66 The V&A champions design and creativity in all its forms. The award-winning brand licensing programme supports this mission by collaborating with designers, brands and manufacturers across the world. The V&A’s holdings span every creative discipline and provides a diverse sourcebook of inspiration, enabling licensees to share the museum’s 5,000-year-old story of creativity. With over 85 licensees, the V&A’s longestablished programme operates across the UK, Europe, APAC and the USA. The products it creates encapsulate the rich themes, colours and textures of the V&A’s extraordinary collections. Every collaboration begins with careful consideration of how a product will be produced, what it will be made from, and how it faithfully translates the archival inspiration. The licensing team’s commitment to craftsmanship includes an understanding of the realities of modern manufacturing, ensuring creative ambition every time through a range of licensed products. Inspiration is drawn from one of the most remarkable design archives in the world. The V&A’s collection numbers more than 2.8 million objects, encompassing every creative discipline across centuries and cultures. Working closely with a trend-forecasting agency, the licensing team navigates this immense sourcebook, seeking connections between historical objects and emerging cultural themes. One area where this dialogue between past and present has resonated particularly strongly is craft. As consumers increasingly look towards slower, more mindful forms of creativity, interest in making and mending has surged, cutting through generations. Experienced crafters are being joined by younger audiences discovering needlework, painting and textile design for the first time. For the V&A, whose collection is rich in the history of making, this revival has created fertile ground for collaboration. The museum’s ongoing partnership with Visage Textiles is just one example. Drawing directly from the collection, the collaboration translates historic patterns into contemporary crafting fabrics, reworking iconic designs - such as those by William Morris or from the Art Nouveau period through fresh colour palettes. Similarly, a recent launch with longstanding partner Galison introduced a William Morris Brother Rabbit Paint by Number Kit, inviting audiences to engage hands-on with classic motifs through a relaxed, accessible format. This interplay between historical technique and contemporary product design was also evident in a 2025 collaboration with Samsonite. The resulting range of bags featured a distinctive pixelated foliage print inspired by a 19thcentury embroidery pattern held in the V&A collection. Originally created as a colour guide for Berlin wool work, a needlework technique that swept across Europe, the botanical design was reinterpreted through modern materials and silhouettes. Muted green tones and technical finishes gave the collection a refined, fashion-led feel, while quietly referencing the craft traditions embedded in its source material. Storytelling sits at the centre of the V&A’s Brand Licensing programme. Each product begins with an interrogation of the archive: why was an object collected, what did it mean in its own time, and How the V&A’s licensing programme brings design history to life ARCHIVE TO EVERYDAY ©Hufton+Crow
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