Kew Bridge Steam Museum Gets Grand Designs For Living

The Kew Bridge Steam Museum is proud to announce the launch of an exciting new exhibition, Design For Living, which opens January 12th 2007 through to April 15th. Come and delve into this bizarre collection of ingenious domestic gadgets and guess the obscure purpose of a host of eccentric contraptions.

The exhibition, on loan from the Museum of Nostalgia, will engage and amuse everyone, both young and old. Items from the museums' reserve collections will also go on show for the first time including an Aqua Vibro Massager or electrical stimulator (both of which are genuine medical treatments not kinky sex toys, but they sound and look bizzare!) Explore this amazing collection of fascinating and visually intriguing gadgets designed to make life easier in days gone by, including:

- Tiny 1935 'spy' camera

- 1853 3D viewer

- Victorian step commode

- Lawn shoes worn by a horse

- 19th century electrical stimulator

- 1935 washing machine - that also claimed to make ice cream and sausages

The exhibition contains an eclectic mix of labour saving devices and beautifully luxurious objects for the well to do home, such as a 1901 phonograph. Fascinating and humorous this exhibition will intrigue and amuse and is a testament to our desire for an easier life! Related holiday activities for kids will run during the half-term and Easter holidays. -- www.kbsm.org