Art & Design Now
Interview: Sebastian Conran
Habitat went on to be one of Britain’s best-known retailers, with a store in many towns across the UK and in Europe. Habitat’s sales suffered in recent years, and it was sold off three years ago. Its current owners recently put it into receivership.We asked Sebastian how he felt about this,
“ Habitat has gone through several phases in its lifetime, and its design ethos will live on. I expect we shall see Habitat continue in some form.”
Sebastian was involved in retail and design from an early age, working at Habitat stocking shelves and on the tills, and later helping out in the design studios. Given his family background, it was always likely that he would go into design. “By the time I got to college I already had quite a good idea what a designer does”
He studied Industrial Design Engineering at the Central College of Art & Design in London, where he was treasurer of the Student Union, and famously booked the Sex Pistols for their first gig.
After college he went on to design for the Clash, and worked for the brand identity agency Wolff Olins, before finally being persuaded by his father to come and work for the family firm.
He worked as the head of product design at Mothercare, and then went on to be managing director of Studio Conran, both part of the Conran group. More recently he has returned to run his own successful design consultancy, Sebastian Conran Associates.
Sebastian Conran is one of Britain’s top industrial and product designers. He’s designed everything from pushchairs to car interiors, bathtubs to coffee machines. His clients read like a Who’s Who of British Industry. He’s designed for Habitat, Mothercare, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Yo! Sushi!, Marks & Spencers, Tesco and John Lewis, to name just a few.
Sebastian grew up in creative family, his father Sir Terence Conran, a designer and the founder of Habitat and the Conran Group, his mother Shirley Conran, the successful author and journalist.
“My parents were a huge influence on me. They are very interesting people, very open-minded. I got exposed to a lot of ideas at an early age. I don’t think I had a particularly conventional upbringing, but I certainly benefitted from it.”
His father, Sir Terence Conran was the founder of Habitat, the retailer largely responsible for bringing good design to British consumers. At the time British furniture stores sold furniture that was tired and dated. Britain was ready to go mod, and Habitat brought European design to British consumers.
“You have to remember that Britain was quite a dull place until the 1960’s, it was still suffering from post-war austerity. My Dad wanted to bring some colour to the high street, and Habitat sold a mix of modern and classic designs, and well-designed products imported from France and Germany.
When he was head of design at Mothercare, in the 1980’s, Sebastian was responsible for many of the innovative designs produced by the company.
He designed the world’s first all-plastic pushchair, and the Anywayup toddler cup, that sold 25 million units worldwide. Of his time at Mothercare, he says, “I really enjoyed my time at Mothercare. I felt I was designing products that helped people, that made their lives a bit easier.”
In 1986 he founded Sebastian Conran Associates, SCA, a product and design consultancy that he still heads today. SCA has worked in architecture, interiors, industrial and product design. Today the focus is on designing home products, furniture, and consumer electronics.
Sebastian’s design career has been extremely varied, and he’s had the opportunity to work on a vast range of products. The chances are you have some of his products at home, even if they don’t have his name on them, as he’s designed ranges of products for John Lewis, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tschibo and Villeroy & Boch.
Sebastian’ signature style is clean lines, tactile materials and sensual curves. His big design influences are the Bauhaus and the German rationalist designers, like Dieter Rams, the legendary designer for Braun.
He also likes the American designers Charles Eames and Raymond Loewy for their sensuous lines and technological innovation. When it comes to British designers, Sebastian admires Josiah Wedgwood, the 18th century potter and industrialist for his entrepreneurial creativity, and Brunel, the 19th century designer and engineer for his rational creativity.
Sebastian designs products that meet both the consumers’ practical needs and their emotional desires, combining the functional with the beautiful.
His design philosophy is “Elegance through simplicity”.
Sebastian explained to us some of the complex factors that go into developing a product for a client (brand), using his value equation.
The value of the product to the consumer is determined by groups of factors relating to the brand, the design, the quality and the cost.
Brand related factors shaping the design are emotional, and include things like brands reputation with the consumer, the marketing of the brand, and the consumers’ previous experience with the brand.
Design related factors influencing the design includes both emotional factors, like the aesthetics and tactile quality of the product, and rational factors like it’s functionality and usability.
Quality related factors include the material and finish of the product, the dependability and integrity of the design. These are rational factors in the design.
Cost related factors include price, convenience, and ethical or “guilt” issues. Some cost related factors like price are rational, and some like “guilt” are emotional.
There is a lot of thought and development behind even the simplest of designs.
Sebastian is very serious about design, but clearly enjoys it too.
He says, “ I like to design products that people enjoy using”
Sebastian designs for top manufacturers in the UK, Europe and Asia. We asked him about his work with Nissan. “ Nissan asked me to design a version of the Cube for the Tokyo Motor Show, so I set about restyling the interiors and exterior of the car, stretched the body, added a translucent skylight and simplified the interiors, used nicer finishes and made it less plasticky.” Even though it was only intended as a concept car Nissan liked it so much they put it into limited edition production. The quirky box-like design, that has gained a following with design fans in Japan and the UK.
“ They are very sensible cars for cities, I drive one myself ” says Sebastian ” it’s got masses of space, loads of head room, so practical, It takes five comfortably. The seats fold down into a bed, which the kids love. The asymmetric rear door is beautiful, and gives the car real character.”
It is essential that you design for the future...
Britain is great at design and we have a terrific manufacturing base...
The Nissan Cube was not Sebastian’s first foray into automotive design, as he had worked on interiors and styling for version of the Renault 4 in the late 70’s. He also has designed interiors for aircraft, including the last version of the interiors for the BA Concorde.
Sebastian is a keen cook, and has designed ranges of dishes and kitchen utensils for various manufacturers and retailers.
He designed The Cook Shop range for John Lewis, it has contemporary shapes and consists of the full range of equipment needed by a cook, pots and pans, bowls and utensils, in bamboo, ceramic and hard anodized aluminium,
Sebastian is also responsible for the more than 100 items that make up the award-winning Nigella Lawson’s Living Kitchen range, which has a more traditional feel, sensuous curves and brighter colours.
When we asked him what he thought of British design and manufacturing he said, “ Britain is great at design, and we have a terrific manufacturing base. We do need to do more to exploit our scientific research, to develop it into successful products. We need to get scientists and designers to collaborate more on projects.”
Asked if he was worried about British manufacturing going abroad, he said “ Obviously getting products manufactured in the UK is the ideal, but even if a British company gets its products made in China and sells them in the US, it still brings wealth into the UK through taxes.”
When asked what countries he thinks produce the best design, he replies “The best designs come from London, but all countries produce interesting designs in their own way. I think it is sad that the world is becoming more homogenized.”
The environmental impact of his designs is important to Sebastian. “It is essential that you design for the future…to design products that don’t use a lot of resources in their manufacture, use and disposal…to design products that last a long time, so they don’t constantly need replacing.”
Sitting in his studio surrounded by the other designers at SCA, we asked him what he’s working on at the moment. “ We’re working on a range of Cook Shop kitchen electricals for John Lewis, a blender, a coffee maker and a food processor. We’ve designed them to be satisfying to use, simple to clean, easy to store, and stylish. I’m also working on a new range of china for Tesco’s.”
There are few designers in Britain today who have worked in quite so many areas of design as Sebastian Conran. With his skillful blend of function and aesthetics, it’s no surprise that he is in such demand
Words by Gordon Ross
