Kenneth Grange

Design for life

All images courtesy of Kenneth Grange Studio

From the Kenwood mixer to the London black cab – Sir Kenneth Grange’s name is stamped into some of the UK’s most iconic designs. The British industrial designer tells Allie Biswas his frank opinions on today’s design industry, why understanding materials is pivotal to product design, and how comfort – and a little bit of wit – can go a long way.

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SIR kenneth grange

Listening to Sir Kenneth Grange

see me out,’ he says of the streamlined,

talk about his new coffee machine

navy-and-yellow-striped vehicle. ‘That is

simultaneously underlines the leading

an amalgam of all sorts of materials and

product designer’s own ethos, which

processes. It was the first big plastic job

he has put into practice during a

I ever did. Nobody thinks of it in those

dazzling career spanning more than

terms because it’s such a massive use of

50 years. ‘There is a massive rigmarole

moulding compounds, but it’s all greatly

of ostentatious technology related to

to do with its amalgam with metals.’ The

coffee, so they offer you 23 versions

rural post box from the 1990s – a sleek,

of these silly little capsules,’ he spouts,

red, rounded rectangle attached to an

with characteristic authority. ‘We get

elegant black pole – is also cited. ‘That

a cup of coffee from a machine that

will be good for a thousand years. Cast

significantly discounts comfort and

iron takes a bloody long time to wear

functionalism in so many parts of it.’

away, I tell you.’

Grange, now 85, has dedicated

Grange’s most recent design is the

his career to designing products that

April sofa, retailed by British furniture

make our lives easier, encouraging

brand Modus, which was co-designed

higher quality experiences of everyday

with Jack Smith – one of his past

objects. While his name is relatively little

students at London’s Royal College

known, his work is instantly recognisable

of Art (RCA), where Grange is visiting

and has transformed the design

professor. The design, presented as

landscape in the UK – from Kenwood

a system of modular elements that

food mixers and Parker pens, to Kodak

can be manoeuvred into a variety

cameras, the country’s first parking

of seating shapes, was launched in

meter, Wilkinson Sword razors and the

September 2014 during London Design

London black cab as it is today.

Week. ‘I think we got it right,’ says

Sitting in the airy living room of his

There are many different ways of arriving at a three-dimensional form, of which the most common is to mould it or form it, and then stuff it. But when you’re having to be cost-conscious, you’ve got to be wittier than that.

Grange. ‘The basic geometry is pretty

north London home – filled with rows of

decent. We developed a few pieces,

books, neat wooden stools and Bridget

but how to then get those shapes

Riley prints on the wall – Grange asserts

made is not as easy as it looks. There

that he was especially happy with his

are many different ways of arriving at

design for British Rail’s Intercity 125 train,

a three-dimensional form, of which the

the livery of which he was commissioned

most common is to mould it or form it,

to produce in 1968. ‘I think the train will

and then stuff it. But when you’re 

opposite

Modus furniture April Corner sofa (2014).

below

Modus furniture April Curve sofa (2014).

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having to be cost-conscious, you’ve

people are ruthless, to the point of being

got to be wittier than that.’ Comfort,

determinedly uncaring.’ Grange also

however, was unsurprisingly considered

believes that alongside this corporate

the most critical element in the making

domination has grown a desire to suck

process. ‘I’m determined on that front.

in consumers with short-lived products –

These days, the only places where you

‘whether they’re buying frocks, furniture

find furniture that even makes offers

or coffee, it hardly matters’. The greatest

towards comfort are airports.’

concern for Grange, however, is that

Smith, who was chosen for his

designers are losing sight of the eventual

computer drafting skills ‘and excellent

customer. ‘That is the most significant

resourcefulness’, is the first designer

fault of the great corporate process.’

with whom Grange has officially collaborated – and he was eager that Smith’s name make it into the credit. On

Out of industry When Grange was a student at

the process of designing with another,

Willesden Art School in the late 1940s,

Grange comments, ‘It’s not terribly

the term product designer did not even

different to having very good assistants

exist. In fact, the term design was not

who have grown up with you. Where the

even used. ‘It was just faintly known

first spark comes from and then, more

about,’ recalls Grange. ‘Only later did

importantly, where the real ignition takes

I learn that at that time there was a

place, is often difficult to remember,

design department at the RCA, but even

but those things then send you mutually

then you had to come from a relatively

off on one path.’ The pair will soon be

well-off family, because nobody else

3 1985 Reuters Monitor

undertaking another job for Modus,

went on to higher education. That

4 1972 British Rail HST 125 train

which Grange describes as ‘more

was bloody rare.’ The designer’s own

5 2011 Anglepoise type C

structurally challenging’.

upbringing was within ‘a very decent,

pictured Anglepoise type 228 green floorstanding lamp (2009).

opposite 1 1958 Kenwood Chef 2 1970 Kenwood slow cooker

Having acted as a mentor of sorts

god-fearing family’. He describes his

6 1968 Morphy Richards Openhand

to Smith, not to mention his other

father’s exceptional talent for drawing

7 1960 Kodak Brownie

long-term students at the RCA, Grange

and admiration for the great painters,

is aware of the environment young

but ultimately ‘he was a policeman first

designers are exposed to today. While

and foremost’. His mother, on the other

he praises the level of opportunity

hand, worked in factories all of her life

10 1996 Rural pillar box

available, he is disappointed about

and early on, Grange got a job in one of

11 1973 Wilkinson pocket knife

how such opportunities are arising. ‘The

them. The designer has always relied on

sector now is larger than it ever has

his inexhaustible enthusiasm for making,

been. The marketplace has changed

which he associates with these former

tremendously. But that is mostly because

experiences of an industrial environment.

14 1996 Boots shopping basket

the decisions have slipped into the

‘I think it is this constructivist part that has

15 1977 Parker pen 25 series

hands of big corporations and these

always really driven me.’ 

8 1972 Binns multiple hooks 9 1997 manganese bronze taxi

12 1972 Kenwood Mini Mixer 13 1989 Geeco watering cans

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If you stand back, I think you can see that the creative and enterprising spirit is alive and well. We have a great community of flourishing entrepreneurs. They only un-do themselves when they get so successful that they sell out. That’s the beginning of the end in our society.

pictured Sir Kenneth Grange and his 2011 Hitch Mylius chair, in orange.

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After completing his studies in

together by the Council. So Kenwood,

Commercial Art at Willesden, Grange secured a position with the BBC as a

for example, went to them and said

scene painter. ‘We’d be painting back

Council would then send them four to

that they needed a designer. The

walls of houses. It was a very honourable

choose from.’ He also mentions Design,

profession,’ he reflects. Prior to carrying

a magazine published by the Council

out national service in the army, where

that he found very influential. ‘It was

he landed on his feet with a job as a

probably, in world terms, the most

technical illustrator – ‘the glimmerings of

accessible publication and offered the

meeting the problems of construction

best-presented examples of emerging

and function’ – Grange worked at

products. I’ve got every issue that was

an architectural firm called Arcon.

ever published. It’s a terrific library to go

The company proved life-changing

to if you want to look at the growth of

to Grange. ‘It was there that I was

design in commonplace things.’

introduced to modernism. I’d never seen a room with white walls before. It’s hard

Britain’s golden age

Take three Grange's top three objects that have changed the nature of industrial design:

The hydraulic ram ‘Immensely important. The skyline of any place could not exist without tower cranes, and tower cranes can only really function with these fantastic, powerful rams. Your motor car probably has around 20 or 30 of the things, even if it’s just to lower the hood.’

for you to believe, but I promise you.’ It

Grange believes that the UK was able to

was the enterprising nature of the place

resurrect itself very skilfully and creatively

that also caught Grange’s attention,

after the Second World War. ‘We were

chiming with his own fierce work ethic

way ahead of Europe,’ he declares.

and hugely curious mind. ‘The company

‘Although the German industries had

had landed an important contract in

recovered from the war very well, in

the design of pre-fabricated housing, so

terms of the modernism of the product,

The O-ring (toric joint)

there was this definite prospect of being

they were so behind. As were the

able to learn about the creation of

French.’ The kitchenware Grange was

things. I’m 18 and I’m not an unintelligent

designing for Kenwood in the late 1950s

young man, but I’d probably never even

is a case in point. ‘Even what I was

heard of architecture.’

doing rather instinctively was progressive

'A hell of a lot of usage, all over the place. As the pin is to the dressmaker, so the O-ring is to pretty much every industry I can think of. It’s discardable, cheap and taken for granted.'

After working with a few architects

– where I started substituting plastic

and contributing to the Festival of

mouldings for what used to be metal

Britain in 1951 (‘I made small things.

casing. If you went to an international

Displays, handrails, bits of staircases – all

exhibition you would find that at

the product bits of buildings’), Grange

Moulinex – a huge firm in France, much

started out by himself in 1956, making

bigger than Kenwood – every single

his living as an exhibition designer for

thing was made in metal. They were still

trade shows at Earl’s Court and Olympia,

happily making metal whisks for every

in London. ‘It was an accident that I

housewife in France. It was years before

landed a job while I was doing one of

they adopted electric motors.’

the exhibitions. I became acquainted

While the designer describes what

with Kodak and that’s how I went on to

may sound like the golden age of

design the camera for them.’

design in the UK, does he still feel that

Grange enthuses about the then

we are an innovative nation? ‘If you

Electronics ‘Obviously really commonplace now, but this absolutely changed everything.’

Grange at least has some impact on what approach the next generation of designers may think to take, and he is keen to instil in them some of his core beliefs – namely the intrinsic connection between materiality and craftsmanship that lies at the heart of the design process. ‘I was really delighted that the course I teach at the Royal College includes spinning,’ the designer concludes. ‘It’s an ancient craft, but it is

Council of Industrial Design, which later

stand back, I think you can see that the

as commonplace today as it was a few

became the Design Council, that was

creative and enterprising spirit is alive

hundred years ago. It’s very nice when

set up by the UK Government in the

and well. We have a great community

something that you know has always

1940s as an agency to promote the

of flourishing entrepreneurs. They only

been there still has value in the minds of

sector. ‘They even had a brokerage

undo themselves when they get so

the young, because it encourages them

department where designers and

successful that they sell out. That’s the

to understand the material better – and

manufacturers could be paired

beginning of the end in our society.’

maybe even to use it more wittily.’

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