Sir Terence Conran makes major gift to The Design Museum
04 Jul '11
5 min read
Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport adds 'Sir Terence Conran has already made a remarkable contribution to the history of design. Through his Habitat and Conran stores, restaurants, books and the Design Museum he has had an extraordinary influence on the way we live and the way we view design. Sir Terence's exceptionally generous gift to the Design Museum will not only help this excellent cultural institution move to a new home, but will also help showcase Britain's ability to produce some of the world's greatest designers and influence design on a global scale'
Deyan Sudjic, Director of Design Museum explains 'Terence Conran has transformed Britain. His contribution to the way we live, eat, and shop over six decades has been enormous. The gift to the Design Museum is a hugely generous investment in the future. By making our ambition to move to the former Commonwealth Institute much more achievable, he makes possible a project that will give the museum three times as much space as it has now. The new Design Museum will be the definitive voice of contemporary design, reinforcing Britain's place as one of the world's leading creative economies.'
Sir Terence Conran is one of the world's best-known designers, restaurateurs and retailers. Born in 1931, he founded the Conran Design Studio in 1956 and later the Habitat chain of home furnishings stores that revolutionised the UK High Street in the 1960s and 1970s by bringing intelligent, modern design within reach of the general population. In the 1980s Habitat was expanded and following a series of acquisitions evolved into Storehouse plc, of which he retired as Chairman in 1990. Today he is the Chairman of Conran Holdings, a design group with restaurants, shops and an architecture and design practice operating all over the world. He has been Provost of the Royal College of Art since 2003.
In 1982 Sir Terence Conran established the forerunner of the Design Museum, the Boilerhouse, in the basement of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The success of this project led to the opening of the Design Museum in 1989 at its current location in Shad Thames made possible by a major donation by the Conran Foundation as part of its continued support since the early 1980s.
Later this year the Design Museum will celebrate Sir Terence Conran's career with a retrospective exhibition – Sir Terence Conran, The Way we Live Now, 16 November 2011 - 4 March 2012. This exhibition will explore Sir Terence Conran's impact on contemporary life. The Design Museum will also host a panel debate at Tate Modern on 20 September 2011 with guest speakers celebrating Sir Terence Conran's career.
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