This was the future. After the
dark destructive days of war,
a time for enlightenment.
A people’s festival.
Engineering and art fused.
Britain great again.

An object from that
future past. Skylon, once
suspended 300 feet above
the South Bank, rocket-like,
a technological wonder.
Now re-imagined in the
living-room, the geometry
compact, the purpose clear.
Above the tripod, concert
hall patterns of music and
science, sound visualised by
oscilloscope. Son et lumière.

Back in 1951, the festival
ended. Waste of money,
said some. Modernism and
socialism gone mad. The
new men in power got their
way. Skylon went for scrap.

Click here to view the design that inspired this piece of writing.

Writer: wendyjonesonline.co.uk / @WendyJonesWJ
Designer: minimoderns.com
Illustrator: Assa Ariyoshi