Design Museum: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show
The Design Museum has no person with significant control recorded on the Companies House register. In the year to March 2025 it reported turnover of £17m.
- In the year to March 2025, Design Museum had turnover of £17m, up 38.0% on the year before.
- It made a pre-tax profit of £2m, keeping £13.49 of every £100 of sales.
- It employed an average of 127 people, with staff costs of £6m.
- These figures are from The Design Museum's group accounts for the year to March 2025, filed at Companies House on 27 October 2025.
- Registered name
- THE DESIGN MUSEUM
- Company number
- 02325092
- Status
- Active
- Incorporated
- 5 December 1988
- Registered office area
- West London
- Industry code on the register
- 91030: Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities
- Accounts
- Group accounts, covering the companies it owns
- Accounts type
- Full group accounts
- Latest accounts
- Year to March 2025, filed 27 October 2025
What does Design Museum do?
The Design Museum is a charity in Kensington, London, that stages exhibitions on product, fashion, graphic and architectural design. Founded in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran, it began at Shad Thames and moved to its present building in 2016. Alongside exhibitions it holds a design collection and runs learning programmes for schools, families and postgraduate students. It earns money from exhibition tickets, membership, sponsorship, donations from patrons and trusts, its shop and venue hire.
In brief: design museum charity · founded 1989 by Terence Conran · exhibitions and learning · tickets, membership and venue hire
Source: Design Museum's own website, retrieved 27 September 2026.
Who owns Design Museum?
The Design Museum, company number 02325092, has no person with significant control recorded on the register. The full record is linked below.
The full ownership record is on the Companies House register. Control is given in the bands the register uses, not as exact shareholdings.
Who runs Design Museum?
The Companies House register lists 13 current officers for The Design Museum.
All 13 current officers
| Officer | Appointed |
|---|---|
| Prof Sebastian Orby Conran | 19 November 2008 |
| Davina Anne Lore Von Mallinckrodt | 14 June 2017 |
| Michelle Ogundehin | 26 April 2021 |
| Dominic James Field | 13 October 2021 |
| Susan Arleen Boster | 16 March 2022 |
| Dahlia Dana | 9 May 2022 |
| Eva Magdalena Jiricna | 10 May 2022 |
| Suhair Fariha Khan | 19 October 2022 |
| Stuart Roden | 5 June 2023 |
| Jenna Caroline Littler | 5 October 2023 |
| Jonathan David Zenios | 13 December 2023 |
| Tomoko Azumi | 18 June 2024 |
| Richard Dollimore | 9 December 2025 |
Every current officer, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
What did Design Museum file?
The Design Museum reported turnover of £17m in the year to March 2025. That was up 38.0% on £12m the year before.
It reported 127 employees. The year before it reported 129.
It filed a pre-tax profit of £2m for the year, against a pre-tax loss of £1.5m the year before.
Staff costs came to £6m. That is an average of £45,000 a head. It ended the year with £4m at the bank and net assets of £31m.
| Measure | Mar 2025 | Mar 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | £17m | £12m |
| Pre-tax profit | £2m (filed) | -£1.5m (filed) |
| Employees | 127 | 129 |
| Staff costs | £6m | £5m |
| Average staff cost per head | £45,000 | £40,000 |
| Bank and cash | £4m | £3m |
| Net assets | £31m | £29m |
Read the accounts to March 2025 (PDF, Companies House) · every accounts filing
What do these figures mean? Turnover vs profit · Profit per £100 · Cash vs profit · Net assets · Group accounts
Are there any charges against Design Museum?
The Design Museum has registered 2 charges at Companies House, and all of them have since been satisfied. A charge is security a lender takes over a company's assets; one is satisfied when the lending behind it is repaid or released.
Each charge, with its holder and dates, is on the Companies House register.
How Design Museum compares
Of the 13 independent museums and galleries, Design Museum is 3rd on turnover, 2nd on profit margin and 1st on growth. Dulwich Picture Gallery keeps the most of every £100 of sales: £17.07.
| Rank | Independent museums and galleries | Turnover | Profit per £100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Royal Academy of Arts | £37m | −£9.68 |
| 3rd | Design Museum | £17m | £13.49 |
| + 11 more independent museums and galleries ranked |
Ranked by turnover. Profit per £100 is pre-tax profit for every £100 of turnover, shown only where the profit is filed.
Design Museum files as The Design Museum, with turnover of £17m in its latest filed year.
Questions about Design Museum
What does Design Museum do?
The Design Museum is a charity in Kensington, London, that stages exhibitions on product, fashion, graphic and architectural design. Founded in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran, it began at Shad Thames and moved to its present building in 2016. Alongside exhibitions it holds a design collection and runs learning programmes for schools, families and postgraduate students. It earns money from exhibition tickets, membership, sponsorship, donations from patrons and trusts, its shop and venue hire.
How does Design Museum compare with its rivals?
By turnover, Design Museum is 3rd of the 13 companies in our battle of the independent museums and galleries, behind Royal Academy of Arts. The battle ranks them on turnover, pre-tax profit, margin, growth and net assets. The battle of the independent museums and galleries →
Who owns Design Museum?
The Design Museum has no person with significant control recorded at Companies House.
How much does Design Museum make?
The Design Museum reported turnover of £17m in the year to March 2025. It filed a pre-tax profit of £2m.
How many people work at Design Museum?
The Design Museum reported 127 employees in the year to March 2025.
Who runs Design Museum?
The Companies House register lists 13 current officers for The Design Museum. The full list, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
- Figures come from The Design Museum's filings at Companies House, company number 02325092, for the period shown at the top of the page.
- These are group accounts: they include the companies it owns.
- Pre-tax profit is the figure the company filed, for both years.
- A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d. A zero in the filing is treated as not disclosed, never as nil.
- Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, from £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, from £2m to the nearest million.
- Ownership is shown in the control bands the register of people with significant control uses, not as exact shareholdings.
- Officers' names and appointment dates come from the Companies House register. Job titles come from the company's own website. The description of what the company does comes from its website, or is marked Spark Intel editorial where it is written from stable, checked facts, with the date either way.
Spark Intel, “Design Museum: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show”, updated 9 November 2026. https://www.spark-intel.co.uk/companies/design-museum/. Figures from Companies House filings for THE DESIGN MUSEUM (02325092).
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