Professor Penny Sparke
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Critical and Historical Studies
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
Director, Modern Interiors Research Centre
- Email:
- p.sparke@kingston.ac.uk
About
I am a Professor of Design History at Kingston University, London and the Director of the Modern Interiors Research Centre.
I studied French Literature at the University of Sussex from 1967-1971 and was awarded my PhD in Design History from Brighton Polytechnic in 1975. I taught Design History at Brighton Polytechnic (1975-1982) and the Royal College of Art (1982-1999).
I have given keynote addresses, curated exhibitions, broadcast and published widely on the subject of Design History, with a special interest in interiors, identities, gender, and taste.
My publications include:
- Italian Design from 1860 to the present (1989)
- The Plastics Age (1990)
- As Long as It's Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste (1995)
- An Introduction to Design and Culture, 1900 to the present (3rd edition 2004)
- Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration (2005)
- The Modern Interior (2008)
- Nature Inside: Plants and Flowers in the Modern Interior (2021)
I currently supervise 7 PhD students, am the Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History, and a member of the editorial board of RADDAR (Mudac, Lausanne).
Qualifications
- 1971 BA French Literature (University of Sussex)
- 1975 PhD Theory and Design in the Age of Pop (Brighton Polytechnic)
- Honarary MA University of the Creative Arts
- Honorary Senior Fellow Royal College of Art
Publications
Nature inside : plants and flowers in the modern interior
Sparke, Penny (2020). (Yale University Press)
Flow: interior, landscape, and architecture in the era of liquid modernity
(2018). London, U.K.: (Bloomsbury)
Shaping the American interior : structures, contexts and practices
(2018). Abingdon, U.K.: (Routledge)
The Routledge companion to design studies
(2016). Abingdon, U.K.: (Routledge)
Biography, identity and the modern interior
(2013). Farnham, U.K.: (Ashgate)
Picker House and collection: a late 1960s home for art and design
(2013). London, U.K.: (Philip Wilson)
Designed in Umea : industrial design education at the Umea Institute of Design, Sweden
Andersson, Norbert and Sparke, Penny (2009). Stockholm, Sweden:
Designing the modern interior: from the Victorians to today
(2009). Oxford, U.K.: (Berg)
European design since 1985: shaping the new century
Miller, R. Craig, Sparke, Penny and Mcdermott, Catherine (2009). London, U.K.: (Merrell Publishers Ltd.)
Japanese design
Sparke, Penny (2009). New York, U.S.A.: (Museum of Modern Art)
The genius of design
Sparke, Penny (2009). London, U.K.: (Quadrille Publishing Limited)
The modern interior
Sparke, Penny (2008). London, U.K.: (Reaktion Books)
The modern period room : the construction of the exhibited interior 1870 to 1950
(2006). London: (Routledge)
Elsie de Wolfe: the birth of modern interior decoration
Sparke, Penny (2005). New York, USA: (Acanthus Press)
Interior design and identity
(2004). Manchester, UK: (Manchester University Press)
An introduction to design and culture: 1900 to the present
Sparke, Penny (2004). London, UK: (Routledge)
Women's places: architecture and design 1860-1960
(2003). London, UK: (Routledge)
A century of car design
Sparke, Penny (2002). London, UK: (Mitchell Beazley)
As long as it's pink: the sexual politics of taste
Sparke, Penny (1995). London, U.K.: (Pandora)
'At home : Panoramas de nos Vies Domestiques' : some ecological reflections
Sparke, Penny, Rossi, Cat and Scholze, Jana, 2024, Interiors : Design / Architecture / Culture, pp 1-18
At home : panoramas de nos vies domestiques : some ecological reflections
Sparke, Penny, Rossi, Cat and Scholze, Jana, 2024, Interiors : Design/Architecture/Culture
At home : panoramas de nos vies domestiques: some ecological reflections
Sparke, Penny, Rossi, Cat and Scholze, Jana, 2024, Interiors : Design/Architecture/Culture (13), 1, pp 120-137
'Covered promenades for wet weather' : London's Winter Gardens and People's Palaces, 1870-1900
Sparke, Penny, 2020, London Journal (45), 2, pp 240-269
Complex interior spaces in London, 1850-1930 : introduction
Fisher, Fiona, Lara-Betancourt, Patricia, Kelley, Victoria and Sparke, Penny, 2020, London Journal (45), 2, pp 177-188
The modern interior: a space, a place or a matter of taste?
Sparke, Penny, 2010, Interiors: Design, Architecture and Culture (1), 1-2, pp 7-17
Film Review of 'The Truman Show', Peter Weir (1998)
Sparke, Penny, 2009, Design and culture: the journal of the Design Studies Forum (1), 2, pp 231-233
Book Review of 'The design culture reader' edited by Ben Highmore.
Sparke, Penny, 2009, Journal of design history (22), 2, pp 191-193
Exhibition Review of 'Choosing the chintz'
Sparke, Penny, 2009, Blueprint, pp 69
The modern interior revisited
Sparke, Penny, 2008, Journal of Interior Design (34), 1, pp v-xii
Interior decoration and Haute Couture: links between the developments of the two professions in France and the USA in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - a historiographical analysis
Sparke, Penny, 2008, Journal of design history (21), 1, pp 101-107
Mobility history from a design historian's perspective: the T2M conference, 2007
Sparke, Penny, 2008, The Journal of Transport History (29), 1, pp 131-135
Book Review of 'Designing liners: a history of interior design afloat' by Anne Wealleans
Sparke, Penny, 2008, Studies in the Decorative Arts (16), 1, pp 156-158
Issues in interior design history: guest editors' introduction
Aynsley, Jeremy, Kirkham, Patricia and Sparke, Penny, 2008, Studies in the Decorative Arts (16), 1, pp 3-6
Book Review of: 'Frances Elkins: interior design' by Stephen M. Salny
Sparke, Penny, 2006, Journal of Design History (19), 3, pp 263-266
Book Review of : 'Le corbusier: architect and feminist' by Flora Samuel
Sparke, Penny, 2005, Journal of Design History (18), 2, pp 216-218
Studying the modern home
Sparke, Penny, 2004, The Journal of Architecture (9), 4, pp 413-417
The 'ideal' and the 'real' interior in Elsie de Wolfe's The house in good taste of 1913
Sparke, Penny, 2003, Journal of design history (16), 1, pp 63-76
Always in good taste: the enduring legacy of Elsie de Wolfe
Sparke, Penny, 2000, Harvard Design Magazine, 11, pp 16-20
The straw donkey: tourist kitsch or proto-design? Craft and design in Italy, 1945-1960
Sparke, Penny, 1998, Journal of Design History (11), 1, pp 59-69
The myth of the Independent Group
Massey, Anne and Sparke, Penny, 1985, Block, 10, pp 48-56
(Semi-) public interiority in British curative environments, 1840–1914
Sparke, Penny (2024). In: Teston, Liz, (eds.), Tehve, Karin, (eds.), Jones, Ladi'Sasha, (eds.) and Campos, Amy, (eds.), Public Interiority. London, U.K.: Routledge, pp 160-171
Liberating middle-class women in nineteenth-century Britain
Sparke, Penny (2023). In: Lacrouts, Oliver, (eds.) and Drouet, Laura, (eds.), Greenhouse stories : a critical re-examination of transparent microcosms. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Onomatopee, pp 73-83
New interior identities : inhabiting London’s railway stations, winter gardens, people’s palaces, and department stores, 1830–1920
Fisher, Fiona, Lara-Betancourt, Patricia and Sparke, Penny (2023). In: Marinic, Gregory, (ed.), The interior urbanism theory reader. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge
The domestic setting
Sparke, Penny (2022). In: O'Mahoney, Claire I. R., (ed.), In the modern age. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academic, pp 89-109
The natural world
Sparke, Penny (2021). In: Mcguirk, Justin, (ed.), Charlotte Perriand : the modern life. London, U.K.: Design Museum Publishing, pp 130-157
Interior provocations : a conclusion
Sparke, Penny (2020). In: Lasc, Anca I, (eds.), Schneiderman, Deborah, (eds.), Suh, Keena, (eds.), Tehve, Karin, (eds.), Winton, Alexa G, (eds.) and Zieve, Karyn, (eds.), Interior provocations : history, theory and practice of autonomous interiors. New York, U.S.: Routledge, pp 233-243
Elsie de Wolfe : a professional interior decorator
Sparke, Penelope (2018). In: Lupkin, Paula, (eds.) and Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Shaping the American interior : structures, contexts and practices. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, pp 47-58
Introduction
Sparke, Penny (2018). In: Kravis Design Center, (ed.), Industrial design in the modern age. New York, U.S.: Rizzoli Electa, pp 12-44
Taste, gender and the home : before and after Bourdieu
Sparke, Penny (2018). In: Quinn, Malcolm, (eds.), Beech, David, (eds.), Lehnert, Michael, (eds.), Tulloch, Carol, (eds.) and Wilson, Stephen, (eds.), The persistence of taste : art, museums and everyday life after Bourdieu. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, pp 331-344
Arranging the aspidistras : nature, culture and the design of the feminine sphere in the nineteenth century
Sparke, Penny (2016). In: Sparke, Penny, (eds.) and Fisher, Fiona, (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Design Studies. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, pp 186-196
Industrial design in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
Sparke, Penny (2016). In: Hanks, David A, (ed.), 100 designs for a modern world. New York, USA: Skira Rizzoli, pp 9-17
Paradise in the parlor : cozy corners and potted palms in Western interiors, 1880-1900
Sparke, Penny (2015). In: Potvin, John, (ed.), Oriental interiors: design, identity, space. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academic, pp 203-218
The spaces and places of British modernity
Sparke, Penny and Fisher, Fiona (2015). In: Breward, Christopher, (eds.), Fisher, Fiona, (eds.) and Wood, Ghislaine, (eds.), British design : tradition and modernity after 1948. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academic, pp 15-24
Ettore Sottsass and critical design in Italy, 1965-1985
Sparke, Penny (2014). In: Lees-Maffei, Grace, (ed.), Made in Italy: rethinking a century of Italian design. Bloomsbury Academic
Marcel Wanders' interiors in context
Sparke, Penny (2014). In: De Roode, Ingeborg, (ed.), Marcel Wanders: pinned up, 25 years of design.. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Stedelijk Museum, pp 50-55
'Valentine' typewriter, Italy (Ettore Sottsass Jr. and Perry A. King for C. Olivetti S.p.A., 1969).
Sparke, Penny (2014). In: Lees-Maffei, Grace, (ed.), Iconic designs: 50 stories about 50 things. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, pp 134-137
Etats-Unis
Sparke, Penny (2013). In: Forest, Dominique, (ed.), L'Art du design de 1945 a nos jours. Paris, France:
Grande-Bretagne
Sparke, Penny (2013). In: Forest, Dominique, (ed.), L'Art du design de 1945 a nos jours. Paris, France:
Japon
Sparke, Penny (2013). In: Forest, Dominique, (ed.), L'Art du design de 1945 a nos jours. Paris, France:
The Picker House interior
Sparke, Penny (2013). In: Black, Jonathan, (eds.), Falkner, David, (eds.), Fisher, Fiona, (eds.), Lloyd, Fran, (eds.), Preston, Rebecca, (eds.) and Sparke, Penny, (eds.), The Picker House and collection: a late 1960's home for art and design. London, U.K.: Philip Wilson, pp 47-70
The many lives of Red House
Penner, Barbara and Rice, Charles (2013). In: Massey, Anne, (eds.) and Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Biography, identity and the modern interior. Farnham, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., pp 23-35
Leisure interiors in the work of the Camden Town Group
Black, Jonathan, Fisher, Fiona and Sparke, Penny (2012). In: Bonett, Helena, (eds.), Holt, Ysanne, (eds.) and Munday, Jennifer, (eds.), The Camden Town Group in context. London, U.K.: Tate
At home with modernity: the new domestic scene
Sparke, Penny (2012). In: Breward, Christopher, (eds.) and Wood, Ghislaine, (eds.), British design from 1948: innovation in the modern age. London, U.K.:, pp 120-137
The international impact of Finnish design, 1945-67
Sparke, Penny (2012). In: Savolainen, Jukka, (eds.) and Svenskberg, Aila, (eds.), Builders of the future: Finnish design 1945-67. Helsinki, Finland: Designmuseo, pp 8-19
Furnishing the aesthetic interior: manuals and theories
Sparke, Penny (2011). In: Galloway, Stephen, (eds.) and Orr, Lynn Federle, (eds.), The cult of beauty: the aesthetic movement 1860-1900. London, U.K.:, pp 124-133
Taste and the interior designer
Sparke, Penny (2011). In: Kleinman, Kent, (ed.), After taste: expanded practice in interior design. New York, U.S.A.: Princeton Architectural Press
Designing 'taste': domestic consumption, modernism and modernity
Sparke, Penny (2010). In: Mattsson, Helena, (eds.) and Wallenstein, Sven-Olov, (eds.), Swedish modernism: architecture, consumption and the welfare state. London, U.K.: Black Dog Publishing Limited, pp 112-121
Framing the modern woman: Elsie de Wolfe, from clothes horse to interior decorator
Sparke, Penny (2010). In: Myzelev, Alla, (eds.) and Potvin, John, (eds.), Fashion, interior design and the contours of modern identity. London, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing Limited, pp 205-224
From production to consumption in twentieth-century design
Sparke, Penny (2009). In: Aynsley, Jeremy, (eds.) and Atkinson, Harriet, (eds.), The Banham lectures: essays on designing the future. Oxford, U.K.: Berg, pp 127-141
General introduction
Sparke, Penny (2009). In: Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Massey, Anne, (eds.), Keeble, Trevor, (eds.) and Martin, Brenda, (eds.), Designing the modern interior: from the Victorians to today. Oxford, U.K.: Berg, pp 1-10
Introduction
Sparke, Penny (2009). In: Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Massey, Anne, (eds.), Keeble, Trevor, (eds.) and Martin, Brenda, (eds.), Designing the modern interior: from the Victorians to today. Oxford, U.K.: Berg, pp 146-158
Introduction
Sparke, Penny (2009). In: Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Massey, Anne, (eds.), Keeble, Trevor, (eds.) and Martin, Brenda, (eds.), Designing the modern interior: from the Victorians to today. Oxford, U.K.: Berg, pp 67-78
Italy's new domestic landscape, 1945-1972
Sparke, Penny (2009). In: Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Massey, Anne, (eds.), Keeble, Trevor, (eds.) and Martin, Brenda, (eds.), Designing the modern interior: from the Victorians to today. Oxford, U.K.: Berg, pp 183-193
The LC4 chaise longue by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, 1928
Sparke, Penny (2009). In: Candlin, Fiona, (eds.) and Guins, Raiford, (eds.), The object reader. London, U.K.: Routledge, pp 480-482
The crafted interior: Elsie de Wolfe and the construction of gendered identity
Sparke, Penny (2008). In: Alfoldy, Sandra, (eds.) and Helland, Janice, (eds.), Craft, space and interior design, 1855-2005. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing Limited, pp 123-138
A modern decorator in the French tradition
Sparke, Penny (2008). In: Black, Jonathan, (eds.) and Martin, Brenda, (eds.), Dora Gordine; sculptor, artist, designer. London, UK: Philip Wilson, pp 145-161
Ettore Sottsass, a modern Italian designer
Sparke, Penny (2006). In: Labaco, Ronald T., (ed.), Ettore Sottsass: architect and designer. London, UK: Merrell Publishers, pp 11-31
The domestic interior and the construction of self: the New York homes of Elsie de Wolfe
Sparke, Penny (2004). In: McKellar, Susie, (eds.) and Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Interior design and identity. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, pp 72-91
Elsie de Wolfe and her female clients, 1905-15: gender, class and the professional interior decorator
Sparke, Penny (2003). In: Martin, Brenda, (eds.) and Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Women's places: architecture and design 1860-1960. London, U.K.: Routledge, pp 47-68
Introduction
Sparke, Penny (2003). In: Martin, Brenda, (eds.) and Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Women’s places: architecture and design 1860-1960. London, U.K.: Routledge, pp ix-xx
A modern identity for a new nation: design in Italy since 1860
Sparke, Penny (2001). In: Baranski, Zygmunt G., (eds.) and West, Rebecca J., (eds.), The Cambridge companion to modern Italian culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 265-281
Arco lamp: Achille Castiglioni, 1962
Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Albus, Volker, (eds.), Kras, Reyer, (eds.) and Woodham, Jonathan M., (eds.), Icons of design!: the 20th century. Munich, Germany: Prestel Verlag, pp 130-131
Brionvega radio TS-502: Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper, 1964
Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Albus, Volker, (eds.), Kras, Reyer, (eds.) and Woodham, Jonathan M., (eds.), Icons of design!: the 20th century. Munich, Germany: Prestel Verlag, pp 134-135
Cookware to cocktail shakers: the domestication of the aluminium object in the United States, 1900-1939
Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Nichols, Sarah, (ed.), Aluminum by design. Pittsburgh, U.S.: Carnegie Museum of Art, pp 112-139
Hill House chair: Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1904-08
Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Albus, Volker, (eds.), Kras, Reyer, (eds.) and Woodham, Jonathan M., (eds.), Icons of design!: the 20th century. Munich, Germany: Prestel Verlag, pp 16-17
Mr Chair: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1927
Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Albus, Volker, (eds.), Kras, Reyer, (eds.) and Woodham, Jonathan M., (eds.), Icons of design!: the 20th century. Germany, Muich: Prestel Verlag, pp 44-45
Tizio table lamp: Richard Sapper, 1972
Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Albus, Volker, (eds.), Kras, Reyer, (eds.) and Woodham, Jonathan M., (eds.), Icons of design!: the 20th century. Munich, Germany: Prestel Verlag, pp 144-145
Vespa motor scooter: Corradino d'Ascanio, 1946
Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Albus, Volker, (eds.), Kras, Reyer, (eds.) and Woodham, Jonathan M., (eds.), Icons of design!: the 20th century. Munich, Germany: Prestel Verlag, pp 88-89
"A woman's place..."?: women interior designers 1900-1950
Kirkham, Pat and Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Women designers in the USA 1900-2000; diversity and difference. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, pp 305-316
Convenience and pleasantness: Josef Frank and the Swedish modern movement in design
Sparke, Penny A (1996). In: Stritzler-Levine, Nina, (ed.), Josef Frank, architect and designer: an alternative vision of the modern home. New York, U.S.A: Yale University Press, pp 118-127
Elsie de Wolfe: a professional interior decorator
Sparke, Penny(2014). In: Society of Architectural Historians 67th Annual Conference, 09-13 Apr 2014 :Austin, Texas, U.S.
The Picker House: charting the boundaries of British architectural and interior design practice in the 1960s
Fisher, Fiona and Sparke, Penny(2014). In: IDEC 2014 Annual Conference, 6-10 Mar 2014 :New Orleans, U.S.A.
Design and its history: from modernism to postmodernism
Sparke, Penny(2009). In: Design for the future - the future of design, 03 - 04 Jun 2009 :Umea, Sweden
Domesticity in post 1945 England and the role of sculpture in the home
Sparke, Penny(2008). In: Sculpture in the home, 05 Dec 2008 :Leeds, U.K.
Lampshades, curtains, atoms and insects
Sparke, Penny and Simmons, Paul(2008). In: From atoms to patterns, 24 Apr-10 Aug 2008 :London, U.K.
The female touch in mobility design and its history
Sparke, Penny and Mom, Gijs(2007). 25-28 Oct 2007 : Helmond, The Netherlands