LONDON.- On 5 April 2018 the Design Museum welcomed its one millionth visitor since opening on Kensington High Street. The visitor was applauded into the building by museum staff and greeted by museum director Alice Black.

This milestone comes quickly off-the-back of a record breaking opening year for the museum as it surpassed its target of 650,000 to attract 780,000 visitors from November 2016 to November 2017.

Current exhibition, Ferrari: Under the Skin has proved a resounding success with visitors as it becomes the museum’s highest attended exhibition. To date, the exhibition has attracted over 90,000 attendees. With over £140m-worth of classic Ferraris on display, the exhibition celebrates the 70th anniversary of the brand and the man behind it, Enzo Ferrari. It explores the integration of design, manufacturing and racing prowess, which are the foundation of the brand’s enduring appeal. The exhibition opened on 15 November 2017 and closes on 15 April 2018.

The move to Kensington has also enabled the museum to improve its learning programmes, with hands-on courses for families, young people and adults alike. Dedicating 500m² to create a world-class campus for learning, the Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning on the museum’s first floor has welcome over 60,000 visitors as part of its education programme.

Terence Conran, founder of the Design Museum said: ‘I am astounded and delighted in equal measures that the Design Museum is about to welcome its one millionth visitor to our magnificent new home in Kensington. The move has been absolutely everything I dreamed it could be, with visitors of all ages and backgrounds being inspired by the excellent exhibitions and engaging with design in new and interesting ways. Design is vital to our economy, our culture and the way we live so I am delighted that our museum continues to lead the way in debating and exploring how we can shape the world around us.’

Alice Black, co-director of the Design Museum commented: ‘Today, we welcome our millionth visitor to the Design Museum which reopened its doors just 16 months ago in Kensington. Previously, it would have taken us over five years to achieve this many visits. This is an amazing endorsement by our visitors, young and old, British, European and from further afield, and proves that there is a buoyant public interest in design. We will build on this success and continue to deliver our learning programmes to schools, universities, colleges, young people and adults, stage exciting exhibitions that show how design improves lives and deliver public talks and debates that give unfettered access to the brightest and most creative minds of our generation. The Design Museum would like to thank the trusts and foundations, corporate and individual donors who are vital partners in our work including our technology partner Apple and Beazley, sponsors of Beazley Designs of the Year.’

Deyan Sudjic, co-director of the Design Museum added: ‘To have one million people visit us already in our new home is a wonderful endorsement of the Design Museum’s vision. We see design as something that matters to everybody, a subject too important to be left to specialists. Out visitors have proved how right that belief is.’

The Design Museum was previously based in Shad Thames, south east London before its move to Kensington High Street. The move tripled the museum’s size to 10,000m² and enabled it to open Designer Maker User, a free permanent display introducing visitors to contemporary design in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover. The museum also houses two temporary exhibition galleries, the Helene and Johannes Huth Gallery, the 210-seat Bakala Auditorium, the Chumsri and Luqman Lounge, the Weston Mezzanine, a restaurant and the museum’s collection of more than 2,500 objects in a dedicated climate controlled collection storage and conservation facility.