This chapter addresses the role that progressive twentieth century British design ideology can be seen to play in Muriel Spark’s early work. By analysing Spark's contextualisation of objects and interiors in ‘Miss Pinkerton’s Apocalypse’ and ‘Daisy Overend’; the new town setting of ‘The Black Madonna’; the presentation of the textile firms in The Ballad of Peckham Rye, and references to staining in The Drivers Seat, the chapter considers the relevance of Spark’s social life with Derek Stanford in the period 1947 -1957 and her suspicion of Modernist design ideology. The chapter also poses questions concerned with the significance of Spark’s training in commercial and précis writing - how might her work be seen to reflect upon non-literary texts such as those to be found in women’s fashion magazines or promotional design displays?

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