#AskACurator - our favourite objects!

This humble brush is our Head Curator Matt's favourite object on display in Hidden London: the Exhibition. It was used in the 1930s and 40s by ‘fluffers’, Underground staff who cleared the fluff and dirt from tunnels and tracks.

Many of these workers were women, who worked at night when the power for the rails was switched off. Here you can see some of these brushes in action.

This Underground train destination plate for Elstree station is from about 1938 - and is curator Simon's favourite object from Hidden London: the Exhibition

Elstree was the end of a new extension to the Northern line expected to open in 1940. The outbreak of the Second World War interrupted plans, and it was never built. The extension was included on maps until 1949.

Our Director, Sam, says: The remarkable poster collection at LTM was a great attraction when I applied for the job, art and design to civilise the busy city.

My favourite artist has always been Edward McKnight Kauffer, the ‘poster king’ of the 1920s and 30s.

‘Ted’ Kauffer moved easily between styles but his strongest of over one hundred designs for Frank Pick’s Underground were adventurous and avant garde, influenced by Vorticism and Cubism.

Of these, ‘Power: The Nerve Centre of London’s Underground’ of 1931 is my personal favourite.

The electric train has transformed and shaped London; the poster depicts the largest power station in the world at Lots Road and the arm throwing the switch to energise the Tube.

I love the muscularity of the image, it’s an incredibly powerful design, man and machine combining to move the city.

Vehicle and Engineering Curator Katariina's favourite object is the Q23-stock driving motor car. Q23-stock was the name given to modernised ex-G-stock cars.

The G-stock was introduced to the District line in 1923. These cars were fitted with hand-operated doors, and were nicknamed 'horse boxes' because of their narrow cabs. In 1938 this stock was modernised so that it could run with the new Q38 stock.

In 2015 TfL introduced women's Personal Protective Equipment, designed to fit women's proportions better. It was an improvement on the Unisex PPE that had been available before. Documentary curator Ellie picked this uniform, issued to Melanie Ogden, as her favourite item.

The Standard stock design was introduced in 1923, when many new trains were built to accommodate growing passenger demand. A key feature was the replacement of manually operated doors with automatic air-powered ones. This rare colour photo from 1935 shows one of the Standard stock trains at Hammersmith station - and is Team Leader Michael's favourite item.

This is the earliest known drawing of the Underground’s standard bullseye design, as re-designed by Edward Johnston in 1925. It has his exact guidelines for proportions, measurements and colours.

Digital Marketing Manager Laura picked this as her favourite item from the collection as it represents the beginning of one of the world's most recognised logos - which has been interpreted many different ways over the years!

Moquette is the durable upholstery fabric used on public transport across the world. This brightly coloured design from the late 1970s has a geometric pattern of repeating rows of orange, yellow, brown and black rectangles.

The bold design brings back a 70s feel for Retail Marketing Manager David, who loves our moquette socks inspired by this pattern!