70 years of Land Rover innovation on display

The exhibition will be held at London’s Design Museum

Land Rover and the Design Museum are inviting visitors to take a seat to commemorate 70 years of the Land Rover brand.

The atrium seating at the London museum has been reupholstered with 18 original materials used in Land Rovers from 1948 to 2018 for the Material Innovation installation.

They include the original fabric from the first Land Rover (1948), the cloth designed with Sir Paul Smith for his special edition Land Rover Defender (2015) and an innovative, sustainable textile developed by Kvadrat for the Range Rover Velar (2017) as a premium alternative to leather.

Land Rover says that visitors are invited to discover and experience the different qualities of these authentic fabrics — a change from the usual ‘don’t touch’ rule at museums.

Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum, said in a statement: “The Land Rover is one of the great design success stories. This installation is a great opportunity for our visitors to see seven decades of new thinking about textiles in the context of vehicle design. And this is one part of the museum where we are definitely saying please touch.”

Gerry McGovern, Land Rover chief design officer, said: “The Land Rover materials and fabrics are rigorously tested to meet the exacting standards of our customers. This installation reflects the history of our seating from cloth to leather and includes our latest materials from Kvadrat in the new Range Rover Velar.”