To do justice to this, a new blog was needed, and we’re delighted to pull up the curtain on We are Conran. We hope you like it.

We’re on the lookout for guest contributors to the new blog – if you’re interested, or have any other feedback, let us know.

Finally: if you’re at a loose end tonight, do come down to The Conran Shop Marylebone from 5.30, where we’re celebrating our new Ten Green Bottles collection for Gordon, as well as our shiny new blog.

The Museum’s leading lights – including Deyan Sudjic, the current Director, Terence, the founder, and John Pawson, the architect behind the Institute’s conversion – gathered to celebrate a new phase in the Museum’s history.

The ground was broken, and a time capsule – to be opened in 2112 – was buried. The capsule contains gifts from the design world to the future. Terence Conran contributed a tin of sardines, a bottle of Burgundy, and one of the early 21st Century’s most recognisable designs – an iPhone 4S.

Thomas Heatherwick and Ingo Maurer contributed a light bulb – a design classic if ever there was one – while Kenneth Grange offered  Arne Jacobsen’s Cylinder Line coffee pot. Other offerings included a Team GB cycling helmet, an image of Battersea Power Station, and a set of artists’ tube maps (designed by Tracey Emin) from the Mayor’s office.

Terence burying the time capsule

In his speech, Terence reiterated what brought him to found the museum a quarter of a century ago – the lack of a true home for design in Britain, and an associated lack of recognition for the importance of design to our history.

The designers of the Industrial Revolution – from Thomas Newcomen to Robert Stephenson – put Britain made Britain the workshop of the world. The figures huddled together in Kensington this morning believe a new crop of designer can do similar. As Terence put it: “Design is absolutely central to the future of this country…we need to make things.”

He implored government to listen, and their representative today – Ed Vaizey, the Architecture Minister, assured him they would. “Those of you who know Terence Conran know that when he speaks, you should jolly well listen.” We can’t disagree with that.

A Commonwealth Institute-shaped celebratory cake!

Congratulations to everyone at the Design Museum. Here’s to the future of British design!

You’re in luck. Next Saturday, The Conran Shop will end its London Design Festival festivities with two further talks, from acclaimed furniture designer Benjamin Hubert and ceramicist Natasha Daintry, at 1.30pm and 3pm respectively. 

The talks are sponsored by the Design Council, and both designers will be talking to the Council’s Head of Digital, Kati Price. If you’d like to attend either, you’ll need to book a complimentary ticket by emailing rsvp@conran.com.

Benjamin has contributed this eye-catching lamp to the RED exhibition currently talking place in-store, too:

Benjamin Hubert’s Tenda lamp

That exhibition – it behoves us to mention – is running all week, and features original creations from over 40 big-name designers, from Jasper Morrison to Thomas Heatherwick. You can browse the work here.

How big is yours?

Firstly, TVs. IFA was dominated by size above all else: the major players have stretech their OLED displays to an eye-popping 84 inches of viewing glory. Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Sharp were all pushing the boundaries of what can be manufactured in volume.

LG’s monster 84-inch 3DTV.

Panasonic’s mammoth TV booth

Away from this testosterone-fuelled competition, companies such as Loewe were thinking more about spaces/finishes and audio quality. Their Connect ID and Reference ID models look more sympathetic towards most people’s living rooms than some of their rivals.

A Loewe TV and audio system

The devil’s in the details

If IFA is anything to go by (and it probably is), there is a big trend towards elegant design details in consumer electronics.

For example, Samsung showed off these richly-detailed etched fridge doors:

Samsung’s etched fridge

Who knew a fridge could be so pretty?

If you’re in the market for a meat slicer (no?), you would do well to get one of these Graef numbers. They have a lovely Bauhaus feel:

I’m trying to think of a reason to buy a meat slicer now…

(Not so) run of the mill

Panasonic, meanwhile, did a great job of making washing machines interesting. These high tech prototypes had beautiful yet ergonomic UI, and moody black interiors:

One of Panasonic’s washing machines

Philips used demonstrations of cleaning and grooming techniques to literally liven up their home products. It is a bizarre experience to brush your teeth on a crowded conference floor, along with tens of other people, let me tell you!

Top takeaways

– Rose gold finishes

– Etching on large surfaces

– Warmer colour palettes (especially from Loewe)

– Smart technology, and especially linking to smartphones

– A great focus on texture, pattern and materials

Overall, there is a long-overdue move away from white goods being just that – bulky white things with all the elegance of beluga whales. And that, as far as designers are concerned, can only be a good thing!

Here’s the Conran work in pride of place in Diageo’s reception:

The Ten Green Bottles artwork at Diageo HQ

Whilst we were there, Terence answered a few questions about his history, and the world of design in general.

1. How would you summarise the changes in the way we eat and drink between the 60s and now?

Quite simply, we’ve gone from ghastliness at the end of the war to deliciousness now – if you take the trouble to seek it out.

A spam sandwich used the be the best you could get. No, in fact, a spam fritter – the manufacture of which seems to take some of the taste out of spam. And the best you could drink was Merrydown cider. I don’t know if you’ve had it, but let me tell you: it leaves you with an atrocious hangover.

2. What do you make of the current opportunities for young designers?

It’s now generally understood how important design is to everything, as the Olympics has admirably demonstrated. Because of that, I think the opportunities are actually very exciting. Don’t be despondent – my first job was as a plongeur in a Parisian restaurant.

(Incidentally: for me, the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies were tear-jerkingly wonderful examples of British creativity.)

Terence speaking at Diageo HQ

3. You’ve worked on this incredibly exciting collaboration with Gordon’s…what do see as the key opportunities for the drinks market?

One thing the drinks industry does very well is research – they compile great rafts of data on their products. This is a blessing and a curse. Research is very important when not taken too literally, but focus groups too often wrest control of design from the designer. The opportunity, then, will come from balancing this wealth of knowledge with innovative work – like this collaboration!

4. What has been your career highlight?

My highlight is undoubtedly saving a little building in Chelsea called Michelin House.

When we opened the Conran Shop on Fulham road, I saw Michelin House across the street and I thought, simply, ‘that is the most exciting building in the world’.

I wrote letter to the Michelin brothers, and received no response for many years. Eventually, I heard word that it was for sale, so I demanded to go and see them. I explained to them the great amount of restoration work necessary – the need to strengthen the building, to replace the beautiful stained glass. I prepared sketches indicating what we would do – and told them that we would match any price offered.

In the end, we succeeded, and Michelin House remains the crowning achievement of my career. There was plenty of cigar smoking at that particular time!

We will shortly be celebrating the 25th anniversary of reopening Michelin House – so we thought we better have an awful lot of gin.

The Conran + Gordon’s installation

In 1962, a young Terence Conran took on one of his first independent design projects. The chairman of wine merchant Harveys of Bristol, George McWatters, asked Terence’s Conran Design Group to review their entire brand. The work encompassed the look of Harveys’ shops, off-licenses, bottles, packaging, vehicle liveries and offices. Conran even created one of the world’s earliest ‘brand books’ for Harveys.

Fifty years on, history is repeating itself. We’re proud to be working with Gordon’s to bring a bit of Conran charm to their iconic green bottles. Inspired by the Conran textiles of the Sixties, we’ve crafted ten new fabric label patterns for Gordon’s, which will feature on one million bottles, available throughout the UK from October, at the standard retail price.

Additionally, 200 special edition bottles, presented in hand-stitched fabric wraps and presentation boxes, will be available from Selfridges. Each of the ten patterns cleverly incorporates a number: take pattern #6, for example:

We’ll have much more to say very soon.

EDIT: check out Terence answering questions about the collaboration here.

EDIT #2: Emma Booty, head of the Conran Studio team that produced the bottles, sent us a litter report from the star-studded launch party:

I was sure those glasses were full of water? Maybe it was something stronger if my eyes are anything to go by…

The cat’s out of the bag! After months of preparation and secrecy our work for Gordon’s Gin is now out and proud.

The press launch venue was the vault of One Marylebone – a dramatic and substantial space with each archway designated to show off the ten limited edition bottles, one per arch. Number three invited us to paint in the pattern (I may have spilt some in an unsuspecting passer’s by drink, sorry), Number ten was an aromatic recreation of Terence’s vegetable garden, number six was all of the work from the sketchbooks and tests from the past six months. The green lighting out an unhealthy tinge to our complexions but, apart from that, an exciting evening.

The top tier bottles are presented akin to high end couture: the shiny white box opens to reveal a tailored fabric-wrapped bottle with signed sample tag and limited edition print.

The main tier – that we’ll be seeing in supermarkets in the next few weeks – is the pattern behind the Gordon’s logo printed onto a textured, linen paper. All of the regular, knowing FMCG cues and rules have been abandoned for this limited run and the resulting label is crafted, tactile and intriguing in a much softer way. This simplicity is an audacious step for the UK’s leading gin brand – time will tell if consumers enjoy the authentic charm and wit?

At Conran, we’re pulling out all the stops to make it an enjoyable week. We’ve already mentioned The Conran Shop’s RED exhibition, and today, we have another reason for you to head to Chelsea.

This coming Saturday (15th) and the following one (22nd), The Conran Shop will be hosting a series of talks with eminent British designers, in association with Stylus magazine and the Design Council. Tickets are free, but must be booked in advance, via The Conran Shop’s website.

This Saturday, furniture designer Russell Pinch and ‘The Neon Man’, Chris Bracey, will be taking the stage at 1.30pm and 3pm respectively.

Russell Pinch

Russell was voted Best Newcomer to the design world by Blueprint and 100% Design in 2004, and won Wallpaper* magazine’s Best Desk award in 2008. His practice, PINCH, specialises in furniture, product and interior design.

Chris Bracey

Chris Bracey has been working in lighting design for 37 years, collaborating with such luminaries as David LaChapelle, Alexander McQueen and Martin Creen. His spectacular neons have featured in several Hollywood blockbusters, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Eyes Wide Shut.

And if you can’t make the talks, you can still see their work: both Russell and Chris have contributed work to the RED exhibition, which opens in-store from Friday.

Russel Pinch’s RED Clyde side table

The focus is firmly on South Place Hotel and the Old Bengal Warehouse, both of which open this month, and both of which feature the hard work of Conran’s interiors designers and branders.

The piece is reproduced below.

My dad is exhibiting his paintings and sculpture alongside the ceramics of Barbara Wakefield in Mayfair next week. The show’s theme is music, and all of the details are in the exhibition guide below. You can also check out his work – with collections inspired by Janáček, Beethoven and Mendelssohn – on his website.

David’s paintings are lovely, Richteresque things, so – nepotism aside – the exhibition is definitely worth a visit. If you fancy a drink afterwards, the glorious rococo Tempo bar is right around the corner. We can vouch enthusiastically for their Old Fashioneds.

A peek at The Conran Shop’s RED exhibition

The exhibition – at The Conran Shop’s flagship Chelsea store – will include exclusive work from some of the world’s most eminent designers, including Thomas Heatherwick, Nendo, John Pawson and Marcel Wanders.

The theme of the exhibition is – you guessed it – the colour red, and is inspired by the iconic Royal Mail pillar box, a British design classic if ever there was one.

Pieces in the exhibition will range from innovative lighting to hand-crafted furniture to a collection of limited edition accessories.

As a taster: emerging American designer, Jonah Takagi, will present and limited edition run of red Index tables, produced by Council exclusively for RED. Jonah’s tables are constructed entirely from ash, with not a rivet or bolt in sight. They are rather beautiful:

Jonah Tagaki’s (non-red) Index tables

Chris Bracey’s neon creations have been lighting  up The Conran Shop for a while now [LINK], and he’s contributed to RED, too:

Chris Bracey’s neon rose

Other designers and contributors include Ingo Maurer, Alexander Taylor, Raw Edges, the Campana Brothers, Sebastian Bergne, Sebastian Conran, Nathalie Dewez, Vincent van Duysen, Diego Fortunato, Patrick Norguet, the Bouroullec Brothers, Studio Job, Paula Navone, Patrick Norguet, Petit Pan, Doshi Levien, Christophe Pillet and Inga Sempe.

This exhibition celebrates The Conran Shop’s 25th year in its iconic Michelin Building home. Since it’s a party, The Conran Shop will be serving up free SodaStream cocktails from 1pm every day during London Design Festival (14th – 23rd September)!