Author Thomas Harding is in the process of doing what the descendants of many Holocaust victims would find unimaginable: applying for a German passport.

When Britain voted to leave the European Union in June, the 48-year-old had to make a decision that was never necessary before the referendum - should he request the restoration of German citizenship stripped from his family by the Third Reich? He needed only a few hours to make up his mind.

“This is more than the practical, this is also about something for us, or for me, it's about something spiritual, it's about reconciliation,’’ he said. “It's about acknowledging the truth of the horrors of the past but also about trying to build a better future together, and as a European, that's what I hope to do."

It is one of the complicated realities of the UK’s pending divorce from the EU that many Britons whose ancestors came from other parts of Europe are claiming citizenship in other member states so they can retain ties to the Continent. Inquiries about passports are up at the German, Austrian, French and Polish embassies.

Some want to retain the ability to travel easily from country to country or maintain business ties. Others just want to be part of the European Union.

But for Jews whose families fled Germany to escape Adolf Hitler, the decision means re-examining long-held beliefs about history and the country that once persecuted them.

The children and grandchildren of Jewish refugees are taking advantage of a law that allows the descendants of people persecuted by the Nazis to regain the citizenship that was stripped from them in the 1930s and 1940s. More than 400 Britons have sought information about the law since the June 23 referendum, and German authorities have received at least 100 formal applications, compared with about 20 annually in recent years.

Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees, said Brexit has fuelled interest in German citizenship, but it’s hard to know how many people will actually apply. Jews are now able to consider such a step because Germany has made huge strides in addressing the past, creating a culture of remembrance, he said.

“No amount of blood money or memorials will satisfy or suffice for some people but in terms of addressing its past and owning up to it and looking into things, it's done much that many other countries haven't,’’ said Newman.

Many of those seeking restoration of their citizenship don’t intend to live in Germany, but want the freedom to travel and work in EU nations.

Ben Lewis, a 49-year-old documentary filmmaker, is among those who would like to regain German citizenship.

Lewis, whose film and production company has worked for years on the continent, sees the potential of Brexit as an abomination, particularly the anti-immigrant sentiment that influenced many people to vote to leave.

“I just want to take a firm stance, a documented stance etched in acid on stone, that I object to Brexit," he said.

The decision for many might have been prompted by Brexit, but had been years in the making for some. Harding, for one, has long been coming to terms with his German past, a journey documented in part in his book, “The House by the Lake.’’

The way Harding sees it, Germany is now showing leadership by taking in over a million refugees.

As the result of the EU referendum became clear on the morning of June 24, Harding was on the phone to the German embassy to inquire about citizenship.

It’s logical, he says, for Jews to cling to the EU, which was created to build international links that would make another European war impossible.

“It was much less about saying goodbye to Britain than saying hello to Europe," he said.

London - 5 October 2016

1. Pan down from German and European Union flags to entrance of German Embassy in London

2. Various of flags

3. Mid of author Thomas Harding sitting on grass looking at passport that belonged to his German Jewish grandfather

4. Close of Harding's face

5. Various of passport

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Thomas Harding, author, in the process of applying for restoration of German passport following Brexit vote:

"This is more than the practical, this is also about something for us, or for me, it's about something spiritual, it's about reconciliation. It's about acknowledging the truth of the horrors of the past but also about trying to build a better future together, and as a European, that's what I hope to do."

7. Cutaway passport and photo of Harding's grandparents

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Thomas Harding, author, in the process of applying for restoration of German passport following Brexit vote:

"I think what has happened to me is I have become much more open towards Germany and at the same time following Brexit, I realised that there was going to be a very real loss. It was likely that me and my family would be unable to live and work in 27 countries in Europe and given the fact that I didn't have to give up my British passport, I didn't have to live in Germany by necessity or learn German, show I could speak German, it didn't seem like there was anything to lose and so for me, it was much less about saying goodbye to Britain than saying hello to Europe."

9. Harding flicking through passport

10. Mid of exhibit of Jewish Museum in London

11. Soft focus, yellow star that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany

12. Set up of documentary maker Ben Lewis

13. Close of Lewis looking at museum exhibit

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Lewis, documentary maker, in the process of applying for restoration of German passport following Brexit vote:

"Well, it was immediately after Brexit I thought the restoration of German citizenship was something that I wanted, because before Brexit I was part of the EU anyway. I was a European, I was deeply engaged in German culture from the age of 14 when I first started learning German, and in a way my whole life was orientated around creating links around rebuilding, if you like, as a Jew, links between myself, in Britain and German culture."

15. Cutaway hands

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Lewis, documentary maker, in the process of applying for restoration of German passport following Brexit vote:

"I have many motivations for wanting to get German citizenship. I am thinking a lot about my child, I want him to have the same advantages in life that I had, you know, to be able to play on a European field. I've worked all over Europe in my life. I love Berlin - I could imagine living there. Perhaps that would happen in the future. And I just want to take a firm stance, a documented stance, something etched in acid on stone, that I object to Brexit."

17. Set up shot of Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees

18. Newman typing

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees:

"Well I think this is uppermost in the minds of the government that they are not going to walk away from any post Holocaust responsibilities and I think most people would look at what Germany has done since the Second World War in terms of addressing its past, the culture of remembrance, the educational resources, it's committed to teaching about the holocaust and see that what it has done has been leading the way and if you look at issues like restitution, archive, opening archives, documentation centres, even opening and creating museums, they are, they're leading the way in many respects in dealing with their history. It remains of course very subjective because no amount of blood, money or memorials will satisfy or suffice for some people but in terms of addressing its past and owning up to it and looking into things, it's done much that many other countries haven't."

20. Wide of German Embassy entrance for public

21. Close of entrance

22. Sign reading 'Welcome' in German and English

The UK's imminent exit from the EU is making Britons from diverse communities apply for citizenship in European countries - including some whose continental roots are linked to a deeply traumatic history.

Simon Wallfisch grew up in London as the grandson of an Auschwitz survivor who swore to never return to the country that murdered her parents and six million other Jews.

But more than 70 years after the Holocaust, Wallfisch and thousands of other Jews in Britain have been applying for restoration of German citizenship which was stripped from their ancestors by the Nazis during the Third Reich.

Their surprising decision was triggered by Brexit - the impending withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

The country is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, and among other things, Britons stand to lose the privileges of free movement and work across the 28-nation bloc that they have enjoyed for the last decades.

"This nationalistic movement that has led to this disaster that we call Brexit, has led me to just finding a way to secure my future and my children's future," said Wallfisch, a well-known classical singer and cellist, who received his German passport in October.

"In order to remain European, I've taken the German citizenship," he said.

Many Britons, whose ancestors came from other parts of Europe, have tried claiming citizenship in other EU member states so they can retain ties to the continent.

But for Jews whose families fled Germany to escape the Nazis, the decision meant re-examining long-held beliefs about the country that once persecuted them.

Wallfisch's grandmother Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was 18 years old when in December 1943 she was deported to Auschwitz, the Nazi-run death camp in occupied Poland where more than one million Jews were murdered.

She survived because she was a member of the camp's girls' orchestra.

As a cellist, she had to play classical music while the other Jews were taken to the gas chambers.

In November 1944, she was taken to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, where she was eventually liberated by the British Army in April 1945.

Lasker-Wallfisch migrated to Great Britain in 1946, got married and had two children.

Her career as a famous cello player took her around the world, but it was decades before she overcame her hatred and set foot on German soil again.

Only in recent years has Lasker-Wallfisch, now 93, become a regular visitor, educating children in Germany about the Holocaust.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, Lasker-Wallfisch, her grandson Simon and her daughter Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch performed for the first time together on stage at the Jewish Museum Berlin in commemoration of their family.

They played music with other members of their extended family and read letters from the past as a tribute to those who survived and those who perished in the Shoah.

Before the start of the show, the three generations were sitting next to each other on a red couch in the museum's dressing room, discussing their reasons for reclaiming the German nationality.

"We cannot be victims of our past, we have to have some hope for change," said Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch, a 60-year-old London psychotherapist who has also applied for a German passport.

"I feel somehow in a strange way triumphant. Something is coming full circle."

Her application is one of more than 3,380 requests for repatriation that the German Embassy in London has received since the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

In comparison, only about 20 such requests were made annually in the years before Brexit.

The applicants are taking advantage of Article 116 of the German constitution that allows the descendants of people persecuted by the Nazis to regain the citizenship that was removed from them between 1933 and 1945.

For many Jews who are seeking restoration of their citizenship, the passport comes in handy because it retains their ability to travel easily from country to country, maintain business ties or simply makes sure they remain a part of Europe.

But Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch says there are other, more emotional reasons for her getting back German citizenship.

"I feel an aliveness here (in Berlin) that I have not experienced before, but it totally makes sense because after all I am German," she said adding that if the country where all these cruelties against Jews and other minorities were planned and executed is now a country that welcomes the descendants of the victims, "that's a good thing".

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the Holocaust survivor, has a more sober and pessimistic view of life.

"Jewish people never feel secure ... even with your German nationality," she said to her daughter and grandson, reminding them of her own past. "I had German nationality; it did not buy security."

Berlin - 28 January 2019

1. Simon Wallfisch cleaning his cello

2. Various of Wallfisch rehearsing

3. Concert at Jewish museum

4. Wallfisch playing

5. Simon Wallfisch together with his aunt Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch and grandmother Anita Lasker-Wallfisch

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Wallfisch, Grandson of Auschwitz survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch:

"This nationalistic movement that has led to this disaster that we call Brexit, has led me to just finding a way to secure my future and my children's future. In order to remain European, I've taken the German citizenship."

7. Tilt up of Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch

8. Wide of concert

9. Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch in audience

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch, Daughter of Auschwitz survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch:

"We cannot be victims of our past. We have to have some hope for change. I feel somehow in a strange way triumphant. Something is coming full circle."

11. Various of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch in audience and on stage

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Auschwitz survivor:

"But because Jewish people never feel secure, and even with your German nationality, I had German nationality, you did not buy security."

13. Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch, Simon Wallfisch, at table

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Wallfisch, Grandson of Auschwitz survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch:

"Great Britain has an illness and they are choosing the wrong medicine to cure it. Leaving the EU will not cure the deep, deep problems that are in our society. So maybe what has to happen is that they have to leave. Things have to get worse and then they will think, 'well, that didn't work, let's maybe actually now work on what the problem is'."

15. Lasker-Wallfisch family members on stage

16. Audience clapping

17. Simon Wallfisch and Anita Lasker-Wallfisch on stage

18. Simon Wallfisch and Anita Lasker-Wallfisch leaving stage

LEADIN:

Design can be artistic, functional, sometimes inspiring. Now, a new exhibit at London's Design Museum is showing how it can be daringly political.

'Hope to Nope' explores ten years of politically-charged graphic design, in response to a turbulent decade around the globe.

STORYLINE:

Alongside traditional posters and banners, the Design Museum's new exhibit charts the rise of digital media and social networking.

This, curators say, has given new graphic creations an extraordinary new reach.

"The different platforms or mediums in which these messages can be carried or presented or shared is what really is different about this moment in time," says curator Margaret Cubbage.

"This period, this decade, we've seen a shift in terms of technology."

The exhibit covers a range of political events - from the 2008 financial crash and the Barack Obama presidency, to the Occupy Movement, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

There's also works from the Arab Spring, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, North and South Korea.

It shows how the establishment has often used graphic design to assert its authority.

That iconography is sometimes subverted by activists and opponents.

"Very powerful ideas can be summed up in a matter of a few words and one image," says Lucienne Roberts, co-founder of GraphicDesign&, who helped curate the exhibit.

"And that's what the technology, in a way, has encouraged, is brevity. And so much of that is about the graphic design, absolutely. Where you place the emphasis on one word rather than another, how big an image it is, how big a face is, or how big an object is."

These pictures show an anti-sexual harassment campaign in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.

Having had attempts to hang their anti-harassment posters in a subway station rejected, feminist activists encouraged supporters to act as "human billboards" instead.

"These posters are basically an anti-sexual harassment campaign, and because she was denied the right to show them in a more orthodox way, she gets on to trains and just holds them up," explains Roberts.

"What's interesting is her bravery, which is we from a UK perspective wouldn't quite understand."

One exhibit section explores graphic representations of leading political figures, including Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

US President Donald Trump's recognisable image appears on over 50 international magazine covers, including The Economist, TIME and Der Spiegel.

"It's very hard to deny that Trump himself has become almost like a walking piece of graphic design," says Roberts.

"And he's what we could call a graphic icon. So, that wall we have of magazine covers, were illustrators, with incredible brevity, still manage to convey a lot, is because he is so identifiable, his hair, his tie, and his jacket. You know, any of those components now, singularly, would still say Trump."

The exhibit also features numerous graphic works made by supposed amateurs.

There's protest banners from women's marches in the United States and leaflets from London's Occupy movement.

Cubbage says it shows how graphic design has the power to reach out and empower people.

"These images can have the ability to really reach out and connect with other people and create communities," she says.

"We wanted to empower people with that message and show that graphic design has a place to really communicate and bring together people."

'Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18' runs 28 March - 12 August 2018 at London's Design Museum.

London, UK - 27 March 2018

1. Wide of visitor looking at display at The Design Museum's new exhibit 'Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18'

2. Tilt up of 'Hope' poster by Shepard Fairey

3. Tilt up of t-shirt with Hilary Clinton 2016 campaign badges

4. Various of 'Bye-EU' tapestry print by The Sun, 2018

5. Various of 'A man was lynched by police yesterday' by Dread Scott

6. Mid of 'Official Protestors of the London 2012 Olympic Games' t-shirt by Space Hijackers, 2012

7. Various of 'Rogue Won' poster by Sabo, 2016

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Margaret Cubbage, Curator, Design Museum:

"The different platforms or mediums in which these messages can be carried or presented or shared is what really is different about this moment in time. This period, this decade, we've seen a shift in terms of technology."

9. Various of Jeremy Corbyn t-shirt and comic books

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"The role of graphic design within politics, it's so core, it's so essential. And it's probably the area that we feel most passionate about, in relation to GraphicDesign&, because it can make a difference. It can really make a difference."

11. Various of inflatable duck from 'I Will Not Pay the Duck' protests in Brazil, 2015/16

12. Various of posters

13. Various of 'Black Lives Matter' quilt by Shelley Hoffman, 2018

14. Pan right of '24Hearts community art project' by Sophie Lodge, 2017

15. Various of 'Pins Won't Save the World' merchandise on t-shirt by Sagmeister & Walsh, 2016

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"Very powerful ideas can be summed up in a matter of a few words and one image. And that's what the technology, in a way, has encouraged, is brevity. And so much of that is about the graphic design, absolutely. Where you place the emphasis on one word rather than another, how big an image it is, how big a face is, or how big an object is."

17. Wide pan left of posters from North and South Korea

18. Various of North Korean posters, 2010/2011

19. Various of 'Satirical Paintings' by Song Byeok, 2013

20. Various of photos, showing 'I am a Billboard' anti-sexual harassment campaign, 2016

21. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"These posters are basically an anti-sexual harassment campaign, and because she was denied the right to show them in a more orthodox way, she gets on to trains and just holds them up. What's interesting is her bravery, which is we from a UK perspective wouldn't quite understand."

22. Various of Donald Trump magazine covers, 2014 onwards

23. Tilt down of 'Make America Great Again' cap, 2015

24. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"It's very hard to deny that Trump himself has become almost like a walking piece of graphic design. And he's what we could call a graphic icon. So, that wall we have of magazine covers, were illustrators, with incredible brevity, still manage to convey a lot, is because he is so identifiable, his hair, his tie, and his jacket. You know, any of those components now, singularly, would still say Trump."

25. Various of 'Women's March' placards, 2016/17

26. Various of table with several items on display

27. Various of 'Occupy St. Paul's' protest materials, 2011/12

28. SOUNDBITE (English) Margaret Cubbage, Curator, Design Museum:

"These images can have the ability to really reach out and connect with other people and create communities, which we wanted to empower people with that message and show that graphic design has a place to really communicate and bring together people."

29. Mid of 'Hope' poster by Shepard Fairey

LEADIN:

Design can be artistic, functional, sometimes inspiring. Now, a new exhibit at London's Design Museum is showing how it can be daringly political.

'Hope to Nope' explores ten years of politically-charged graphic design, in response to a turbulent decade around the globe.

STORYLINE:

Alongside traditional posters and banners, the Design Museum's new exhibit charts the rise of digital media and social networking.

This, curators say, has given new graphic creations an extraordinary new reach.

"The different platforms or mediums in which these messages can be carried or presented or shared is what really is different about this moment in time," says curator Margaret Cubbage.

"This period, this decade, we've seen a shift in terms of technology."

The exhibit covers a range of political events - from the 2008 financial crash and the Barack Obama presidency, to the Occupy Movement, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

There's also works from the Arab Spring, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, North and South Korea.

It shows how the establishment has often used graphic design to assert its authority.

That iconography is sometimes subverted by activists and opponents.

"Very powerful ideas can be summed up in a matter of a few words and one image," says Lucienne Roberts, co-founder of GraphicDesign&, who helped curate the exhibit.

"And that's what the technology, in a way, has encouraged, is brevity. And so much of that is about the graphic design, absolutely. Where you place the emphasis on one word rather than another, how big an image it is, how big a face is, or how big an object is."

These pictures show an anti-sexual harassment campaign in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.

Having had attempts to hang their anti-harassment posters in a subway station rejected, feminist activists encouraged supporters to act as "human billboards" instead.

"These posters are basically an anti-sexual harassment campaign, and because she was denied the right to show them in a more orthodox way, she gets on to trains and just holds them up," explains Roberts.

"What's interesting is her bravery, which is we from a UK perspective wouldn't quite understand."

One exhibit section explores graphic representations of leading political figures, including Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

US President Donald Trump's recognisable image appears on over 50 international magazine covers, including The Economist, TIME and Der Spiegel.

"It's very hard to deny that Trump himself has become almost like a walking piece of graphic design," says Roberts.

"And he's what we could call a graphic icon. So, that wall we have of magazine covers, were illustrators, with incredible brevity, still manage to convey a lot, is because he is so identifiable, his hair, his tie, and his jacket. You know, any of those components now, singularly, would still say Trump."

The exhibit also features numerous graphic works made by supposed amateurs.

There's protest banners from women's marches in the United States and leaflets from London's Occupy movement.

Cubbage says it shows how graphic design has the power to reach out and empower people.

"These images can have the ability to really reach out and connect with other people and create communities," she says.

"We wanted to empower people with that message and show that graphic design has a place to really communicate and bring together people."

'Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18' runs 28 March - 12 August 2018 at London's Design Museum.

London, UK - 27 March 2018

1. Wide of visitor looking at display at The Design Museum's new exhibit 'Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18'

2. Tilt up of 'Hope' poster by Shepard Fairey

3. Tilt up of t-shirt with Hilary Clinton 2016 campaign badges

4. Various of 'Bye-EU' tapestry print by The Sun, 2018

5. Various of 'A man was lynched by police yesterday' by Dread Scott

6. Mid of 'Official Protestors of the London 2012 Olympic Games' t-shirt by Space Hijackers, 2012

7. Various of 'Rogue Won' poster by Sabo, 2016

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Margaret Cubbage, Curator, Design Museum:

"The different platforms or mediums in which these messages can be carried or presented or shared is what really is different about this moment in time. This period, this decade, we've seen a shift in terms of technology."

9. Various of Jeremy Corbyn t-shirt and comic books

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"The role of graphic design within politics, it's so core, it's so essential. And it's probably the area that we feel most passionate about, in relation to GraphicDesign&, because it can make a difference. It can really make a difference."

11. Various of inflatable duck from 'I Will Not Pay the Duck' protests in Brazil, 2015/16

12. Various of posters

13. Various of 'Black Lives Matter' quilt by Shelley Hoffman, 2018

14. Pan right of '24Hearts community art project' by Sophie Lodge, 2017

15. Various of 'Pins Won't Save the World' merchandise on t-shirt by Sagmeister & Walsh, 2016

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"Very powerful ideas can be summed up in a matter of a few words and one image. And that's what the technology, in a way, has encouraged, is brevity. And so much of that is about the graphic design, absolutely. Where you place the emphasis on one word rather than another, how big an image it is, how big a face is, or how big an object is."

17. Wide pan left of posters from North and South Korea

18. Various of North Korean posters, 2010/2011

19. Various of 'Satirical Paintings' by Song Byeok, 2013

20. Various of photos, showing 'I am a Billboard' anti-sexual harassment campaign, 2016

21. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"These posters are basically an anti-sexual harassment campaign, and because she was denied the right to show them in a more orthodox way, she gets on to trains and just holds them up. What's interesting is her bravery, which is we from a UK perspective wouldn't quite understand."

22. Various of Donald Trump magazine covers, 2014 onwards

23. Tilt down of 'Make America Great Again' cap, 2015

24. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucienne Roberts, Co-Founder of GraphicDesign&:

"It's very hard to deny that Trump himself has become almost like a walking piece of graphic design. And he's what we could call a graphic icon. So, that wall we have of magazine covers, were illustrators, with incredible brevity, still manage to convey a lot, is because he is so identifiable, his hair, his tie, and his jacket. You know, any of those components now, singularly, would still say Trump."

25. Various of 'Women's March' placards, 2016/17

26. Various of table with several items on display

27. Various of 'Occupy St. Paul's' protest materials, 2011/12

28. SOUNDBITE (English) Margaret Cubbage, Curator, Design Museum:

"These images can have the ability to really reach out and connect with other people and create communities, which we wanted to empower people with that message and show that graphic design has a place to really communicate and bring together people."

29. Mid of 'Hope' poster by Shepard Fairey

LEAD IN:

Designs inspired by the London Underground and Brexit are now on show in the new-look Design Museum in Kensington.

The new space is in a Grade-II listed piece of 1960s modernist architecture, three times larger than the Museum's previous home.

STORY-LINE:

Meet Mimus the mechanical robot who only wants to be your friend.

This 1,200kg industrial arm has been programmed to respond and interact with passersby.

Mimus is the one of the attractions in the new Design Museum in London.

Art critic Estelle Lovatt is one of the first people to get a look around the museum

"You know what I think of the new building, and I use the word sit as well, I love the fact that as soon as you walk in you can walk up the stairs and you can also sit on them. That struck me that there's so much humour here as well. You know I love the fact that this piece here behind me, I don't know whether to laugh at it or be afraid of it but it's the interactiveness of this museum that will make it steps ahead of, leap years ahead of the other museums that we go into now," she says.

The Design Museum outgrew its previous home on the South Bank of the Thames and has moved into Kensington, a district well-known for its important museums, including the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The new building occupies a Grade-II listed modernist site created in the 1960s for the Commonwealth Institute.

The restoration of the empty building took five years and required an £83 million investment.

Museum director Deyan Sudjic explains the importance of the move.

He says: "The design museum is here in its new home in Kensington, new home? Actually the transformation of a building from the 60s. We've moved from a charming converted banana ripening warehouse next to Tower Bridge here to this great piece of 60s architecture brought back to life. We've moved because we think design is to important to leave to the specialists, to the priesthood, we're trying to do here for contemporary design and architecture what the Tate Modern did for contemporary art. Turning something that was seen as on the margins of the wider conversation into something right at the centre. So we have three times the space, 100,000 square feet, we can offer free admission. We have a chance really to talk to a much wider audience why design is important."

The Design Museum opens with a striking exhibition called Fear and Love, which challenged 11 designers to react to a wide range of issues that affect the modern world.

Dutch designer Christien Meinderstma's installation Fibre Market explores the possibility of recycling our clothes and sorting them into their constituent parts.

The work displays mounds of brightly coloured wools.

A New York architect has created a space that looks at how social networking is affecting our pursuit of sex.

His work explores the phenomenon of the gay networking site Grindr.

One of the most topical works in the exhibition is Pan European Living Room.

In post-Brexit Britain the piece looks at how our interior design is so closely connected across Europe.

It takes a typical living room and furnishes it with furniture, wallpaper and designs from the 28 EU member states.

Justin McGuirk, chief curator at the Design Museum, says: "The average European living room, or our idea of the domestic interior, is really a construct of European cooperation and collaboration, trade agreements, designers from Britain and Holland working with manufacturers in Italy and Sweden and so in some senses the idea that one can pull out of that is an illusion."

The centre-piece of the room is a vertical blind featuring a barcode design of the EU member states' flags.

When the blind opens it reveals a vista of the shattered city of Rotterdam in 1945 at the end of World War II - a stark reminder of what can happen when European countries stop cooperating.

The Design Museum's deputy director Alice Black wants people to feel that they are involved in the evolving story of design.

She created a crowd-sourced feature asking people to nominate items in their everyday lives.

Black explains: "So behind me you will see a crowd-sourced wall, so what we did we asked our audiences what they wanted to see in a design museum, we sort of turned the table on them and said what do you think is good design, what in your every day design objects make a better life or a more beautiful life around you. So they sent us about 850 nominations from about 25 different countries and we selected 250 pieces that are on the wall behind me."

There surely can't be many museums where a Fisher Price talking telephone, a Nintendo Gameboy and the Holy Bible all share the same wall space.

The new Design Museum is expected to attract up to 650,000 visitors in its first year and is free to enter, for the first time.

London, UK - 17 November 2016

1. Wide of robotic arm

2. Close of same

3. Various set up shots of Estelle Lovatt taking selfie with robotic arm

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Estelle Lovatt, independent art critic:

"You know what I think of the new building, and I use the word sit as well, I love the fact that as soon as you walk in you can walk up the stairs and you can also sit on them. That struck me that there's so much humour here as well. You know I love the fact that this piece here behind me, I don't know whether to laugh with it or be afraid of it but it's the interactiveness of this museum that will make it steps ahead, leap years ahead of the other museums that we go into now."

5. Mid of robotic arm

6. Tilt up of entrance to Design Museum with stairs doubling up as seats

7. Wide tilt down from concrete ceiling to museum entrance

8. Various set up shots of walking up stairs and through museum

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Deyan Sudjic, director of Design Museum:

"The design museum is here in its new home in Kensington, new home? Actually the transformation of a building from the 60s. We've moved from a charming converted banana ripening warehouse next to Tower Bridge here to this great piece of 60s architecture brought back to life. We've moved because we think design is to important to leave to the specialists, to the priesthood, we're trying to do here for contemporary design and architecture what the Tate Modern did for contemporary art. Turning something that was seen as on the margins of the wider conversation into something right at the centre. So we have three times the space, 100,000 square feet, we can offer free admission. We have a chance really to talk to a much wider audience about why design is important."

10. Mid of exhibit Room Tone that uses wearable technology to record London city life

11. Various of exhibit Fibre Market that demonstrates how wool clothes can be recycled and sorted by colour

12. Mid of neon panel reading: (English) "Love/Fear"

13. Various of exhibit looking at the Grindr ( gay social network app) phenomenon

14. Various of exhibit by Chinese fashion designer Ma Ke who uses ancient wooden looms to create the fashions

15. Pull focus from Italian Arco lamp to British wallpaper by Nina Campbell

16. Wide of the Pan European Living Room exhibit - a room furnished with designs from each of the 28 member states of the EU

17. Pan left of blinds in the colours of EU member state flags#

18. Mid of Romanian coffee pot by Ero on a coffee table

19. Various set up shots of Justin McGuirk

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Justin McGuirk, chief curator, Design Museum:

"The average European living room, or our idea of the domestic interior, is really a construct of European cooperation and collaboration, trade agreements, designers from Britain and Holland working with manufacturers in Italy and Sweden and so in some senses the idea that one can pull out of that is an illusion."

21. Wide of Pan European Living Room exhibit with photograph of Rotterdam in 1945, destroyed after World War II as a backdrop

22. Various set up shots of Alice Black

23. SOUNDBITE (English) Alice Black, deputy director of the Design Museum:

"So behind me you will see a crowdsourced wall, so what we did we asked our audiences what they wanted to see in a design museum, we sort of turned the table on them and said what do you think is good design, what in your every day design objects make a better life or a more beautiful life around you. So they sent us about 850 nominations from about 25 different countries and we selected 250 pieces that are on the wall behind me."

24. Mid of crowdsourced design wall with Underground sign in centre

25. Close of Fisher Price talking telephone

26. Pan right from violin to Game Boy and Bible

27. Various exterior shots of Design Museum

LEAD IN:

Designs inspired by the London Underground and Brexit are now on show in the new-look Design Museum in Kensington.

The new space is in a Grade-II listed piece of 1960s modernist architecture, three times larger than the Museum's previous home.

STORY-LINE:

Meet Mimus the mechanical robot who only wants to be your friend.

This 1,200kg industrial arm has been programmed to respond and interact with passersby.

Mimus is the one of the attractions in the new Design Museum in London.

Art critic Estelle Lovatt is one of the first people to get a look around the museum

"You know what I think of the new building, and I use the word sit as well, I love the fact that as soon as you walk in you can walk up the stairs and you can also sit on them. That struck me that there's so much humour here as well. You know I love the fact that this piece here behind me, I don't know whether to laugh at it or be afraid of it but it's the interactiveness of this museum that will make it steps ahead of, leap years ahead of the other museums that we go into now," she says.

The Design Museum outgrew its previous home on the South Bank of the Thames and has moved into Kensington, a district well-known for its important museums, including the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The new building occupies a Grade-II listed modernist site created in the 1960s for the Commonwealth Institute.

The restoration of the empty building took five years and required an £83 million investment.

Museum director Deyan Sudjic explains the importance of the move.

He says: "The design museum is here in its new home in Kensington, new home? Actually the transformation of a building from the 60s. We've moved from a charming converted banana ripening warehouse next to Tower Bridge here to this great piece of 60s architecture brought back to life. We've moved because we think design is to important to leave to the specialists, to the priesthood, we're trying to do here for contemporary design and architecture what the Tate Modern did for contemporary art. Turning something that was seen as on the margins of the wider conversation into something right at the centre. So we have three times the space, 100,000 square feet, we can offer free admission. We have a chance really to talk to a much wider audience why design is important."

The Design Museum opens with a striking exhibition called Fear and Love, which challenged 11 designers to react to a wide range of issues that affect the modern world.

Dutch designer Christien Meinderstma's installation Fibre Market explores the possibility of recycling our clothes and sorting them into their constituent parts.

The work displays mounds of brightly coloured wools.

A New York architect has created a space that looks at how social networking is affecting our pursuit of sex.

His work explores the phenomenon of the gay networking site Grindr.

One of the most topical works in the exhibition is Pan European Living Room.

In post-Brexit Britain the piece looks at how our interior design is so closely connected across Europe.

It takes a typical living room and furnishes it with furniture, wallpaper and designs from the 28 EU member states.

Justin McGuirk, chief curator at the Design Museum, says: "The average European living room, or our idea of the domestic interior, is really a construct of European cooperation and collaboration, trade agreements, designers from Britain and Holland working with manufacturers in Italy and Sweden and so in some senses the idea that one can pull out of that is an illusion."

The centre-piece of the room is a vertical blind featuring a barcode design of the EU member states' flags.

When the blind opens it reveals a vista of the shattered city of Rotterdam in 1945 at the end of World War II - a stark reminder of what can happen when European countries stop cooperating.

The Design Museum's deputy director Alice Black wants people to feel that they are involved in the evolving story of design.

She created a crowd-sourced feature asking people to nominate items in their everyday lives.

Black explains: "So behind me you will see a crowd-sourced wall, so what we did we asked our audiences what they wanted to see in a design museum, we sort of turned the table on them and said what do you think is good design, what in your every day design objects make a better life or a more beautiful life around you. So they sent us about 850 nominations from about 25 different countries and we selected 250 pieces that are on the wall behind me."

There surely can't be many museums where a Fisher Price talking telephone, a Nintendo Gameboy and the Holy Bible all share the same wall space.

The new Design Museum is expected to attract up to 650,000 visitors in its first year and is free to enter, for the first time.

London, UK - 17 November 2016

1. Wide of robotic arm

2. Close of same

3. Various set up shots of Estelle Lovatt taking selfie with robotic arm

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Estelle Lovatt, independent art critic:

"You know what I think of the new building, and I use the word sit as well, I love the fact that as soon as you walk in you can walk up the stairs and you can also sit on them. That struck me that there's so much humour here as well. You know I love the fact that this piece here behind me, I don't know whether to laugh with it or be afraid of it but it's the interactiveness of this museum that will make it steps ahead, leap years ahead of the other museums that we go into now."

5. Mid of robotic arm

6. Tilt up of entrance to Design Museum with stairs doubling up as seats

7. Wide tilt down from concrete ceiling to museum entrance

8. Various set up shots of walking up stairs and through museum

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Deyan Sudjic, director of Design Museum:

"The design museum is here in its new home in Kensington, new home? Actually the transformation of a building from the 60s. We've moved from a charming converted banana ripening warehouse next to Tower Bridge here to this great piece of 60s architecture brought back to life. We've moved because we think design is to important to leave to the specialists, to the priesthood, we're trying to do here for contemporary design and architecture what the Tate Modern did for contemporary art. Turning something that was seen as on the margins of the wider conversation into something right at the centre. So we have three times the space, 100,000 square feet, we can offer free admission. We have a chance really to talk to a much wider audience about why design is important."

10. Mid of exhibit Room Tone that uses wearable technology to record London city life

11. Various of exhibit Fibre Market that demonstrates how wool clothes can be recycled and sorted by colour

12. Mid of neon panel reading: (English) "Love/Fear"

13. Various of exhibit looking at the Grindr ( gay social network app) phenomenon

14. Various of exhibit by Chinese fashion designer Ma Ke who uses ancient wooden looms to create the fashions

15. Pull focus from Italian Arco lamp to British wallpaper by Nina Campbell

16. Wide of the Pan European Living Room exhibit - a room furnished with designs from each of the 28 member states of the EU

17. Pan left of blinds in the colours of EU member state flags#

18. Mid of Romanian coffee pot by Ero on a coffee table

19. Various set up shots of Justin McGuirk

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Justin McGuirk, chief curator, Design Museum:

"The average European living room, or our idea of the domestic interior, is really a construct of European cooperation and collaboration, trade agreements, designers from Britain and Holland working with manufacturers in Italy and Sweden and so in some senses the idea that one can pull out of that is an illusion."

21. Wide of Pan European Living Room exhibit with photograph of Rotterdam in 1945, destroyed after World War II as a backdrop

22. Various set up shots of Alice Black

23. SOUNDBITE (English) Alice Black, deputy director of the Design Museum:

"So behind me you will see a crowdsourced wall, so what we did we asked our audiences what they wanted to see in a design museum, we sort of turned the table on them and said what do you think is good design, what in your every day design objects make a better life or a more beautiful life around you. So they sent us about 850 nominations from about 25 different countries and we selected 250 pieces that are on the wall behind me."

24. Mid of crowdsourced design wall with Underground sign in centre

25. Close of Fisher Price talking telephone

26. Pan right from violin to Game Boy and Bible

27. Various exterior shots of Design Museum

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4066587

LEAD IN:

Designs inspired by the London Underground and Brexit are now on show in the new-look Design Museum in Kensington.

The new space is in a Grade-II listed piece of 1960s modernist architecture, three times larger than the Museum's previous home.

STORY-LINE:

Meet Mimus the mechanical robot who only wants to be your friend.

This 1,200kg industrial arm has been programmed to respond and interact with passersby.

Mimus is the one of the attractions in the new Design Museum in London.

Art critic Estelle Lovatt is one of the first people to get a look around the museum

"You know what I think of the new building, and I use the word sit as well, I love the fact that as soon as you walk in you can walk up the stairs and you can also sit on them. That struck me that there's so much humour here as well. You know I love the fact that this piece here behind me, I don't know whether to laugh at it or be afraid of it but it's the interactiveness of this museum that will make it steps ahead of, leap years ahead of the other museums that we go into now," she says.

The Design Museum outgrew its previous home on the South Bank of the Thames and has moved into Kensington, a district well-known for its important museums, including the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The new building occupies a Grade-II listed modernist site created in the 1960s for the Commonwealth Institute.

The restoration of the empty building took five years and required an £83 million investment.

Museum director Deyan Sudjic explains the importance of the move.

He says: "The design museum is here in its new home in Kensington, new home? Actually the transformation of a building from the 60s. We've moved from a charming converted banana ripening warehouse next to Tower Bridge here to this great piece of 60s architecture brought back to life. We've moved because we think design is to important to leave to the specialists, to the priesthood, we're trying to do here for contemporary design and architecture what the Tate Modern did for contemporary art. Turning something that was seen as on the margins of the wider conversation into something right at the centre. So we have three times the space, 100,000 square feet, we can offer free admission. We have a chance really to talk to a much wider audience why design is important."

The Design Museum opens with a striking exhibition called Fear and Love, which challenged 11 designers to react to a wide range of issues that affect the modern world.

Dutch designer Christien Meinderstma's installation Fibre Market explores the possibility of recycling our clothes and sorting them into their constituent parts.

The work displays mounds of brightly coloured wools.

A New York architect has created a space that looks at how social networking is affecting our pursuit of sex.

His work explores the phenomenon of the gay networking site Grindr.

One of the most topical works in the exhibition is Pan European Living Room.

In post-Brexit Britain the piece looks at how our interior design is so closely connected across Europe.

It takes a typical living room and furnishes it with furniture, wallpaper and designs from the 28 EU member states.

Justin McGuirk, chief curator at the Design Museum, says: "The average European living room, or our idea of the domestic interior, is really a construct of European cooperation and collaboration, trade agreements, designers from Britain and Holland working with manufacturers in Italy and Sweden and so in some senses the idea that one can pull out of that is an illusion."

The centre-piece of the room is a vertical blind featuring a barcode design of the EU member states' flags.

When the blind opens it reveals a vista of the shattered city of Rotterdam in 1945 at the end of World War II - a stark reminder of what can happen when European countries stop cooperating.

The Design Museum's deputy director Alice Black wants people to feel that they are involved in the evolving story of design.

She created a crowd-sourced feature asking people to nominate items in their everyday lives.

Black explains: "So behind me you will see a crowd-sourced wall, so what we did we asked our audiences what they wanted to see in a design museum, we sort of turned the table on them and said what do you think is good design, what in your every day design objects make a better life or a more beautiful life around you. So they sent us about 850 nominations from about 25 different countries and we selected 250 pieces that are on the wall behind me."

There surely can't be many museums where a Fisher Price talking telephone, a Nintendo Gameboy and the Holy Bible all share the same wall space.

The new Design Museum is expected to attract up to 650,000 visitors in its first year and is free to enter, for the first time.

London, UK - 17 November 2016

1. Wide of robotic arm

2. Close of same

3. Various set up shots of Estelle Lovatt taking selfie with robotic arm

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Estelle Lovatt, independent art critic:

"You know what I think of the new building, and I use the word sit as well, I love the fact that as soon as you walk in you can walk up the stairs and you can also sit on them. That struck me that there's so much humour here as well. You know I love the fact that this piece here behind me, I don't know whether to laugh with it or be afraid of it but it's the interactiveness of this museum that will make it steps ahead, leap years ahead of the other museums that we go into now."

5. Mid of robotic arm

6. Tilt up of entrance to Design Museum with stairs doubling up as seats

7. Wide tilt down from concrete ceiling to museum entrance

8. Various set up shots of walking up stairs and through museum

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Deyan Sudjic, director of Design Museum:

"The design museum is here in its new home in Kensington, new home? Actually the transformation of a building from the 60s. We've moved from a charming converted banana ripening warehouse next to Tower Bridge here to this great piece of 60s architecture brought back to life. We've moved because we think design is to important to leave to the specialists, to the priesthood, we're trying to do here for contemporary design and architecture what the Tate Modern did for contemporary art. Turning something that was seen as on the margins of the wider conversation into something right at the centre. So we have three times the space, 100,000 square feet, we can offer free admission. We have a chance really to talk to a much wider audience about why design is important."

10. Mid of exhibit Room Tone that uses wearable technology to record London city life

11. Various of exhibit Fibre Market that demonstrates how wool clothes can be recycled and sorted by colour

12. Mid of neon panel reading: (English) "Love/Fear"

13. Various of exhibit looking at the Grindr ( gay social network app) phenomenon

14. Various of exhibit by Chinese fashion designer Ma Ke who uses ancient wooden looms to create the fashions

15. Pull focus from Italian Arco lamp to British wallpaper by Nina Campbell

16. Wide of the Pan European Living Room exhibit - a room furnished with designs from each of the 28 member states of the EU

17. Pan left of blinds in the colours of EU member state flags#

18. Mid of Romanian coffee pot by Ero on a coffee table

19. Various set up shots of Justin McGuirk

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Justin McGuirk, chief curator, Design Museum:

"The average European living room, or our idea of the domestic interior, is really a construct of European cooperation and collaboration, trade agreements, designers from Britain and Holland working with manufacturers in Italy and Sweden and so in some senses the idea that one can pull out of that is an illusion."

21. Wide of Pan European Living Room exhibit with photograph of Rotterdam in 1945, destroyed after World War II as a backdrop

22. Various set up shots of Alice Black

23. SOUNDBITE (English) Alice Black, deputy director of the Design Museum:

"So behind me you will see a crowdsourced wall, so what we did we asked our audiences what they wanted to see in a design museum, we sort of turned the table on them and said what do you think is good design, what in your every day design objects make a better life or a more beautiful life around you. So they sent us about 850 nominations from about 25 different countries and we selected 250 pieces that are on the wall behind me."

24. Mid of crowdsourced design wall with Underground sign in centre

25. Close of Fisher Price talking telephone

26. Pan right from violin to Game Boy and Bible

27. Various exterior shots of Design Museum