London Design Festival – SA exhibits @ Conran!
This years London design festival kicks off today in London – the good news is that there is a showing of Southern African artists which will be on display in none other than the CONRAN SHOP. Now if you love design but you don’t know who CONRAN is, you should be ashamed! We’ll fill you in at the end of this article with a brief look at this Guru’s life.
nfestival.com/”>LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL
15 – 30 September 2005.
CLICK HERE
The Southern African exhibition is titled ‘From Harare to Higgovale’ and is showing UK exclusive work by 35 designer craftsmen.
The London Design Festival was established in 2003 as an annual international event to celebrate and promote London and the UK’s creativity. By dedicating the last two weeks in September to design a diverse range of individuals and organisations are able to come together, celebrate the creative diversity of London, discover new ideas, make new connections, and most importantly, have fun.
Partners stage events and activities all over town. These events are eclectic – they might be serious seminars or exhibitions, film screenings, competitions and awards, receptions and even the odd party. They bring together people with a range of interests from lifestyle to urban regeneration to trends to digital special effects.
The Festival has grown quickly from 40 partner events in 2003 to 170 in 2005 reflecting the sheer breadth and depth of design in London. This means that during the Festival, London is literally ‘buzzing’ with design and that there are events & openings all day, everyday. The Festival seeks to celebrate excellence in every design discipline, and you can find activity across over 20 different design disciplines in the Festival. Also this year the Festival has a new dimension with over 40 retailers taking part for first time ensuring that the Festival reaches an even wider audience than the 150,000 who attended events in 2004. We also welcome growing numbers of visitors from abroad as news of the Festival spreads across the world.
WHO IS TERENCE CONRAN?
Terence Conran is one of the world’s best-known designers, restaurateurs and retailers.
Born in 1931, he founded the Habitat chain of stores that brought good, modern design within reach of the general population. Through the merger of Habitat with Mothercare and the subsequent additions of Richard Shops, Heal”, British Home Stores and Blazer, Terence created the retail group Storehouse, from which he retired in 1990. Habitat is now owned by the holding company that also owns Ikea.
In the 1990s, Terence Conran built another impressive group of companies involved in design, retailing and restaurants. He is Chairman of Conran Holdings, the parent company of the retail and restaurant businesses, and also Chairman of Conran & Partners, his architecture and design practice. There are Conran Shops in London (Fulham Road, Marylebone High Street and Conduit Street), New York, Paris, Tokyo and Fukuoka. June 1998 saw the launch of Terence Conran Collection, a range of more than 1,000 exclusive products designed by Terence Conran and his team, and forming the core stock across The Conran Shops.
A keen cook and gastronome, Terence Conran has transformed the experience of eating out in London with his acclaimed restaurants: Almeida, Bibendum, Bluebird, Coq d’Argent, Mezzo, Orrery, Quaglino’s, Sartoria, Zinc Bar & Grill and the ‘Gastrodrome’ at Tower Bridge that encompasses Le Pont de la Tour, Cantina del Ponte, Butlers Wharf Chop House and Blue Print Cafý (above the Design Museum, which Terence founded in 1989). In 1998 he opened Alcazar on rue Mazarine, his first restaurant in Paris; 1999 saw Berns restaurant open in Stockholm (a joint venture with Grand Hotel Holdings); and in 2000, Guastavino’s restaurants and bars opened as part of the Bridgemarket edevelopment in New York. 2000 also saw the opening, in partnership with Wyndham International, of London’s Great Eastern Hotel, which has 267 bedrooms, a gym, numerous private dining and function rooms, restaurants and bars, and a stunning atrium. Later in 2000, a Zinc Bar & Grill opened in Manchester, followed in 2001 by Zinc Bar & Grills in Edinburgh’s Ocean Terminal and Birmingham. In 2002 Senso restaurant in Paris and a Zinc Bar & Grill in Fulham Broadway opened. June and July 2003 sees the opening of The Royal Exchange Grand Cafý and Bar in London and Zinc Bar & Grill and etain in Glasgow.
HOWS THAT FOR A CV??? Inspirational non?
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