The style guru who stood up for our sitting rooms...
TRIBUTES have been paid to “visionary” designer and restaurateur Sir Terence Conran who has died, aged 88.
Best known as the founder of the Habitat chain of homeware stores, he was credited with bringing quality designs to the high street that “revolutionised the way we live in Britain”.
He later helped found the Design Museum in London, which was visited by hundreds of thousands of people a year before the pandemic.
Sir Terence “passed away peacefully” at his Georgian manor house, Barton Court, in the Malvern Hills, yesterday morning.
A family statement said: “He was a visionary who enjoyed an extraordinary life and career that revolutionised the way we live in Britain.
“He was adored by his family and friends and we will miss him dearly.”
They added: “It gives us great comfort to know that many of you will mourn with us but we ask that you celebrate Terence’s extraordinary legacy and contribution to the country he loved so dearly.”
He “promoted the best of British design, culture and the arts around the world”, with “a very simple belief that good
design improves the quality of people’s lives”.
Sir Terence was born in Kingston-upon-thames in Surrey in 1931 and started making furniture in 1949, aged just 18, when he shared a studio in the East End with artist friend Eduardo Paolozzi.
He became a key designer in the Swinging Sixties in London when he launched Habitat in 1964.
In doing so he introduced flatpack furniture to British shores long before Swedish brand Ikea, with the aim of lowering the cost of cutting-edge designs to make them affordable for every home.
Sir Terence’s empire would go on to span restaurants, architecture and household retail brands including Mothercare, but it was for his accessible and fashionable furniture, interiors and a homeware that he remains best b known.
Other brands such as Heal’s were personally influenced by Sir Terence and he created furniture for Marks & Spencer and JC Penney. He was knighted in 1983.
Sir Terence even guyed his Swinging Britain image by appearing as himself alongside a champers-swigging Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley in a 2004 Christmas special of TV’S Absolutely Fabulous.
Trustees at the Design Museum said he “leaves a treasure trove of household and industrial design that will stay with us forever”.
Chairman Lord Mandelson added: “He is one of the most iconic figures of post-war Britain, starting to recast the world of design when as a young man he joined the team working on the 1951 Festival of Britain and never stopping from that moment on.”
Those sentiments were echoed by the Kensington museum’s director, Tim Marlow, who led the tributes, saying it was “a privilege and an inspiration to know him”.
In a statement, Marlow wrote: “Terence Conran was instru
mental in the redesigning of post-war Britain and his legacy is huge.
“He is revered by generations of designers, from Mary Quant and David Mellor to Thomas Heatherwick and Jonny Ive.
“He changed the way we lived and shopped and ate. He also created a great institution – the Design Museum – of which he was justifiably proud and with which he remained fully engaged right to the end of his extraordinary life.”
Gardener and broadcaster Monty Don tweeted: “Very sad to hear of the death of Sir Terence Conran. One of the towering figures in post-war d design, i h he shaped h d th the li lives of f millions.
“He also was extremely kind to me on the few occasions I met him. A great man.”
Designer and architect George Clarke tweeted: “So sad to hear the news that Terence Conran has passed away today. He was one of my all-time design heroes.”
And Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, also posted a message on Twitter saying: “Terence Conran was a design legend as well as a brilliant entrepreneur.
“I enjoyed working with him promoting design and young designer d education with the Parliamentary Group on D Design.”
Sir Terence’s flair for business and design was sh shared by his family.
His sister Priscilla Carluccio helped to start the Carluccio’s cafe restaurant chain with h her chef ex-husband Antonio C Carluccio.
Conran’s five children – Sebastian, Jasper, Tom, Sophie and Ned – from his four marriages have each forged su successful careers in the creative se sector.
The family statement released yesterday afternoon also said: “From the late 1940s to the present day, his energy and creativity thrived in his shops, restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels and through his many design, architecture and furniture making businesses.
“Founding The Design Museum in London was one of his proudest moments and through its endeavours he remained a relentless champion of the importance of education to young people in the creative industries.”
It added: “Sir Terence enjoyed a remarkable life to the full and always maintained that his work never felt like a job – everything he did for business he would have done for pleasure.”
‘He changed how we lived, shopped and ate and created the Design Museum’ TIM MARLOW