Anne Massey graduated in the History of Modern Art and Design at the University of Northumbria in 1980, and gained her doctorate there in 1984 with research on the Independent Group and post-war British design theory. She has written extensively on the history of art and design, and her books include The Independent Group: Modernism and Mass Culture in Britain, 1945–59 (1996); Hollywood Beyond the Screen: Design and Material Culture (2000); Designing Liners: A History of Interior Design Afloat (2006); Chair (2011); and ICA 1946–68 (2014). Her co-edited books include Interior Lives: Biography and the Interior (2013) and Pop Art and Design (2017). She was the founding editor of the journal Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture (2010–).