Infinite aims to bring Threads of Time together at Hardwick Hall

The National Trust has commissioned Newcastle-based Infinite Design to create a permanent exhibition at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, worth a six-figure fee to the consultancy.

Entitled Threads of Time, the exhibition will showcase the various collections that are scattered throughout the Elizabethan hall, such as 16th century textiles, furniture and portraits. Infinite was appointed to the project 16 months ago.

The design work includes an identity, graphic panels, touch screens, audio guides and ‘low-tech interactives’ such as ‘reproduced’ parts of tapestry that visitors can handle. The exhibition spans five previously unused rooms.

‘Hardwick Hall is a very graphic place, full of textile design, paintings and furniture. We wanted to ground the house and look for visual parallels in the exhibition design. There are lots of different stories and interpretative themes here,’ explains Des Kennedy, partner at Infinite Design.

Hardwick Hall was built in the 1590s and comprises two country mansions. The exhibition forms part of a larger £6.5m regeneration programme across the National Trust.