MINDING DESIGN FOR 60 YEARS

We salute the life and work of Sir Terence Conran

- CELIA RUFEY

Visionary, creative, energetic, optimistic – these are words written and spoken by design commentators to shine light on the life and work of designer Sir Terence Conran who died on 12 September aged 88. When Homes & Gardens was in touch with him as part of our centenary celebrations, he used a different word to describe his outlook as a young designer confronting post-war austerity. That word was hungry. He described being hungry for success, frustrated by the indifference to design in furniture shops. ‘I couldn’t let go of the idea that it had to be possible to sell intelligent design in a home-furnishings shop,’ he told us. Conran opened his first Habitat store in London in 1964. Inspired by market stalls in France and Elizabeth David’s books on cooking refined his attitude further. ‘So I thought, why not sell our furniture alongside beautiful and practical things related to it.’ The pleasure he found in pieces that serve food and equip the kitchen never left him and he was first to signal th