Tania Messell is a design historian and a museum professional. Her research examines design professionalisation, design and globalisation and the intersections between design and environmental catastrophes in the long twentieth century. Author of several peer-reviewed publications and co-editor of International Design Organisations: Histories, Legacies, Values (Bloomsbury, 2022), she has moreover taught in Switzerland and internationally.
Her work on exhibitions and museums encompasses curatorial practice, research, and collections management. She has contributed to exhibitions on design and material culture as a researcher at leading institutions, including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vitra Design Museum. Her experience also encompasses the documentation and valorisation of collections.