Johanna Agerman Ross, incoming Chief Curator, Design Museum. A woman with shoulder length, caramel-coloured hair matching her light-brown, V neck jumper and lipstick. She is slightly smiling.

Photo: Chris Tang

Changing Faces

Design Museum names Chief Curator

Arts Professional
2 min read

London’s Design Museum has announced JOHANNA AGERMAN ROSS as Chief Curator.

Assuming her position in September, Agerman Ross will succeed writer, critic and curator JUSTIN MCGUIRK. 

Agerman Ross has 15 years’ experience in the design and cultural sectors, working at the V&A as Curator of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Furniture and Product Design since 2016.

During her tenure, she has co-curated the museum’s permanent gallery, Design 1900-Now, and headed the Make Good: Rethinking Materials initiative, an annual symposium exploring the use of natural and renewable materials in design and architecture. 

The former editor of design magazine Icon, Agerman Ross founded the quarterly architecture, design and fashion journal Disegno in 2011, which she continues to oversee as director. Alongside this, she volunteers for the charity Young Women’s Trust, supporting women with CV writing and job applications.

"Johanna is hugely respected across the cultural and design sectors. She is a writer, teacher, magazine founder, consultant and curator," said Design Museum Director and CEO TIM MARLOW.

"Her experience ranges from museums and academia to publishing and journalism, wide-ranging but rooted in the understanding, exploration and mediation of design.

"She has all the attributes to be an outstanding chief curator at the Design Museum and I'm very much looking forward to working with her."