The faculty demonstrates the diverse impact of design in shaping our world.
      Explore the profiles of current and past RDIs to understand their work.
      Exhibitions + Interiors
      1957
      1973
      Bridges
      1977
      1983
      Product
      1981
      1995
      Engineering Design
      2006
      2017
      Interior Design
      2005
      2011
      Photo of  Dinah Casson

      Dinah Casson set up her design practice in 1970 and her partnership with Roger Mann in 1984. Since 1992, Casson Mann has focused most of its work on the design of museums and exhibitions. They have designed permanent galleries for the V&A (including the British Galleries), Imperial War Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and National Maritime Museum, amongst others. The consultancy has also worked in Russia, the US and extensively in France, including La Cite du Vin in Bordeaux and Le Centre International de l’Art Parietal at Lascaux. Its work has won numerous awards. Dinah has been involved in design education all her working life - as a visiting tutor, lecturer, and external examiner and was course leader of Architecture and Interior Design at the RCA (1993 – 1995). She is currently on the board of the Royal Society of Arts and is a trustee of the Supreme Court Arts Trust. She was a trustee of Towner Eastbourne (2014 – 2024). With her partner Roger Mann, she was elected to the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry in 2006, of which she was Master from 2011-2013. She is a member of the RDI Summer Sessions panel. In 2018, she was awarded the CBE for services to design and was included in the Design Week inaugural Hall of Fame in 2015. She retired from Casson Mann in 2017 and wrote ‘Closed on Mondays – Behind the Scenes at the Museum’, published by Lund Humphries in 2020.

      RDInsights: Dinah Casson
      This RDInsights interview with Dinah Casson RDI was recorded in 2015 by Mike Dempsey RDI. In it, Dinah reflects on her childhood and her creative journey to becoming one of the UK’s leading interior and exhibition designers. Mike recently caught up with Dinah again to hear what she’s been doing over the past decade; an update of this conversation has been added to the end of this archive recording.
      145 mins
       
       
      Listen
      Pause
      Photo of  Dinah Casson
      The British Galleries, 1500-1900, V&A, London, UK, 2001
      The British Galleries, 1500-1900, V&A, London, UK
      2001
      Nelson, Navy, Nation, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK, 2013
      Nelson, Navy, Nation, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
      2013
      La Cité du Vin, Bordeaux, France, 2016
      La Cité du Vin, Bordeaux, France
      2016
      Credits from left to right
      ©2020 casson mann
      Exhibitions
      1951
      1969
      General
      1944
      1951
      Textiles
      1962
      1987
      Graphic Design
      1994
      2005
      New Media
      2000
      2013
      Stamps
      1970
      1989
      General
      1947
      1959
      General Design
      1969
      1985
      Packaging
      1938
      1955
      Engineering
      1983
      1991
      Furniture Design
      1978
      2003
      Graphics
      1947
      1967
      Packaging + Graphics
      1959
      1971
      Glass + Stained Glass
      1936
      1941
      Products + Industrial
      1961
      1975
      Ceramics + Glass
      1981
      2001
      Films
      1939
      1963
      Fashion Design
      1988
      2015
      Ceramics + Glass
      1995
      2009
      Product Design
      2008
      2021
      Designing with Light
      2012
      2019
      Naval Architecture
      1986
      1997
      Typography
      1940
      1953
      Engineering Product
      1968
      1981
      Dress
      1972
      1993
      Goldsmithing
      1936
      1937
      Glass, Pottery + Silver
      1936
      1945
      Theatre Design
      1991
      1999
      Interiors
      1939
      1961
      Engineering Design
      2012
      2023
      Commercial Art
      1936
      1939
      Light Fittings
      1940
      1949
      Furniture
      1940
      1947
      Furniture
      1944
      1957
      Lettering
      1940
      1943
      Typography
      1965
      1979
      Aircraft
      1943
      1965
      Interior + Ships
      1971
      1977
      Structural Engineering Design
      1998
      2007
      Back to top