Monday 1 February 2010

Sir Terence Conran.....and maximum utility

When designing a piece of furniture or deco accessory, it is but natural for a designer like me to quickly browse through some important books to draw inspiration from. I am currently working with students of interior designing guiding them through the design process of some multi-utility products....to be more elaborate.....thinking on how to maximise the utility of a piece of furniture or an accessory and make it more multi-purpose rather than single utility. When doing this, the first thing that struck my mind was that I have to give due respect and credit to this amazing personality Sir Terence Conran, whose books I would rather call holy.


For most people in this industry, Sir Terence Conran is a very familiar name.....but for those who dont know..............here is a bit...

Sir Terence Orby Conran, FCSD, (born 4 October 1931) is an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer.

Conran's first professional work came when he worked in the Festival of Britain on the main South Bank site, he left his college education to take up a job with Dennis Lennon's architectural company, they had been commissioned to make a 1/4 scale interior of a Princess Flying Boat.
Conran started his own design practice in 1956 with the Summa furniture range and designing a shop for Mary Quant. In 1964 he opened the first Habitat shop in Chelsea with his third wife Caroline Herbert, which grew into a large chain selling household goods and furniture in contemporary designs. In the mid-1980s, Conran expanded Habitat into the Storehouse plc group of companies that included Mothercare and Heals but in 1990 he lost control of the company. His later retail companies include the Conran Shop and FSC-certified wood furniture maker Benchmark Furniture, which he co-founded in 1983. To read more, please click here













I specially love his style of writing. Any common man with absolutely no knowledge of designing can understand his clear and precise sense of writing. Pictures are big and clear. I love his books namely; How to live in small spaces, Storage, DIY, Kitchens and many more... He has made contemporary designs seem so light and easy. All the accessories, furniture and design layout that you see in this post are personally done by Sir Terence Conran. his post

This is just a bird's eye view of his works......... it is humanly impossible for me to showcase his works in a single blog post. His books illustrate the maximum use of small spaces. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I was excited writing this.

2 comments:

→lisa said...

Wonderful post! I love Terence Conran. I have three books of his and I return to them again and again. You're quite right about his style of writing; he's very down-to-earth in his approach to style.

Unknown said...

beautiful pictures here, you have good taste!