A new exhibition marking 150th anniversary of Czech entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa, founder of the global Baťa Shoe Company, explores Baťa's achievements and guiding principles and their realisation in East Tilbury, Essex. It reveals how ideas about work, culture, sport, health and community were embedded in the design of the built environment.
The exhibition unfolds in two complementary strands. 'Desire to Create' presents Baťa's legacy as a comprehensive philosophy, uniting work with service, enterprise with education, and personal development with responsibility towards others - not as a relic of the past, but as a continuing source of inspiration. Baťa's 'Architecture of Belonging' brings East Tilbury to life through architectural drawings, historic photographs and original artefacts, evoking its distinctive modernist atmosphere. Together, they trace how ideas were translated into built form - from vision to planning, from planning to everyday life - creating a cohesive narrative of belonging, work and community.
