The Design Museum breaks new ground

“This is one of the best days of my long life.” So said Terence Conran at the ground breaking ceremony for the new home of the Design Museum at the Commonwealth Institute, Kensington.

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.

Gordon’s Q&A with Terence Conran

To celebrate the launch of our Ten Green Bottles collaboration, we went over to Diageo HQ for some lovely elderflower and strawberry G&Ts.

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.

Helping Britain show off

As the pedals whir and the epées clash, all the world and his dog are eyeballing London. And whilst the focus is obviously sporting, it’s a good opportunity for everyone who contributes something or other to our fair city – whether that’s commerce, art or artisan pastries – to show off.

Britain welcomes the world

The British Business Embassy is an organised way of showing off – a platform for demonstrating the imagination and innovation of British business, and the merits of investing here. As the top brass of the world’s top companies, from Google to General Motors, convene on London, how do you go about showing off the world’s greatest city?

Our Olympic windows

Since getting around London doesn’t appear to be as much of a problem as we might have feared, we suggest you nip over to Marylebone High Street, where The Conran Shop is celebrating the Games with a fun Olympics-themed display.

Terence on luxury

As part of our series of pieces on luxury design, we put a question to our Chairman, Sir Terence Conran:

Design by Conran to shake up the American homewares market

We’re delighted to be working with jcpenney to bring a new range of homewares to America.

The new Conran standards

If you picked up a copy of World of Interiors this month, you may have spied this, a double-page spread celebrating The Conran Shop’s 25th year of trading, and showing off the stunning new Flagship collection.

As a destination for the best and most beautiful designer homewares in the world, The Conran Shop has long been a favourite lifestyle retailer of designers and decorators worldwide.

The Conran shop founded by Terence Conran, has its roots in London, where it was responsible for the revival of the iconic Michelin House building in Chelsea. Over the years the Conran name has become synonymous with all areas of design, from architecture and restaurants to cookware and soft furnishings.

The new ‘Flagship’ collection, available exclusively in the Chelsea store, re-establishes what The Conran Shop has always stood for – improving the lives of its customers with inspirational pieces to be loved for life, discovered in a visually stimu- lating environment. The new collection combines luxury, comfort and flair built on a palette of wood, cream, whites and beige, injected with classic Conran blue to create a timeless look. With over 3,000 lines of new and exciting products, the spring collection is the first phase of an ongoing redevelopment of the brand, which focuses on beautiful textures, honest materials and their British heritage.

You can see more of the Flagship collection at The Conran Shop Chelsea.

Fakes: fought.

The Conran Shop launched the Get Real: Fight the Fakes campaign a few short weeks ago, in support of Michelle Ogundehin’s Equal Rights for Design e-petition.

It’s an issue that’s long been close to our hearts: at The Conran Shop, we sell the work of hundreds of designers; designers whose work we love. We think the second-rate copyright protection they have erstwhile enjoyed chills the climate for design in Britain. It’s also bad for consumers: fakes and copies are seldom as well-built as originals, nor do they hold their value.

Well, there’s good news: yesterday, the Government announced that UK copyright laws for designers are to be amended to be in line with those currently granted to artists, writers and musicians.

Until now, product and industrial designers have benefited from protection for only 25 years from the date at which the copyright is issued, in stark contrast to those afforded to the other creative industries, whose art is safeguarded from unauthorised copies for 70 years after the death of the original author.

As our Chairman, Terence Conran put it:

“By protecting new designs more generously, we are encouraging more investment of time and talent in British design. That will lead to more manufacturing in Britain, and that in turn will lead to more jobs – which we desperately need right now. Properly protected design can help make the UK a profitable workshop again. We have the creative talent – lets use it.”

The Conran Shop will continue to champion the protection of design classics by only working with licensed manufacturers and by informing our customer’s about the value of investing in design classics.

Let’s crack out the bubbly!

The Conran Manifesto

Terence talked to the Times last week, outlining his vision for a property-based path out of recession.

Terence was interviewed off the back of an open letter to the Government (published in the Friday Times Letters section), which called for a revival of the “vision, ambition and pride” that dragged Britain out of the post-War slump. He cites new council housing and VAT exemption for the refurbishment of derelict buildings as key starting points.

“I truly believe we can build our way out of recession. There is a massive bubble of demand and one day that must burst and kickstart growth. But we need the Government to provide the pin-prick.”

Conran and Partners is currently working on 2,500 homes for house associations across the country.

EDIT: here’s the full text of Terence’s letter to the Times:

Sir,

After working in design and business for almost 60 years I am currently enduring my sixth, and without question, worst recession. During the last recession I built Europe’s largest restaurant in Soho, because I believe the way through difficult economic times is to be bold, seize opportunity and create.

At the end of the 1970s there was a housing surplus. I wouldn’t say the stock was all good quality but if somebody needed a home they stood a good chance of getting one.

That was down to the ambitious postwar political desire to transform this country and improve lives. In 2010 we built the fewest homes since the end of the Second World War.

We need that vision, ambition and pride again because I truly believe we can build our way out of recession.

Banks need to lend, developers need to commission architects, plannes need to approve projects quickly and efficiently and we need to build. There is a massive bubble of demand that must be burst to kick-start growth. We need government to provide the pinprick.

Grant Shapps, the Minister for Housing and Local Government, throws out soundbites and tweets with Blairite fervour, but doesn’t appear to actually do much.

According to the charity Empty Homes, there are nearly one million UK properties vacant, a scandal that tweeting won’t help.

Housing starts are at near record lows and Mr Shapps can’t keep blaming “the last administration”. The coalition has been in government for almost two years now and excuses have worn thin.

— Sir Terence Conran, London SE1

What went on at Conran?

At Conran, we have some strong ideas about what constitutes good design. We think good design should make people’s lives better, first and foremost. Above all, to quote our Chairman, we have an affection for the ‘plain, simple and useful’.

From Terence Conran’s first splash at the Festival of Britain in 1951, we’ve worked across design disciplines to that end. It’s a heritage that we’re very proud of.

Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ layout gave us a good opportunity to delve into our design history. Take a look for yourself, and find out what went on at Conran – as well as how we’re building on that heritage today.