Meet the Winner: Sir Christopher Frayling

 Frayling’s earliest ambition was to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This however was abandoned when he discovered how much exercise and sensible eating the job entailed. His interest then turned towards design while studying history at Cambridge University. ‘I was surprised there was so little emphasis on the visual, and on the everyday material objects in peoples' lives. This led me to think about a possible 'history of design' which didn't exist then,’ he explains.

Pursuing this idea, Frayling started lecturing at the Royal College of Art, eventually becoming Rector, a departure from history that he hasn’t regretted for one moment.

He was knighted in 2000 for services to ‘art and design education,’ but cites his Rectorship of the RCA as the role he is most proud of. He especially excelled in the gentle art of persuading government and funders of the centrality of arts education. ‘I freed professors up and let them get on with what they are best at,’ he says. Above all, though, he loved seeing several generations of young designers prepare themselves for a professional life in a world that increasingly respected and valued their contribution. ‘I follow their careers and achievements, and it still gives me a warm glow.’

Alongside his long tenure in education, Frayling has been Chairman of the Arts Council England and the Design Council, as well as a trustee of the Victoria & Albert Museum. ‘Design and craft practitioners don't tend to be good committee people. Why should they be? I've always felt that the interests of practitioner communities and their publics should be strongly represented by people who actually work in their worlds rather than by career bureaucrats. Hence my involvement in so many committees involved in art and design policy,’ he explains.

Looking back over his long career offers a perspective on change, not least art education and its move from the margins to the mainstream. ‘Technology has radically altered how teaching is delivered. There's been a move away from the tactile and the material, which is regrettable in my view.’ He is pleased though by the meeting of design and engineering and its rebranding as 'design engineering.’ But he’s less impressed with what he sees as ‘an unhelpful rift between ‘design with a big D (arty education) and design with a small d (the everyday end of the spectrum). It’s a pity that top-end universities don't rate design in schools highly enough these days.’

Frayling is reluctant to slow down. He continues to write about everyday culture in all its forms, not just design, but cinema (his favourite possession is an ashtray that used to belong to film director Sergio Leone), music and even vampires. He also continues to broadcast and write about design and the visual realm. He does this, he says, because he recognises the very real need to build firmer bridges between design and craft practitioners and the wider worlds that surround them. In this, he sees his role as a guide and interpreter. ‘There are still deep misunderstandings, even after all these years, and the design world, it has to be said, sometimes talks to itself in its own language way too much,’ he laughs.

Words by Tamsin Kingswell