AWARE is taking a major step forward by broadening its scope to include design. This expansion addresses a historiographical need: to recognise design not merely as a technical or functional practice, but as a field of artistic creation in its own right.

Whilst some women designers are now beginning to gain recognition from a wider public, whole sections of design history remain yet to be written. AWARE aims to highlight the diversity of women’s careers in the applied arts, from the first women designers active in the fields of furniture, textiles, glass and ceramics, to contemporary designers whose work explores the uses, materials, technologies and social issues of our time.

For this first phase of the Design programme, AWARE is partnering with two leading international institutions: the Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The publications focus on pioneering and contemporary figures in design, with the aim of documenting and highlighting careers that are still largely absent from mainstream narratives. The programme is based on the online publication of a collection of biographies and research articles dedicated to major female designers, drawn from the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Victoria and Albert Museum. This first group of texts will progressively be expanded to form an international reference resource on women in the history of design.

Through this new programme, AWARE is affirming its commitment to a more inclusive art history, attentive to the interplay between fine art, decorative arts, architecture and design.