One hundred years of curiosity. "Theo Crosby: 100 Lives" opens at Pentagram's Osh Gallery

Theo Crosby. Born on 3 April 1925 in Mafeking (now Mahikeng), South Africa, Theo trained as an architect at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg before moving to London in 1948, partly in opposition to the apartheid regime. He also studied sculpture at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in the evenings. He quickly became a central figure in the city’s burgeoning design scene, and as Technical Editor of Architectural Design magazine during the 1950s, he provided a vital platform for experimental ideas. He also helped to nurture the early work of the group that would become Archigram, whose radical vision challenged conventional notions of urban living.

Theo played a key role in the groundbreaking 1956 This Is Tomorrow exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, which challenged conventional boundaries between architecture, art, and design. Later, as a founding partner of Pentagram in 1972, he promoted an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach that continues to shape design practice today. Alongside his work at Pentagram, he sustained a wide range of other projects, including exhibitions such as How to Play the Environment Game held at the Hayward Gallery in 1973. One of his most celebrated and high-profile architectural projects is the rebuilding of Shakespeare’s Globe, which was finally completed after his death on 12 September 1994 in London.

Theo believed deeply in collaboration across disciplines and in the social purpose of design. Throughout his career, he advocated for architecture that was humane, contextual, and responsive to the needs of its users, opposing the alienation he saw in much late modernist practice. Beyond his professional achievements, Theo was a tireless advocate for public engagement with architecture, seeking to reconnect the built environment with art and community.

Michael Bierut (1957), born in Cleveland, Ohio, is a Graphic Designer and a graduate of the University of Cincinnati. After graduating with honors in 1980, his first job was at the studio of Lella and Massimo Vignelli. He worked there for a decade, eventually becoming Vice President of Graphic Design.

In 1990, he became a partner at Pentagram's New York office. His major clients include Mastercard, Slack, Verizon, Benetton, Disney, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Poetry Foundation, the MIT Media Lab, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

As a volunteer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, he designed the logo featuring the letter "H," which became popular during her presidential campaign, and the monumental typographic inscription he created for the Obama Presidential Center will crown the complex's central tower. Beginning in October 2024, he assumed an advisory role at Pentagram, providing consulting services to its partners on select projects and overall business strategy.

Michael Bierut is co-editor of the five-volume series "Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design" and co-founder of "Design Observer," a website dedicated to design and cultural criticism. His books, including "79 Short Essays on Design" (2007), "How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (Every Once in a While) Change the World" (2015 and 2021), and "Now You See It and Other Essays on Design" (2017), have been translated into German, French, Korean, Chinese, Polish, and Russian.

Tess McCann is an urban designer and historian. She currently leads several design and research projects for public spaces in central London. Her diverse background encompasses graphic design, geospatial analysis, signage, and teaching.

Her extensive professional experience has enabled her to develop an accessible, research-based design practice that is attentive to client concerns and community needs.

Tess McCann worked as an urban planner at James Corner Field Operations, a New York-based architecture and landscape architecture firm, and as a strategist and project manager at Pentagram Design. She earned her master's degree in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and her bachelor's degree in History from Yale University, where she graduated with honors.

She frequently writes articles on urban history for the Leventhal Center for Maps and Education at the Boston Public Library and is a guest editor for the New York Review of Architecture. She currently works at Publica, an urban and public space design studio that contributes research and intelligence to the urban change process.