R. Craig Miller did his best to explain the latest large-scale exhibition coming to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. But the museum’s loquacious curator of design arts and director of design initiatives had to begin with a qualifying statement… for the uninitiated.

“It’s a very complex story that we’re trying to tell people,” Miller said, laughing. “In many respects, this is the first time this story has been told. So we might fall flat on our face.”

That is doubtful.

“European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century,” a critical survey of Western European industrial and decorative design opening next week, includes everything from ceramics, furniture, metalwork and glass to fabricated product design.

The mammoth show highlights contributions from 188 designers in 14 countries such as France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal and England. And Miller has been meticulously researching, assembling and preparing the show since 2002.

The survey’s time frame (1985 to present) marks the waning influence of two leading postmodernist Italian design studios — a period in which design can be separated into two distinct movements. The first, “modernism,” viewed design through the lens of industry with a focus on functional, mass-produced objects. “Postmodernism” viewed design as art, focusing instead on an appreciation of concept.

Miller is quick to point out, however, that the nomenclature is invented, and that the show encapsulates both movements as well as their many manifestations over the past two decades.

It was a period during which computers played an ever-increasing role, in which no leading school of thought and no titanic figure led the charge.

“We’ve tried to pick pieces that make the strongest statements, rather than a survey of careers or movements,” Miller said. “This was a period of evolution rather than revolution.”

If the caliber and scope of “European Design,” along with its companion event “Shaping the New Century: A Two-Day International Design Symposium,” and the recent opening of the IMA’s Design Center seems like a new direction for the vaunted museum, that’s because it is.

Maxwell Anderson, director and CEO of the IMA, said he sees design as a great fit for the museum and Indiana as a whole.

“We have this reputation for being a manufacturing state,” Anderson said. “But we are equally conscious of the need for our capacity to foster other economic engines.”

In this way, the show is concerned with more than the museum’s mission — it is about expanding the aesthetic horizon for the region as a whole.

“I am unapologetic about hoping that we can have a more outward-looking perspective,” Anderson said. “If we can foster that growth of the design community to match the potential growth of the architectural community, it will feed the quality of life for everyone who lives here.”

Miller said he sees the focus on design at the museum in three ways. Not only will it let the world know that the IMA is “going to be a major player in this field,” but it will also serve to create a dialogue about design and enhance the collection.

For the symposium alone, the museum is bringing in more than a dozen designers and design academics from all over the world.

“I would be hard-pressed to imagine a comparable event in the IMA’s history,” Anderson said. “It’s a landmark exhibition, being talked about all around the world, and we hope it will create a legacy of IMA leadership.”

Fritz King, president of the Design Arts Society at the IMA, has been passionate about design since the 1950s, when he fell in love with Danish modern furniture of that period. A retired lawyer, King made an unsolicited proposal to Anderson two years ago, hoping to establish a Design Arts Society, at which point the former Decorative Arts Society was renamed.

The society seeks to elevate the importance of design in our lives.

“Design surrounds us daily,” King said. “We’re immersed in it, whether we realize it or not. Our entire environment is design, from hair dryers to flatware to automobiles to the iPhone I’m holding in my right hand. There isn’t anything around us that isn’t design.”

Art Jolt: Design 101

What: You’ve heard of modernism and postmodernism, but do you know what they mean? Allow Elizabeth Mix of Butler University to explain, and find out how these ideas are applicable to the creation of chairs, lamps and teapots, among other things.

When: Session 1, on modernism, will be from 6 to 8 p.m. April 30; Session 2, on postmodernism, will be from 6 to 8.p.m. May 7.

Where: Adult Classroom A, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road.

Tickets: One session: members $21, public $30, students and seniors $25.50.

Info: Register by April 17 by calling (317) 923-1331 or go to www.imamuseum.org/calendar/desig...

European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century

What: The first critical survey of contemporary Western European industrial and decorative design, including 250 works of ceramic, furniture, metalwork and fabricated product design by two generations of European designers.

When: March 8 through June 21. The opening celebration is from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday.

Where: Clowes Gallery in the Wood Pavilion, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road.

Tickets: $10 adults; $6 children and college students; $8 seniors and groups; free for IMA members.

Info: (317) 923-1331 or www.imamuseum.org/exhibitions/eu...