Design Stories – New Perspectives on a Collection by Johanna Agerman Ross

The traditional perspective is that design shapes things to make them more attractive to consumers, easier to manufacture and use, and to generate market value. However, it is also a matter of creation linked to change – a way to protest injustices or offer social commentary. How design is approached affects the possibility of challenging dominant power structures, which have themselves determined the path of design over time. This volume appears with a new permanent exhibition at Gothenburg’s Röhsska Museum. Through essays, conversations, and images, a range of design-critical issues are discussed, reflecting on the roles of both design and the museum in society.