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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