Remembering Terence Conran
Image courtesy of the Design Museum
Growing up in a sloppy Britain was no-one pleasant, especially young designers who had discovered the Bauhaus and the egalitarian beauty of modernism. The echo of the Festival of Britain was in my parents' furniture, but the world was brown and beige.
The start of the UK design revolution through a retail store wasn't what we expected, but Habitat's impact on King & # 39; s Road made it a mecca for design students looking for affordable colors and simplicity. Versions of Bauhaus furniture were in cool people's homes, and at Central we were still bending tubular steel frames in our designs – until Sottsass and Memphis woke us up. Conran's role as a taste maker is not to be underestimated, but his design company was also hugely influential and produced a generation of talented designers.
Habitat logo. Image courtesy of Shutterstock
The excitement about the opening of the Conran-funded boiler house in the V&A area finally seemed to be understood and celebrated in a country where the public and business community decidedly opposed contemporary design as something foreign and exporting manufacturers at trade shows with the Union had sold flags as their only weapon. As the Boilerhouse became the Design Museum, public interest in design and the desire to study and enter the creative design industry blossomed, propelling UK design schools to new heights.
Conran was a famous person we all knew, but I eventually met him through his work with the Helen Hamlyn Design Center. He was passionate about designing for all abilities and ages and that we should teach the next generation of designers to design for all.
He sent me a message after hearing a speech I gave at the Helen Hamlyn Awards ceremony to share his hopes that the next generation of designers would embrace inclusivity. He spoke to doctors and surgeons about design and pleaded with us to move forward and ensure that design is incorporated into all aspects of healthcare.
Terence Conran on the cover of the first issue of Creative Review in 1980
A column by Conran in the first edition of CR
My last memory of Terence was that he was sitting next to him at a big awards ceremony where he naturally complained heavily about the food and told me his favorite restaurant was in Paris, where they would just throw the food on a large wooden table.
He was a mentor and friend to many designers and it was a pleasure to hear the many comments from those he supported and encouraged. I will always thank him for his modernity, courage and ability to do what we thought was impossible and make Britain a powerhouse of design.
Clive Grinyer is Head of Service Design at the Royal College of Art in London and a design consultant. clivegrinyer.com