first president of the Mattel toy company.

In the early 1950s Ruth identified a gap in the market while observing her daughter, Barbara, as playing with paper dolls. Ruth noticed that what little girls really wanted was to be ‘bigger girls.’

Dolls of the 1950s looked like babies, socialising girls to get marry and have children to take care of as adults. Ruth realised that a new doll with adult body and glamourous accessories could offer new flexible ways for girls to play.

Ruth had to convince Mattel’s male executives that a fashion doll was a product worth developing because those executives had concerns that parents would have never bought a doll with mature female figure for their children.

The rest is history.

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Barbie has become one the best-selling dolls worldwide. During its 65 years of success, she had more than 260 careers, at least 50 different houses, and influenced emotional development of generations of kids, shaped fashion, design and furniture.

The best-selling Barbie doll was the 1992’s ‘Totally Hair Barbie’ which was sold over 10 million across the globe.

Happy Birthday Barbie!

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Barbara Millicent Roberts is celebrating her 65^th anniversary and this major exhibition has taken three years for The Design Museum to bring it to life, meaning they were busy with the curation long before the Barbie movie released.

To create the exhibition, The Design Museum was granted special access to the Barbie archives in California.

Hi Barbie!

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Your journey at The Design Museum’s Barbie exhibition starts with a rare first edition Barbie doll released by Mattel in 1959. This was called, ‘Number 1 Barbie’ and this is the one that first appears in the Barbie movie (portrayed by Margo Robbie) in the first few minutes.

It features long golden hair and black-and-white bathing suite.

This Barbie doll was marketed as a ‘Teen Age Fashion Model’. The doll came with glamourous accessories, such as earrings and a pair of fashion sunglasses. Her hairstyle was associated with young actors, like Sandra Dee.

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There is dark room showcasing all the different head and body shapes of Barbie, displaying the dolls behind rainbow-coloured windows.

We also learn that pink wasn’t always Barbie’s signature colour. In fact, it was introduced to the Barbieverse in the 1970s when pink furniture and interiors became fashionable.

Another room is showcasing the complex design process. Did you know that it takes 18 months for a new Barbie doll from concept to launch the actual product?

The exhibition highlights the diversity of the Barbie range with examples of the first black, Hispanic and Asian dolls along with the first wheelchair user Barbie, and the first one with curvy body shape.

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Another exhibition room is entirely dedicated to Barbie Dreamhouses and vehicles, including the first ever dreamhouse from 1961. Many Barbie vehicles have been designed in partnership with established car manufacturers, such as Ferrari, Jaguar and Fiat.

Barbie’s evolution has really taken a long journey. Today Barbie is challenging gender stereotypes by delivering the message ‘you can be anything’ to young girls, inspiring them to discover their own potentials and choose whatever profession they want, whether it’s astronaut, mechanic or professional footballer.

Hi Ken!

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There is a section dedicated to Ken, displaying six decades of different versions of the doll. Ken was originally presented as Barbie’s boyfriend, but it changed later. Today, the relationship between Barbie and Ken is undefined, allowing children to project their own assumptions to the dolls.

Ken dolls have responded to the changing notions of male fashion over the decades. Just like Barbie, Ken dolls are embracing diversity and now available with different skin tones, body shapes and hairstyles.

‘Barbie®: The Exhibition’ is not just talking about the doll itself, but the whole universe Barbie has created and how it has shaped fashion and design and how fashion and design shaped Barbie’s world.

The Barbie Shop

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If you want to take home some souvenir after the exhibition, visit the Barbie Shop where you can find the limited-edition 65^th anniversary Barbie dolls, Barbie dreamhouses, T-shirts, umbrellas, and other official merch.