{{Short description|British restaurateur and designer (1931–2020)}} {{Use British English|date=July 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{infobox person | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Terence Conran | honorific_suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100|CH|RDI|FCSD}} | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Terence Orby Conran | birth_date = {{birth date|1931|10|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2020|9|12|1931|10|4|df=y}} | death_place = Kintbury, West Berkshire, England | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = Habitat | education = Bryanston School | alma_mater = Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design | occupation = Designer, restaurateur, retailer, writer | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Brenda Davison|1952|1954|end=div}}|{{marriage|Shirley Pearce|1955|1962|end=div}}|{{marriage|Caroline Herbert|1963|1996|end=div}}|{{marriage|Victoria Davis|2000}}}} | children = 5, including Sebastian, Jasper and Sophie }}
'''Sir Terence Orby Conran''' {{postnom|country=GBR|CH|RDI|FCSD}} (4 October 1931 – 12 September 2020) was a British designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sir Terence Conran: No Designs on Taking Things Easy |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/2788086/Sir-Terence-Conran-No-designs-on-taking-things-easy.html | work = The Daily Telegraph |date=14 April 2008}}</ref> He founded the household retailer Habitat in 1964, and the Design Museum in Shad Thames, London in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Design Museum. |title=Mourning the loss of Sir Terence Conran |url=https://designmuseum.org/mourning-the-loss-of-sir-terence-conran#}}</ref> The British designer Thomas Heatherwick said that Conran "moved Britain forward to make it an influence around the world."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rozzo |first1=Mark |title=Conran Country {{!}} Vanity Fair {{!}} May 2019 |url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2019/5/conran-country |website=archive.vanityfair.com}}</ref>
Edward Barber, from the British design team Barber & Osgerby, described Conran as "the most passionate man in Britain when it comes to design, and his central idea has always been 'Design is there to improve your life.'"<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2019/5/conran-country|title = Conran Country | Vanity Fair | May 2019}}</ref> The satirist Craig Brown once joked that before Conran "there were no chairs and no France."<ref name="auto"/>
==Early life== Conran was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, the son of Christina Mabel Joan Conran (née Halstead, d.1968) and South African-born Gerard Rupert Conran (d.1986), a businessman who owned a rubber importation company in East London.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070327113348/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/portal/2007/03/03/nosplit/ftwkdet03.xml "Family Detective"]. ''The Daily Telegraph''. 3 March 2003.</ref> Conran was educated at Highfield School in Liphook, Bryanston School in Dorset and the Central School of Art and Design (now incorporated into Central St Martin's, a part of the University of the Arts, London), where he studied textiles and other materials.
==Work== Conran's first professional work came when he worked in the Festival of Britain (1951) on the main South Bank site. He left college to take up a job with Dennis Lennon's architectural company, which had been commissioned to make a 1/4-scale interior of a Princess Flying Boat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.conran.com/|title=Conran – Home|access-date=4 February 2015}}</ref> Shortly after the Festival ended, Conran was laid off and started focussing on furniture and fabric designs for David Whitehead. He worked with his friend Raymond Elston, who had some knowledge of welding and making clothes. {{sfnp|Ind|1995|page=64}}
In May 1953, Conran, his friend Eduardo Paolozzi and Elston were invited to take part in the ''Third Weekend Exhibition'' of abstract art, organised by Adrian Heath in his studio at 22 Fitzroy Square, London. Conran showed some furniture: "''a low table, a stool, a dining table and an upright chair - all in his familiar spindly-leg style''"; Paolozzi some collages, and Elston some mobiles. {{sfnp|Ind|1995|page=77}}{{sfnp|Grieve|2005|page=17}}
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, London with his third wife Caroline Herbert, focusing on housewares and furniture in contemporary designs. Habitat grew into a large chain, the first retailer to bring such designs to a mass audience.<ref name="auto"/>
In the mid-1980s, Conran expanded Habitat into the Storehouse plc group of companies that included BhS, Mothercare and Heal's but in 1990 he lost control of the company. thumb|The Conran Shop Fukuoka at Tenjin area in Fukuoka, Japan His later retail companies<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flixens.com/director/terence-orby-conran|title=TERENCE ORBY CONRAN - Company Director Check|website=www.flixens.com|language=en|access-date=2018-06-29}}</ref> included the Conran Shop<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.conran.com/shop/index_conran_shops_home.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050819102426/http://www.conran.com/shop/index_conran_shops_home.html|url-status=dead|title=Conran Shop|archive-date=19 August 2005}}</ref> and FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council) wood furniture maker Benchmark Furniture,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.benchmarkfurniture.com|title=Contemporary Furniture Handmade at Benchmark - Benchmark Furniture|access-date=4 February 2015}}</ref> which he co-founded with Sean Sutcliffe in 1983.
He was also involved in architecture and interior design, including establishing the architecture and planning consultancy Conran Roche with Fred Roche in 1980. Their projects include Michelin House (which he turned into the restaurant Bibendum) and the Bluebird Garage, both in Chelsea.<ref>[http://www.bromptondesigndistrict.com/bibendum-oyster-bar-reopens-new-design-sir-terence-conran-new-menu-matthew-harris-simon-hopkinson "Bibendum Oyster Bar reopens with new design by Sir Terrence Conran and new menu from Matthew Harris and Simon Hopkinson"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111001846/http://www.bromptondesigndistrict.com/bibendum-oyster-bar-reopens-new-design-sir-terence-conran-new-menu-matthew-harris-simon-hopkinson |date=11 January 2016 }}, ''Brompton Design District''. Accessed 29 October 2015.</ref> Conran had a major role in the regeneration in the early 1990s of the Shad Thames area of London next to Tower Bridge that included the Design Museum ( now relocated to Kensington ). His business, Conran and Partners, is a design company comprising product, brand and interior designers and architects, working on projects all over the world. Conran designed furniture for Marks & Spencer, J. C. Penney, Content by Conran, Benchmark, and The Conran Shop.
Conran's architecture and design practice also worked on projects in North America and Asia.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Leroux|first=Marcus|title=Conran Group switches its focus to the potential of Asia|newspaper=The Times|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/conran-group-switches-its-focus-to-the-potential-of-asia-nxjbgkd300w|access-date=2020-09-14|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> In 2009, he licensed the Conran Shop to a partner in Japan. In September 2014, Cassina IXC Ltd acquired the entire business of The Conran Shop in Japan<ref>{{Cite web|title=ABOUT US {{!}} CASSINA IXC. Ltd.|url=https://www.cassina-ixc.jp/en/about.html|access-date=2020-09-14|website=www.cassina-ixc.jp}}</ref> where it still thrives with four stores.<ref>{{Cite web|last=株式会社|first=LmD|title=THE CONRAN SHOP {{!}} ザ・コンランショップ|url=https://www.conranshop.jp/brand/stores|access-date=2020-09-14|website=THE CONRAN SHOP {{!}} ザ・コンランショップ|language=ja}}</ref> In 2019, the Conran Shop opened in Seoul, South Korea.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Q42|first=Fabrique &|title=Sir Terence Conran Timeline|url=https://designmuseum.org/mourning-the-loss-of-sir-terence-conran/sir-terence-conran-timeline|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Design Museum|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-11-29|title=The Conran Shop opens biggest retail space yet in South Korea|url=https://www.dezeen.com/2019/11/29/the-conran-shop-gangnam-seoul/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Dezeen|language=en}}</ref>
In 1997 he appeared as himself in “In the Smoke”, S5:E7 of ''Pie in the Sky''.
===Restaurants=== {{main|D&D London}} Besides Bibendum, Conran, with Joel Kissin, created many other restaurants in London<ref>{{Cite news|last=Reynolds|first=Catharine|date=1996-12-15|title=London Dining: Big Gets Bigger|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/travel/london-dining-big-gets-bigger.html|access-date=2020-09-14|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and elsewhere. In 2005, he was named as the most influential restaurateur in the UK by ''CatererSearch'', the website of ''Caterer and Hotelkeeper'' magazine. In 2007, 49 percent of the restaurant business was sold to two former managers, who rebranded it as D&D London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.conran.com/press/docs/Restaurant%2520Group%2520Name%2520Change.pdf+%22D%26D%22+restaurants&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=uk|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327000500/http://www.conran.com/press/docs/Restaurant%20Group%20Name%20Change.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Conran press release|archivedate=27 March 2008}}</ref>
In 2008, he returned to the restaurant business on a personal basis by opening Boundary, a restaurant, bar, café, and meeting room complex in Shoreditch, East London. This was followed in 2009 by Lutyens, a restaurant and private club within the former Reuters building in Fleet Street London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lutyens-restaurant.com/history|title=85 Fleet Street|publisher=www.lutyens-restaurant.com|access-date=30 October 2015}}</ref> In 2018, Lutyens, together with two other related restaurants, closed as Conran's hospitality venture with [https://www.hachette.co.uk/contributor/peter-prescott/ Peter Prescott] went into administration.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hansen|first=James|date=2018-06-20|title=Sir Terence Conran's Restaurant Group Has Gone Bust|url=https://london.eater.com/2018/6/20/17483332/albion-closure-parabola-lutyens-prescott-conran|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Eater London|language=en}}</ref>
===Books=== He wrote over 50 books which broadly reflect his design philosophy, {{citation needed span|date=July 2015|text=selling over 25 million copies worldwide.}} The majority of these books were published by Conran Octopus, a division of Octopus Publishing Group, a cross-platform illustrated-book publisher founded by Conran and Paul Hamlyn.
===Honours and awards=== Conran was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1983 New Year Honours and Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to design.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=49212 |date=30 December 1982 |page=1 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61962|supp=y|page=B25|date=17 June 2017}}</ref>
He was a winner of the Chartered Society of Designers ''Minerva Medal'', the society's highest award.
Between 2003 and 2011, Conran was provost of the Royal College of Art. In 2003, he received the Prince Philip Designers Prize in recognition of his lifetime achievements in design.<ref>[http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-us/Prince-Philip-Designers-Prize/ Designers Prize] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121104103/https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-us/Prince-Philip-Designers-Prize/ |date=21 November 2018 }}.</ref>
In 2010, Conran was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts.<ref>{{cite web |date=17 November 2010 |title=Sir Terence Conran named Royal Designer for Industry |url=https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/18-november-2010/sir-terence-conran-named-royal-designer-for-industry/ |website=Design Week |access-date=1 July 2020}}</ref> He won the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Catey Awards in 2017.
In 2019, Conran was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by [https://www.furnituremakers.org.uk/ The Furniture Makers’ Company], the City of London livery company and charity for the furnishing industry.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-05-16|title=Design icon Sir Terence Conran presented with Lifetime Achievement Award|url=https://www.acid.uk.com/design-icon-sir-terence-conran-presented-with-lifetime-achievement-award/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=ACID - Anti Copying In Design|language=en-US}}</ref>
====Academic honours==== In 2007, he received an honorary degree from London South Bank University and, in August 2012, an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=6674&ArticleID=13258 |title=News > University of Pretoria |access-date=2012-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916001243/http://web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=6674&articleID=13258 |archive-date=16 September 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
In May 2012, he received an honorary professorship from the University for the Creative Arts.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17954474|title=UCA ceremony as Sir Terence Conran becomes honorary professor|work=BBC News|date=4 May 2012|access-date=2016-03-29}}</ref>
==Personal life== Conran married architect Brenda Davison in 1952 at the age of 19; the marriage lasted six months. Conran married his second wife, journalist Shirley Pearce, in 1955 with whom he had two sons – Sebastian and Jasper – before they divorced in 1962. Conran married his third wife, cookery writer Caroline Herbert, the following year. The marriage lasted for 33 years and produced three children – Tom, Sophie, and Edmund – before ending in divorce in 1996.<ref name="Brown">{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Mick |date=9 September 2011 |title=The taste maker: interview with Terence Conran |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/interiors/8750145/The-taste-maker-interview-with-Terence-Conran.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=1 July 2020 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Conran married his fourth wife, Victoria Davis, in 2000.<ref>{{cite news |last=Blackhurst |first=Chris |date=1 May 2002 |title=The shattering of a dynasty |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/the-shattering-of-a-dynasty-6308231.html |newspaper=Evening Standard |access-date=1 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title = Sunday Telegraph Mandrake column 20 January 08 – update on Ned Conran headed 'Conran's artful son says stop shopping' |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=XP55QXPRJGUH5QFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/opinion/2008/01/20/dp2001.xml |access-date = 20 January 2008 |location = London |work = The Daily Telegraph |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080121093724/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml |archive-date = 21 January 2008 |df = dmy-all }}</ref>
==Death== Sir Terence Conran died on 12 September 2020, at the age of 88.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54131297|title=Designer Sir Terence Conran dies aged 88|work=BBC News|date=12 September 2020}}</ref>
==Bibliography== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * ''The House Book''. Pub. Mitchell Beazley, 1974. {{ISBN|0855330414}}. * ''The Kitchen Book''. Crown Publishers, 1977. * ''The Bed and Bath Book''. Crown Publishers, 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53399-5}}. * ''The Cook Book''. with Caroline Conran. Crown Publishers, 1980. {{ISBN|0517540185}},. * ''The Vegetable Book''. Crescent, 1984. {{ISBN|0517446456}}. * ''Terence Conran's New House book''. Villard Books, 1985. {{ISBN|0-394-54633-4}}. * ''Terence Conran's plants at home''. with Susan Conder. Conran Octopus, 1986. {{ISBN|1-85029-056-3}}. * ''Terence Conran's France''. with Pierrette Pompon Bailhache, Maurice Croizard. Little, Brown, 1987. {{ISBN|0-316-15327-3}}. * ''Terence Conran's Home Furnishings''. 1987. {{ISBN|5-551-98206-8}}. * ''Terence Conran's do-it-yourself with style''. Simon & Schuster, 1989. {{ISBN|0671687190}}. * ''Tableware''. with Jeremy Myerson, Sylvia Katz. Pub. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990. * ''Conran's Decorating with Plants''. Smithmark Pub, 1990. {{ISBN|0-8317-2169-3}}. * ''Terence Conran's garden style'', with John McGowan. Ed. Roger DuBern. Crown Publishers, 1991. {{ISBN|0517584638}}. * ''The Soft furnishings book''. Conran Octopus, 1995. * ''The French Room: Simple French Style for Your Home''. with Elizabeth Wilhide. Conran Octopus, 1995. {{ISBN|1-85029-825-4}}. * ''Terence Conran on design''. Conran Octopus, 1996. {{ISBN|1-85029-771-1}}. * ''The Essential Garden Book'' (Co-authored with Dan Pearson), Three Rivers Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-609-80022-1}}. * ''Terence Conran's Easy Living''. Soma Books, 1999. {{ISBN|1-57959-045-4}}. * ''Terence Conran on restaurants''. Overlook Press, 2000. {{ISBN|1585670456}}. * ''Terence Conran Small Spaces''. Clarkson N Potter Publishers, 2001. {{ISBN|5-559-43946-0}}. * ''Kitchens: the hub of the home''. Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2002. {{ISBN|0-609-61052-X}}. * ''Bathrooms: just add water''. Conran Octopus, 2004. {{ISBN|1-84091-357-6}}. * ''Designers on Design''. with Max Fraser. Collins Design, 2005. {{ISBN|0060834102}}. * ''The Ultimate House Book: For Home Design in the Twenty-First Century''. Ed. Elizabeth Wilhide. Pub. Conran Octopus, 2006. {{ISBN|1-84091-468-8}}. * ''The Conran Cookbook''. with Simon Hopkinson, Caroline Conran. Conran Octopus, 2007. {{ISBN|1-84091-496-3}}. * ''How to live in small spaces: design, furnishing, decoration, detail for the smaller home''. Pub. Conran Octopus, 2007. {{ISBN|1-84091-473-4}}. * ''Storage: Get Organized''. Conran Octopus, 2007. {{ISBN|1-84091-434-3}}. * ''Chef's Garden: Fresh Produce from Small Spaces''. Conran Octopus, 2008. {{ISBN|1-84091-510-2}},. * ''Terence Conran's Inspiration''. with Stafford Cliff. Conran Octopus, 2009. {{ISBN|1-84091-494-7}}. * ''Essential Colour''. Conran Octopus Publishing, London 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-84091-567-9}}. * new edition ''Eco House Book''. Conran Octopus Publishing, London 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-84091-602-7}}. * ''Plain, Simple, Useful: The Essence of Conran Style''. Conran Octopus Publishing, London 2014, {{ISBN|978-1-84091-655-3}}. {{div col end}}
==Biographies== * ''Terence Conran: The Authorised Biography''. by Nicholas Ind. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1996. {{ISBN|0-283-06294-0}}. * ''Terence Conran: Design and the Quality of Life'' by Elizabeth Wilhide. Watson-Guptill, 1999. * ''Conran and the Habitat Story'' by Barty Phillips. {{ISBN|9780297784302}} * ''Terence: The Man Who Invented Design'' by Stephen Bayley & Roger Mavity. Constable, 2021. {{ISBN|9781408715192}}
==See also== {{portal|Biography}} * List of alumni of the Central School of Art and Design * List of English writers * List of restaurateurs
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Other Sources== * {{citation | last = Fowler | first = Alan | publisher = Winchester School of Art | title = Constructivist Art in Britain 1913-2005 | year = 2006 | url = https://archive.org/details/constructivist-art-in-britain-1913-2005-alan-fowler-2006}} * {{cite journal |last1=Grieve |first1=Alastair |date=1990 |title=Towards an art of environment: exhibitions and publications by a group of avant-garde abstract artists in London 1951-55 |journal=The Burlington Magazine |volume=132, No. 1052 |issue=November |pages=773–781|url=https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=Towards+an+Art+of+Environment%3A+Exhibitions+and+Publications+by+a+Group+of+Avant-Garde+Abstract+Artists+in+London+1951-55&so=rel}} * {{citation | last = Grieve | first = Alastair | isbn = 978-0-300-10703-6 | publisher = Yale University Press | title = Constructed Abstract Art in England After the Second World War: A Neglected Avant-Garde | year = 2005}} * {{cite book |last1=Ind |first1=Nicholas |title=Terence Conran: The Authorised Biography |date=1995 |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |isbn=0-283-06201-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/terenceconranaut0000indn}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|title=Design of the 20th Century|first1=Charlotte|last1=Fiell|first2=Peter|last2=Fiell|publisher=Taschen|location=Köln|edition=25th anniversary|year=2005|page=175|isbn=9783822840788|oclc=809539744}}
==External links==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} * [http://www.conran.com/ Conran.com] * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084flz2 The Brits Who Designed the Modern World] Artsnight - Series 4: 7, BBC Two * [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/sep/12/sir-terence-conran-obituary Obituary by Stephen Bayley, 12 Sep 2020] * [https://www.thecaterer.com/news/hotel/london-calling-the-citys-transformation-from-laughing-stock-to-food-capital-of-the-world-in-50-years The transformation of London dining in the 1980s and 1990s] * {{NPG name|id=05189}} {{div col end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conran, Terence}} Category:1931 births Category:2020 deaths Category:20th-century British artists Category:20th-century British businesspeople Category:20th-century British non-fiction writers Category:21st-century British artists Category:21st-century British businesspeople Category:21st-century British writers Category:Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Category:British retail company founders Category:Businesspeople from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Category:Businesspeople from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Category:Chartered designers Terence Category:British businesspeople in retailing Category:British company founders Category:British industrial designers Category:British interior designers Category:British male non-fiction writers Category:British non-fiction writers Category:British restaurateurs Category:Fellows of Chartered Society of Designers Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Category:Compasso d'Oro Award recipients Category:People associated with the Royal College of Art Category:People educated at Bryanston School Category:People from Chelsea, London Category:People from Esher Category:People from Kingston upon Thames Category:People from Kintbury Category:Product designers Category:Restaurant founders Category:Writers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Category:Writers from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Category:British republicans Category:Designers from London Category:English people of South African descent Category:London Design Medal awardees