Terence Conran

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Sir Terence Orby Conran (born October 4, 1931) is an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer.

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[edit] Early life and education

Terence Conran was born in Kingston upon Thames, the son of Christina Mabel (Halstead) and South African-born Gerard Rupert Conran, a businessman who owned a rubber importation company in East London.[1] Conran was educated at Bryanston School in Dorset and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design where he studied textiles.

[edit] Work

Conran's first professional work came when he worked in the Festival of Britain on the main South Bank site, he left his college education to take up a job with Dennis Lennon's architectural company, they had been commissioned to make a 1/4 scale interior of a Princess Flying Boat.[2].

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 with his third wife Caroline Herbert, which grew into a large chain selling household goods and furniture in contemporary designs. In the mid-1980s, Conran expanded Habitat into the Storehouse group of companies that included Mothercare and Heals but in 1990 he lost control of the company. His later retail companies include the Conran Shop and FSC-certified wood furniture maker Benchmark Furniture, which he co-founded in 1983.

He has also been involved in architecture and interior design, including London's Michelin House (which he turned into the restaurant Bibendum) and the Bluebird Garage both in Chelsea. Conran had a major role in the regeneration in the early 1990s of the Shad Thames area of London next to Tower Bridge that includes the Design Museum which is managed by the Conran Foundation.

Conran has also created various other London restaurants including the Soup Kitchen, Orrery, Quaglino's, Mezzo (restaurant), Pont de la Tour, Blueprint Cafe, Butler's Wharf Chop House, together with restaurants in various other countries. 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% of the entire Conran restaurant business was sold to D&D, a company run by two former Conran employees, Des Gunewardena and David Loewi.[1]

He has written and published various books, particularly on interior design.

[edit] Representation and Awards

Conran was knighted in 1983.

Conran is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award.

Since 2003, he has been provost of the Royal College of Art. That was also the year he received the Prince Phillip Designers Prize, in recognition of his lifetime achievements in design. In 2007, he received an honorary degree from London South Bank University.

[edit] Family

The fashion designer Jasper Conran is his son with his second wife, the writer Shirley Conran. Other outstanding members of the family include Sebastian Conran (designer), Tom Conran (restaurateur), and daughter Sophie Conran (pies, and design). His youngest son, Edmund (known as Ned) has suffered from psychiatric problems, and has never achieved the status of his siblings; he was remanded in a secure unit in November 2001 after an assault on a tourist in London [3][4].

Conran and Caroline Herbert divorced in 1996; she settled for £6.2 million out of his £80 million assets. Although the court had acknowledged that she had more than 30 years made an outstanding contribution to the Habitat and restaurant businesses, the trial judge thought it "absurd" to suggest that she had played an equal role in the generation of wealth.

Conran's sister Priscilla is the wife of leading chef Antonio Carluccio who once worked for Conran.

Sir Terence and his wife, Vicki, live in London, Kintbury in Berkshire and France.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Family detective - Telegraph
  2. ^ Conrans website
  3. ^ Evening Standard report on Ned Conran incident. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  4. ^ Sunday Telegraph Mandrake column 20 January 08 - update on Ned Conran headed 'Conran's artful son says stop shopping'. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.

[edit] External links

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