Conran: All the fun of the press show…

The very exciting Conran/M&S project is one step nearer to launch!

In case you missed it, Conran and Company are working with the development teams at M&S to design their entire ‘Contemporary’ homewares offer from Autumn onwards.

The press lunch – a very intimate affair with just 20 journalists and editors from the top design and interiors magazines – took place last week and garnered a great response.

We showed our initial product range, a capsule collection of 70 products (launch in-store Sept 2011) which includes beautiful hand-made upholstery, statement ceramics and an eclectic mix of textiles and accessories – as well as some very useful and beautiful cabinet pieces. 

All hands on deck!: a waiter changes a plug...

The private members room at Lutyens, Terence’s restaurant on the former newspaper ghetto Fleet Street seemed a very apt location

Conran: Conran & Company are on the look out for an assistant….!

Conran & Company, the home of CONRAN brand licensing, is in need of some assistance!

We have been working hard, growing, making new friends and spreading ourselves around in all manner of multitasking ways and now we find ourselves one admin assistant short of a highly creative team.

If you are bright, diligent and hard-working and enjoy a fast-paced environment then click here to find out more about this exciting opportunity…

Click here to read all the posts that relate to Conran & Company and check out our website here….     

Conran: Azhar on Architecture: Walk Like a Venetian…at the Biennale

Back-to-back posting this week from our globe-trotting Architectural Director Azhar from Conran & Partners…

Arriving in Venice, crossing the Lagoon from Marco Polo Airport you see the alluring silhouette of the city, through the fine, misty spray. Venice from this approach convinces me that she is in fact a celestial body that has fallen to earth; the industrial outline of Mestre is almost spectre-like on the horizon.

Early evening – Campos become football fields and everything goes; african luxury bag sellers, art addicts – it all works. The everyday is just as enchanting as the exceptional. Walking with a purpose –

Conran: Azhar on Architecture: Photo diary from Doha…

Short and sweet this week from our architectural correspondent Azhar...but check out those photographs!

I have just returned from a trip to Doha, Qatar…and rather than talk too much about it I am going to let the pictures do the talking…

 A few words spring to mind when I think about that City……. complex, contradictory, sensual, promenades, hallucinating light, dignified, joyful… I could go on!

 (go and see for yourself, it’s well worth a visit!)

Conran: Something for a London weekend: Ready, Steady…Pedal!

One of the favourite events of the year for many of our bicycling-obsessed members of staff is the London Nocturne – when Smithfield market becomes an open air velodrome packed with excited contestants, spectators and the odd brave action photographer.

The highlight of the afternoon is the folding bike race – after a 30m sprint contestants, many of whom are suited and booted true commuter-style, must build their bikes as fast as possible before setting off on a 5 lap dash around the streets.

With 77 competitors currently registered for this year’s race it promises to be well worth a visit – the winner gets an impressive Kansi 9 Twenty.

With fixed gear skid races, team challenges and even a penny farthing race there is something for everyone.

Here’s a video of the beginning of last year’s exciting commuter-dash just to wet the appetite.

  

If you fancy something a bit more farcical you can always check out the London Naked Bike ride that’s also happening in the capital tomorrow. Let’s hope the weather stays suitably clement!

Conran: Sleep talking in India!

Simon Kincaid from Conran & Partners talks about a recent trip to India

Last month I was invited to speak at The Sleep Event in Mumbai.  The Sleep Hotel conference is Europe’s leading conference in this field and this is its first year in India – it was held at the Westin Garden City Hotel in Mumbai; a 30 storey tower of hotel/residential which looks to the Bollywood Hills and National Park to the East and the metropolis of Mumbai to the West and the South.  

Over 200 delegates attended – owners, operators, developers, designers, architects, service consultants and suppliers- many from international hotel brands with growing operations in India as well as many many local operators with a wide range of property type and offer.

I had been invited to speak and present an international perspective on hotel design as well as take part in a panel discussion on effective bedroom and bathroom design.  

  

I was keen to remind the audience that good design does not have to be expensive and that although bedroom design has changed comparatively little over recent years compared to the bathrooms, it’s the bathrooms where radical changes in design, innovation and guest expectations have developed and there was plenty of healthy discussion over the ongoing trend of open bathrooms.  Standardisation, space saving and smart technologies were also all debated.   

Conran: Clerkenwell Design Week Part 2: Conran & Company take a look around…

The team from Conran & Company took a quick break from working flat out on our new Conran branded range for M&S to take a look around last week’s shows and exhibitions at Clerkenwell Design Week.

A quick whirlwind tour of rainy Clerkenwell last Thursday saw us scampering from venue to venue sheltering from the rain. God bless the estate agents handing out free umbrellas…you can never be too clever with a marketing initiative….

It’s always great to see Russel Pinch’s  beautifully and deceptively simple looking products in the flesh, as we did at The Farmiloe Building.