British writer and academic
Penelope Anne "Penny " Sparke (born 6 November 1948) is a British writer and academic specialising in the history of design . She has been Professor of Design History at Kingston University , London, since 1999, where she is also Director of the Modern Interiors Research Centre.
Early life and education [ edit ] Sparke was born on 6 November 1948 in London , England.[ 1] She studied French Literature at Sussex University between 1967 and 1971, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[ 1] [ 2] She remained at Sussex to undertake a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), which she completed in 1972.[ 1] She undertook postgraduate research at Brighton Polytechnic , and completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Design History in 1975.[ 1] [ 2] Her doctoral thesis was titled Theory and design in the age of pop .[ 3] Sparke was awarded an honorary degree from the University for the Creative Arts in 2016.[ 4]
From 1975 to 1982, Sparke was a lecturer in design history at Brighton Polytechnic (now the University of Brighton ).[ 1] She was then a lecturer in design history at the Royal College of Art in London between 1982 and 1999.[ 5] In 1999, she joined Kingston University , London, where she had been appointed Professor of Design History.[ 1] She additionally served as Dean of its Faculty of Art, Design and Music from 1999 to 2005, and as Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) from 2005 to 2014.[ 1]
Sparke has written 15 books about Twentieth-Century Design. She has also curated a number of exhibitions, including The Plastics Age at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1990.[ 6] Her areas of specialism include design history, history of the modern interior, and design and gender.[ 5] In 2010, Sparke’s book The Genius of Design was published to accompany a 5-part BBC Two television series under the same title which was broadcast in 2009.[ 7] [ 8]
In 2007, Sparke, worked as a consultant for Pyrex helping with the communication project for their new cookware range designed by George Sowden .
She was previously the Course Director of the V&A Museum/Royal College of Art Postgraduate History of Design Programme.[ 9]
Sparke is Chair of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Design History , published by the Design History Society .[ 10]
1982 Ettore Sottsass Jnr. Design Council ISBN 0-85072-126-1
1983 Consultant Design: The History and Practice of the Designer in Industry , Pembridge Press ISBN 0-8620-6007-9
1986 An Introduction to Design and Culture in the 20th Century , Allen and Unwin, ISBN 0-04-701014-2
1986 Modern Furniture , Bell and Hyman ISBN 0-7135-2630-0
1986 Japanese Design , Michael Joseph ISBN 0-7181-2875-3
1987 Electrical Appliances , Bell and Hyman, ISBN 0-7135-2738-2
1987 Design in Context , Bloomsbury, ISBN 0-7475-0072-X
1988 Italian Design, from 1870 to the present , Thames and Hudson ISBN 0-500-23531-7
1995 As Long As It’s Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste , Pandora ISBN 0-04-440923-0
1998 A Century of Design: Design Pioneers of the Twentieth-Century , Mitchell Beazley, ISBN 1-84000-403-7
2001 Design Directory: Great Britain , Howard ISBN 1-86205-330-8
2002 A Century of Car Design , Mitchell Beazley, ISBN 1-84000-403-7
2004 An Introduction to Design and Culture: 1900 to the present , Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-26336-8
2005 Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration , Acanthus Press, ISBN 0-926494-27-9
2008 The Modern Interior , Reaktion Books, ISBN 978-1-86189-372-7
2010 The Genius of Design , Quadrille Publishing Ltd, ISBN 978-1-84400-753-0
^ a b c d e f g 'SPARKE, Prof. Penelope Anne', Who's Who 2017 , A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016 accessed 6 Nov 2017
^ a b "Academic profiles - Professor Penny Sparke" . Kingston University London . Retrieved 6 November 2017 .
^ Sparke, Penny (1975). "Theory and design in the age of pop" . E-Thesis Online Service . The British Library Board. Retrieved 6 November 2017 .
^ "uca.ac.uk/news" . University for the Creative Arts . 14 June 2016.
^ a b Kingston University: Biography
^ Sparke, Penny (1990). The Plastics age : from modernity to post-modernity . Victoria and Albert Museum. ISBN 1-85177-066-6 . OCLC 20994508 .
^ The Genius of Design . Quadrille Publishing Limited. 23 January 2024. ISBN 978-1-84400-753-0 .
^ Sparke, Penny (2010). The Genius of Design . New York: The Overlook Press. OCLC 587209752 .
^ Martin, Brenda (2003). Women's Places: Architecture and Design 1860-1960 . New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28448-1 .
^ "Journal of Design History" . Oxford Academic Journals .
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