One of the key points of the exhibition is to demonstrate that excellent design can emerge from people with limited resources and not much time but brilliant ideas. These also show that design doesn’t have to be about professional practice or commercial purpose but can still make a wide impact; people also tweeted images from local chemists of the products which could be bought to make up a survival kit when gassed. As an accessible form of design we chose it for one of our “how to” guides because it is a great example of “swarm” design, documented by one group so that others can use them in different contexts. Made by the Treatment Rooms Collective: Luke Allen, Gary Drostle, Mark Drostle, Eoghan Ebrill, Linda Griffiths, Gabrielle Harvey-Smith, Liam Heyhow, Peter Henham, Kevin O’Donohue, Carrie Reichardt, Thayen Rich, Sian Wonnish Smith, Cerdic Thomas, Liam Thomas, Karen Wydler, Mark Wydler A set of stamps designed by artists Ivan Cash and Andy Dao to illustrate wealth disparity in America

Often, the most simple of ideas prove to be the most effective, so I’ll talk through the process of making a mount for one of the Bust cards featured in the exhibition. Objects and imagery will be displayed alongside a text from the curators as well as explanations from the activists about how they came up with the ideas and how they were used. Bone china with transfers printed in green, bearing the emblem of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Image courtesy of V&A Museum

In the same section of the show we have “bloc books”, painted shields in the form of giant works of literature and philosophy made by students protesting at education cuts. When they demonstrated, the students were effectively being defended by culture, and by striking the shields, the police not only invoked the destruction of books but were also forced into a performance without realising it. made by Ed Hall for “UNITE”‚ which was the biggest march in North West England against the privatisation of the English National Health Service (NHS). (Photo courtesy Ed Hall)

The Bread and Puppet Theatre argues that culture should not belong to the elite but be for everyone DIY drones, subversive textiles from Chile and shields that look like books are just some of the objects on display at an exhibition that examines the role of design in political activism. We interviewed the show’s curator Gavin Grindon. You can read our review of the exhibition here

26 July 2014 - 1 February 2015

And that is what Disobedient Objects ultimately presents -- a sensitively and intriguingly crafted story of protest. The eclectic mosaic car might take centre stage and a giant inflatable silver cobblestone hangs from the ceiling, along with a small drone -- but these are interspersed with badges, placards and leaflets. That disparity tells the story of a protest history. The people behind the objects might not always have the ability to be as loud or brash as a mosaic car or silver balloon, but they will find a way to tell their story. And all 99 objects are proof of that. It would be good to know more about what worked and how well. Some of the movements represented were spectacularly successful, such as the suffragettes, gay rights, Solidarnosc and the anti-apartheid campaigns, whereas protests against what is now called neoliberalism, their themes remarkably consistent over the decades, don't seem to have got very far. You wonder to what degree design played a role in both successes and failures. There is, finally, an unintended consequence of the proximity of artistic and political radicalism – it's possible to blur one with the other and be too easily satisfied with something that looks as if it is changing the world, when it's not. Andy Dao and Ivan Cash's Occupy George overprinted dollar bill, 2011. Photograph: courtesy Andy Dao and Ivan Cash If you enter the Victoria and Albert Museum through its main entrance on Cromwell Road, you may spot the word cunt built into a mosaic fashioned from photographs of protests. Look hard, and there’s the word twat too. It’s not graffiti, it’s art, and Disobedient Objects, the exhibition this artwork announces, is quite remarkable, even without dropping the c-bomb. They range from folk art, for example, signs made by people for protest marches to the very high-tech, such as mobile phone-powered drones for filming demonstrations or the police, which you can make yourself very cheaply.