Sir Terence Conran, the visionary designer who is said to have revolutionised the way people live in the UK, has died age 88 at his home in London, his family said.
His influence is so great, he is credited with bringing the term "lifestyle" into the English language.
He is best known as the founder of Habitat, the brand he built into a chain that brought Scandinavian style to the UK.
The Habitat chain eventually formed the nucleus of a retail empire that included Mothercare, Heals, Richards Shops and British Home Stores.
He also founded The Design Museum in London, which his family described as one of his proudest moments.
"It gives us great comfort to know that many of you will mourn with us but we ask that you celebrate Terence's extraordinary legacy and contribution to the country he loved so dearly," the family said.
Mourners took to Twitter to remember the man whose name became a byword for design.
“At the heart of everything he did was a very simple belief that good design improves the quality of people’s lives,” his family said.
“From the late 40s to the present day, his energy and creativity thrived in his shops, restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels and through his many design, architecture and furniture making businesses,” the family said.
Through his array of work, he also promoted British design, culture and the arts around the world.
He was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1931. At the age of 19, he dropped out of London's Central School of Arts and Crafts to work for architect Dennis Lennon – the man who designed the interior of the Queen Elizabeth 2.
Conran soon founded his first business, called Conran & Company, where he began making a range of flat-pack furniture – thought to be the first in Britain.
In 1951, he took part in the Festival of Britain, a national exhibition that reached millions of visitors throughout the UK and which the designer saw as a critical moment in his career.
"The Festival of Britain was the pivotal changing point when we understood how important design is to our nation," Conran said.
Design philosophy: plain, simple and useful
In 1964, he opened the first Habitat furniture store in Chelsea, England.
The store introduced good design that was useful, affordable and distinctive to the masses. Staff wore uniforms by the fashion designer Mary Quant and had British hairstylist Vidal Sassoon style their hair.
Habitat would change the British public's relationship with homeware forever. In what was almost impeccable timing, the brand brought affordable, stylish designer furniture to a nation that was eager to throw off the depression of war and express their personality through forward-thinking design.
Designs on a plate
Conran also shone in the world of hospitality. In 1953, he opened the Soup Kitchen in Chandos Place, inspired by the simplicity of affordable restaurants in France at the time.
He then opened Neal Street Restaurant, located underneath his studio in London's Covent Garden. Later, he handed over the reins of the restaurant to his younger sister Priscilla and her chef husband Antonio Carluccio, who would transform it into one of the most successful Italian restaurants in London. It was also where chef Jamie Oliver launched his culinary career.
In 1983, Conran was appointed Knight Bachelor for his work in British design and promoting culture and the arts around the world.
Later, Conran launched Bibendum, which would become one of the most fashionable restaurants in west London. This was followed by Boundary in Shoreditch and Lutyens – a restaurant and private club in the former Reuters and Press Association building in Fleet Street.
“Terence Conran has filled our lives for generations with ideas, innovation and brilliant design. He is one of the most iconic figures of post war Britain, starting to recast the world of design when as a young man he joined the team working on the 1951 Festival of Britain and never stopping from that moment on," said Lord Mandelson, chairman of the board of trustees at The Design Museum.
A commemorative display and a memory book will be launched by the museum to celebrate Conran's life, career and contribution to society.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
SECRET%20INVASION
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S24%20ULTRA
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
RESULTS
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
Winner: Miller’s House, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Kanood, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gervais, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Important Mission, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
The%20specs
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Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
