Industrial Design - What Puts The Great Into Great Britain

Industrial design in Britain was epitomised at Crystal Palace in 1851 with The Great Exhibition. This one event to show the world how Great Britain and its colonies were the leaders in industrial design came about to prove we do it better than all others.

The industrial revolution signalled a change in British society that spread rapidly throughout Europe and, indeed, the rest of the world. In the arena of industrial design, it is the domain of designers to bring together components already in existence to create a unique invention that will supersede all others in the advancement of technology.

Production of food and materials had, so far, been a slow, laborious task. With inventions of industrial design to further the use of steam powered engines, all of a sudden components and finished products were available quickly and cheaply.

The mechanisation of the textile industry kick started a new era followed swiftly by the development of iron making techniques. Iron making brought with it the invention of many new tools and machinery heralding the age of the factory. The main ground breaking inventions were in the area of gas lighting, glass making and agriculture.

New advancements in agricultural machinery was a god send when we came to food harvesting and would have been responsible for saving many lives.
In some ways, industrial design increased the life expectancy of adults in that there were more opportunities for work, particularly in the cities, and starvation as a reason of death decreased. However, child labour had always been an abused situation and it didn't stop with the move into modern times.

In fact, child deaths became increasingly common when they were used to maintain dangerous parts of machinery that an adult could not easily reach. This brought about laws governing the use of child labour as a protection, which still holds fast today.

Food production became more efficient and less labour intensive, which meant cheaper food available to the masses. This addition to life expectancy was probably hindered by the build up of inner cities where people were cramming in every available space for the sake of work. Many families would be living in one room of a house and hygiene was poor, resulting in disease and death becoming prevalent.

The sharing of industrial design information has long been a traditionally British thing to do. Without the barriers of European countries there is less competition and more interest in the greater good. Down to this is the fact that information sharing led quickly to new innovations and discoveries, thus leading to great advancements in medicine.

It is the subject of much debate as to why Britain became the founders of industrial design and the subsequent industrial revolution. The fact that we are an island goes some way to explaining this. Ideas and inventions in Europe were contained within small communities as their spread meant charges and fees that nobody wanted to pay for.

The industrial revolution also followed a relatively peaceful time in British politics. The last great war, as many before it, had been fought on foreign territory meaning that our small island had not seen the ravages of battle.

A prosperous, peaceful political era coupled with great minds, information sharing and advancements in transportation like never before were bound to put the Great in to Great Britain.