70 Years of Land Rover Material Innovation at the London 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 re-upholstered 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.

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: “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: “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 technical materials from Kvadrat in the new Range Rover Velar.”

1948 - Land Rover Series I - (Check Vinyl)

1958 - Land Rover Series II (RAF Blue Vinyl)

1971 - Land Rover Series III (Elephant Hide Grey Vinyl)

1989 - Discovery (Discovery Blue Cloth)

1990 - Defender (Black Rack Cloth)

2013 - Range Rover Sport (Windsor Pimento Leather)

2015 - Defender Paul Smith Edition (Paul Smith Cloth)

2017 - Range Rover Velar (Kvadrat)

2018 - Range Rover SV Coupé (Semi-aniline Navy Blue Leather)

Watch the 70 Years of Land Rover Material Innovation at The London Design Museum video here.