Odd Index / Departments

Art, design & the worlds around them

Explore three new departments, with free object-led essays and a practical member workbook.

Gardens & Landscapes · Free to read

A Garden Begins Before the Plants Arrive

The Wardian case makes the journey part of garden history: glass, survival and the infrastructures behind a planted landscape.

Read the essay ↗Dress & Power · Free to read

A Pocket Is a Question of Access

A detachable eighteenth-century pocket complicates the story that women simply had no useful storage. Look at the opening, the tie and the route of the hand.

Read the essay ↗Material Histories · Free to read

Lacquer: A Surface Made of Time

A carved red box reveals why a finish is not merely the last step: building a surface can create the material from which ornament is cut.

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