Retail is Detail: an ode to Sir Terence Conran

As we reflect upon a life well lived, I consider the profound effect that Terence Conran who died this month in 2020, had on my life. Sir Terence, as I referred to him affectionately, left behind a legacy which spanned seven decades and gave us household names such Habitat and The Conran Shop, not to mention a chain of cool eateries from Pont de la Tour in London to Alcazar in Paris, and more recently The Boundary Hotel in Shoreditch and Benchmark Furniture in Berkshire. 

Sir Terence was a personal inspiration and latterly friend who influenced my career in design, retail and, when I discovered Habitat as a young home owner, informed my taste in all things modern.

Founded in 1964, Habitat shops popped-up across Great Britain as a sign-of-the-times, heralding in the new age of modernism and design-lead interiors. I remember my first Habitat experience buying primary-coloured canvas duffel bags for use at school from it’s original shop at Bromley South, which occupied the ground floor and first floor of the British Telecom building which itself was replete with 100ft’ high Buzby clock on the side. 

The Habitat store was a paired down homage to modernity with huge plate glass windows with black frames which wrapped entirely around the cornerstone store. It’s open shelves were packed to the rafters with kitchenware and homewares and the floors were made of red brick laid on their sides so the surface was a marvellous melange of terracotta hues: retail is detail, as Sir Terence once said to me. 

 In the early 1990’s, Habitat moved from its original location at Bromley South to the former Debenhams store halfway up the High St. The store was again Spread over two-floors, with a sweeping staircase in the centre leading to a mezzanine first floor it was once more the jewell in my hometown crown and a one-stop shop for aesthetes and aspirational first-time buyers like myself. 

This relaunch coincided with my buying my first home and I quickly developed a penchant for interior design and product design and Habitat became my mecca; so much so, in fact, that I applied for a job - and applied, and applied, and applied..

Staff retention was reassuringly high at my local Habitat and the staff there were clearly having far too much fun to surrender their posts and I was unable to secure a position. However, the store manager took pity upon me, or grew tired of my incessant applications, and sent my résumé to the flagship store on London’s Tottenham Court Road, suggesting I was made for the Big Smoke: I was employed 2wks later.

In preparation for my first interviews I had read Barty Phillips’ book ‘Conran and the Habitat Story’ which proved to be more than just a biography on the history of Habitat and its founder but also an education in the finer things in life, such as cigars, wine, food and of course, design. I consumed it like a disciple does the Bible; which, ironically, I had been doing in the years preceding this new discovery of what would actually become my new religion.  

I joined Habitat in 1995, at a time when Sir Terence’s annual cigar bill was reputedly valued at more than the price of my new one bed flat. However, inspired, I took my first pay check to the Selfridges cigar counter at the rear of the ground floor and procured my first cigar: an H. Upman Petit Corona, the cigar favoured by John. F. Kennedy. I smoked it in the champagne bar which was perfectly situated next door to the cigar counter and reflected on my new penchant: I was in the moment and London was swinging again.. 

I was assigned to the furniture department on the ground floor, with it’s famously double-curved glass windows which were installed by Pollard’s in the late 1930’s and large entrance shared with Heals. And so began my education of all things design, mid-century modern and even a social life the likes of which I’d not encountered in the ‘burbs nor indeed in Church; which ultimately may or may not have cost me my marriage and may have cost Terence one or two of his, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Habitat was at the time owned by Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, so it never occurred to me that I might actually meet Sir Terence one day, let alone work with him. But in 2000 I was approached by The Conran Shop which Terence founded in 1976 and I became head of quality assurance. Based on Macquire St. in Bermondsey next door to the Design Museum, I joined the buying team and worked with established brands and designers such as Vitra, Tom Dixon, Robin Day and Vitsoe, as well as the new wave of product designers like Roy Sant and Orla Kiely. 

On my 3rd day on the job, Jill Webb our head buyer and senior designer thought it a good idea that I meet Terence and I was summoned to his office, which was across the way on Shad Thames. 

As you would imagine, Sir Terence’s office was full of design classics such as a red leather Bibendum Chair by Eileen Gray and it was punctuated with a selection of objet d’art, and a curated selection of books filled the floor-to-ceiling bookcase. There was a large plate glass window behind his desk overlooking the River Thames and there was a pyramid of Hoyo de Monterey cigar cabinets at the far end of his desk, from which he drew back the lid of the topper most cabinet, removed a cigar and to my astonishment, peeled the cap off with his teeth and lit it with a Swan Vestas match; albeit one struck on a beautiful stone match holder from The Conran Shop, naturally.

Whilst obviously excited to meet the great man, the invitation initially filled me with fear and dread. However, after we had been formally introduced I found him disarmingly endearing; he reminded me a little of my Grandfather.  But being in awe, such as I was, nothing could have prepared for me the million dollar question: “What was my definition of Quality..”

His words hung in the air as I scrabbled for his definition of what quality would be which, given I had by now read so many of his books, one would have thought that the words would have been more forthcoming; but there was nothing.. 

Sir Terence invited me to take a seat in the Bibendum armchair opposite him, which I sank into up to my chin and I wished would consume me to avoid the question which was still hanging there for all to see. But as I watched him prepare his cigar, I had my light bulb moment: “your Hoyo de Monterey, Epicure No. 2 cigar Sir Terence, that is my definition of quality!”

I may not have been as eloquent as I found Sir Terence to be, but I knew my cigars. I was declared “an aficionado” and Sir Terence and I waxed lyrical about our shared passions for what seemed like hours. Before I knew it, I was being summoned back to the buying office, but as a parting gift TC offered me one of his cigars. And not just any cigar, but his favourite cigar: the one which is found at the top of the pyramid and is dented by the yellow ribbon holding it in place inside the cabinet. His parting words were “I should probably give this to you the day that you leave the Conran Shop, not when you start.”

When I left The Conran Shop at the end of 2004, Sir Terence very sweetly asked me to keep him updated of my adventures overseas as I embarked upon a new life as an ex-pat living in South East Asia, working with furniture factories producing flat-pack furniture for Target stores in the USA. When I eventually did just a few years ago, I was invited with my family to Terence’s home Barton Court. The conversation flowed as it had all those years ago, as did the coffee and the wine not to mention the occasional cigar and we reminisced about out respective careers in retail, good design and indeed his need for a good suit. 

We made Terence a raft of shirts, and a linen and mohair suit, naturally all in his favourite shade of blue; known to many as Conran blue, which he wore on many special occasions, not least the opening of the new Design Museum, which relocated to Kensington. 

I will miss our long conversations and his words of wisdom, but I was sure to enjoy his parting gift the week he died which is when I started penning this letter, but I still have the yellow ribbon. 

A great many things have happened in this world since then; The Conran Shop has been sold, Habitat products are sold in Sainsbury’s and Conran Restaurants are now wholly owned by D&D Restaurants, but Sir Terence Conran’s influence on design, retail and how to live a good life remain the same. 

To you Sir Terence and everyone that worked for you and made your empire great..