London is home to numerous museums, but among them, the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) stands out as truly unique.
While there are several V&A-operated sites across the UK, the most famous is undoubtedly the main museum in South Kensington. Its vast collection, gathered from all over the world, is packed so densely that it would be impossible to see everything even if you spent an entire day there.
The name “V&A” comes from the initials of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, who defined the golden age of 19th-century Britain. Originally, it was established as a royal museum funded by the profits of the world’s first Great Exhibition (the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations).
Commonly, the term “museum” or “art gallery” evokes images of a quiet place to gaze at ancient paintings and sculptures. However, the V&A is positioned as one of the world’s largest hubs for “Art and Design” (the decorative arts). Rather than focusing on “Fine Art” (such as paintings), the collection is curated through the lens of how humans create the objects used in daily life to be both beautiful and functional.
This approach stems from a pressing concern in Britain at the time of its founding. While the Industrial Revolution had drastically improved manufacturing technology, British products of that era faced a major issue: “They were, frankly, quite ugly.”
In response, Prince Albert had an idea:
“Let’s line up the world’s finest craftsmanship and show it to British artisans and designers. That way, they’ll learn how to create better products!”
In other words, the V&A began its life as an educational institution intended to train designers.
As a result, it feels quite different from the British Museum, where you might find masterpieces of religious painting. For example, if you peek into the Japan gallery, you’ll find samurai armor displayed right alongside Hello Kitty and nostalgic flip-phones—a uniquely V&A spectacle.
Popular mobile phones used in Japan before smartphones were released
While established with these roots, the V&A has recently been opening new sites all across London.
For instance, there is “Young V&A” in Bethnal Green, East London. This building was constructed using parts of the temporary iron structure from the 1851 Great Exhibition in South Kensington (nicknamed the “Brompton Boilers”), which was moved and opened in 1872 as the Bethnal Green Museum.
After World War I, the museum began displaying items related to childhood. In the 1920s, curator Arthur Sabin established a dedicated children’s section, which significantly expanded the museum’s scope. In 1974, it was officially named the “V&A Museum of Childhood,” becoming a national museum focused on the history of childhood.
Following a three-year renovation, it reopened in 2023 as “Young V&A.” This rebranding marked a shift from simply being a place that displays the history of childhood to becoming a practical space for “play, creativity, and design” specifically for children. It’s still fresh in memory that in 2023, they held the Japan: Myths to Manga exhibition, featuring everything from Japanese manga and yōkai to Studio Ghibli and Hello Kitty.
Young V&A
1925 Japanese Board game
What the catfish symbolizes in Japan
Furthermore, the “V&A East Storehouse,” which opened in 2025 at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London, is a truly groundbreaking museum.
This is a “visible storehouse” that allows anyone to see the V&A’s massive collection of over 250,000 objects—most of which were previously closed to the public—up close. It’s a place where you can experience the “backstage” of a museum, almost like a theme park, where you can freely browse works on giant shelves or observe researchers as they handle and conserve the objects.
V&A storehouse
When I visited the Venice Architecture Biennale last summer, I saw an exhibit about this museum and found it incredibly fascinating.
Venice Biennale of Architecture ON STORAGE exhibition
Typically, museum warehouses are closed-off spaces. However, as you can see from the concept diagrams, this project aims for extreme openness. I was amazed at how they successfully balanced the “functionality” of storing works with the “imbalance” of having an unspecified number of visitors roaming through.
Moreover, you can see the works from an incredibly close distance. Honestly, it’s so close that I found myself worrying whether it was actually okay in terms of security and preservation. This site also houses the paid “David Bowie Centre.”
And this year, in May 2026, another V&A site is set to open just a 10-minute walk from the Storehouse. This one will be a more traditional museum focused on “exhibitions” and is scheduled to open in April 2026. I hear there will also be workshops involving local youth, creators, and residents of East London.
By the way, many of the artists featured in the “YBA & BEYOND” exhibition currently being held at the National Art Center, Tokyo, were also based in this East London area during the 90s.
This district, known as Stratford, is a major redevelopment area. Its roots go back to “East Bank,” a redevelopment plan following the 2012 London Olympics. Part of a £1.1 billion cultural investment project by the Mayor of London, it aims to transform a former industrial zone into a new hub for culture and education. It has already become a massive cultural district, housing the BBC music studios, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London College of Fashion (LCF), and the new campus of UCL (University College London).
To be honest, today’s East London is less of the “artist’s town” it once was; gentrification has driven up property values, making it difficult for artists to live there easily (I’ll save that for another article). Nevertheless, there is no doubt that East London will continue to undergo even more dramatic changes from here on out.
