Gordon Russell Design Museum

About the museum

The Gordon Russell Design Museum in Broadway, Worcestershire, celebrates the furniture designer Gordon Russell and the company that carried his name. Russell was trained in the Arts and Crafts tradition of the Cotswolds and became a pioneer of good design for ordinary people, bringing together craft and machine production. His company, Gordon Russell Limited, was an important part of 20th-century British furniture making, and its work developed from Arts and Crafts through Modernism, the Second World War and mid-century design.

After the war Russell helped to set up the Council of Industrial Design, now the Design Council, and later became its director, influencing British industry, design and education. He died in 1980. The museum is housed in one of the company's former workshops in Russell Square, reached on foot from the High Street.

The collection includes furniture, radio cabinets and metalwork designed by Gordon Russell, his brother R. D. Russell and other members of the firm's design team. The museum is run by the Gordon Russell Trust, a registered charity, with the help of volunteers. It also holds talks, learning programmes, an archive and design awards, and it shares a discounted ticket with two other museums in the area.

Highlights

• Furniture designed by Gordon Russell and his firm
• Murphy radio cabinets from 1930 to 1952
• Coventry Cathedral chair designed by R. D. Russell
• Story of the Council of Industrial Design
• Set in a former Gordon Russell workshop

Permanent exhibition

• Gordon Russell furniture and design collection – Furniture, radio cabinets and metalwork by Gordon Russell, R. D. Russell and the firm’s designers, shown across the ground and first floors.

Founded

2008

Operated by

Gordon Russell Trust

Admission & discounts

Friends of the Museum and Museums Association members enter free; National Art Pass holders pay £4; Caravan Club members get 2 for 1. Tickets are bought on the day at the museum and are valid for repeat visits for one year. Broadway Museum & Art Gallery, the Gordon Russell Design Museum and Court Barn Museum share a ticket: visitors paying full admission at one receive 50% off entry to the other two. The museum takes card and Apple Pay only, not cash.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The site is compact. There are ramps to the main entrance and a lift to the first floor. The museum has a unisex visitor toilet. An access statement is available on the website, and visitors can phone or email with questions before visiting.

Kids & families

• Stroller-friendly
• Baby changing facilities: not available

Buggies are allowed and a lift serves the first floor. There are no baby changing facilities at the museum, but there are some elsewhere in Broadway. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Getting there & parking

The museum is in a former Gordon Russell Limited workshop in Russell Square and is reached on foot from the High Street via the lanes beside Russell’s of Broadway and Trinity House Gallery. There are cycle racks in Russell Square.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Coat check: not available

There is no cloakroom. The shop sells UK-made crafts and gifts and can be browsed without paying for the museum; products are also sold online.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit