{{Short description|London-based design firm}} {{Multiple issues| {{COI|date=November 2010}} {{advert|date=November 2010}} }} {{Infobox company | name = Metaphor | logo = logo-metaphor.gif | logo_size = <!--250px--> | type = [[Private company]] | industry = Designer and Master planner | founded = {{Start date and age |2000 }} | founder = Stephen Greenberg and Rachel Morris | hq_location_city = [[London]] | hq_location_country = [[United Kingdom]] | area_served = Worldwide | key_people = Kara Dickinson ([[Managing Director]]) | products = | services = Museum master planning, architecture, design, story-planning, text writing, content research, financial sustainability, brief writing, facilitating workshops, consultation, and working with funders. | owner = | website = {{URL|https://www.metaphor-design.co.uk/about}} }}
'''Metaphor''' is a British design firm based in [[London]] that specialises in museum and exhibition spaces re-designs. It provides master planning, exhibition design and architecture design for existing museums, galleries and other exhibition spaces.
== History ==
=== Foundation === The company was established in 2000 by Stephen Greenberg and Rachel Morris, Metaphor specializes in the re-design of museums, palaces, forts, landscapes, and country houses through master planning and design.
=== Projects 2000 - 2007 === In 2000 Metaphor's work in museums began with the master plan of the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] (V & A). From 2003 to 2011, Metaphor was the master planner and lead designer at the [[Grand Egyptian Museum]] in [[Giza]], [[Cairo]]. It is one of the largest planned archaeological museums in the world. <ref>{{Cite web |title=The Grand Egyptian Museum starts limited guided tours |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/cairo-grand-egyptian-museum-tours |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Lonely Planet |language=en}}</ref>
Metaphor first worked at the [[British Museum]] when it designed the exhibition on [[Michelangelo]] in 2005. At the time, it broke the museum's audience records, with 160,000 people seeing it.<ref>...''[http://www.metaphor.eu/exhibitions/michelangelo/]'' Metaphor, Michelangelo...</ref> ''The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Warriors'' at the [[British Museum]] in London. Metaphor used the curved walls of the [[British Museum Reading Room|Round Reading Room]] to hold projections, acting as a theatrical backdrop. [[Rachel Campbell-Johnston]] said that "exhibition designers and curators have to work hard to create a sense of spectacle. But they succeed brilliantly. The museum’s great Round Reading Room has been temporarily adapted into an atmospheric show space".<ref>...''[https://archive.today/20080905071120/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article2423601.ece]''Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times ...</ref> The exhibition was seen by 850,000 people, 37% of whom had never been to the [[British Museum]] before.<ref>...''[http://www.metaphor.eu/exhibitions/first-emperor/] {{Webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20141122104150/http%3A//www.metaphor.eu/exhibitions/first%2Demperor/|date=2014-11-22}}'' Metaphor, First Emperor...</ref>
=== Projects 2007 - 2020 === In 2007, Metaphor designed the ''Surreal Things'' exhibition at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum|V & A]]. [[Stephen Bayley]], writing for [[The Observer]], called it "comprehensive, fascinating, engaging and instructive".<ref>...''[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/mar/25/design.surrealismatthevanda]'' Stephen Bayley, The Guardian, March 2007...</ref> [Rachel Campbell-Johnston], writing for ''[[The Times]]'', said 'the psychological mood starts to possess you'.<ref>...''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150213203753/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/article2422073.ece]'' Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times, March 2007...</ref> The exhibition was redesigned to appear at the [[Guggenheim Museum Bilbao]], running from 2007 to 2008. It was seen by 575,000 visitors, making it one of the most successful [[Victoria and Albert Museum|V & A]] touring exhibition ever.<ref>...''[http://www.metaphor.eu/exhibitions/surreal-things-bilbao/]'' Metaphor, Surreal Things Bilbao...</ref>
Opening in 2009. Metaphor redesigned 32 permanent galleries at the [[Ashmolean Museum]] in [[Oxford]].<ref>''[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/6487538/The-reopening-of-The-Ashmolean-review.html]'' Richard Dorment, The Telegraph, November 2009 </ref><ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/oct/26/ashmolean-museum-architecture]''Jonathan Glancey, The Guardian, October 2009</ref> In 2010, Metaphor planned, renovated, and displayed the [[Museum of the Order of St John]] in [[Clerkenwell]]. It tells the story of the Knights of the Order of St John, the Crusades, and their later history.
In 2011, the [[Holburne Museum]] in Bath reopened, after a complete re-design by Metaphor.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=[[Holburne Museum]] |title=Transforming Bath's Art Museum: Progress |url=http://www.holburne.org/progress |access-date=2010-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101001173446/http://www.holburne.org/progress/ |archive-date=2010-10-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Metaphor displayed the central collection as if reflecting the mind of its eccentric 18th-century collector.<ref>...http://www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/holburne-museum-bath-new...</ref> In 2013, Metaphor redesigned the [[Olympic Museum]] in [[Lausanne]], a museum of the renewal of the Olympics by [[Pierre de Coubertin]] and the Olympic Legacy. It also designed and curated the Parc Olympique, including new routes, sight lines, welcome sequences, and lighting.
=== Company relaunch 2020 - Present === In 2020 the company was relaunched with Kara Dickinson as Managing Director.
In 2022, Metaphor created a new visitor experience for the [[Old Royal Naval College]] in Greenwich.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://blooloop.com/museum/news/metaphor-completes-work-nelson-room/ |title=Metaphor presents new visitor experience at The Nelson Room |date=March 31, 2022 |publisher=Blooloop }}</ref>
==Heritage== Metaphor has undertaken many projects in the wider cultural and heritage sector, including with [[National Trust]] properties, [[Historic Royal Palaces]], and [[Wordsworth Trust]]. Clients have included [[Hampton Court Palace]], [[Fountains Abbey]], [[Wordsworth Trust]], [[Hardwick Hall Country Park]], [[Coughton Court]], [[Winchester Cathedral]], [[Winchester College]], and [[Tyntesfield]].<ref>..."[http://www.metaphor.eu/heritage/] {{Webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20141122084450/http%3A//www.metaphor.eu/heritage/|date=2014-11-22}}"Metaphor, Heritage...</ref>
== Museum of Marco Polo == Metaphor curated a website called The Museum of Marco Polo, which explored what a Museum was and the changing relationship between the physical museum space and the virtual visitor. It includes the History of the Museum, and an explanation of how The Museum of Marco Polo came to be located on the island of [[Büyükada]], near [[Istanbul]]. It is illustrated by the award-winning<ref>..."[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/06/observer-graphic-short-story-prize-greenberg]"Rachel Cooke, The Observer, November 2011...</ref> graphic novelist [[Isabel Greenberg]].
== References == {{Reflist}}
[[Category:Design companies of the United Kingdom]]