kenneth grange
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12 MADE [ issue 3.14]
Design for lifeFrom 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
13
Listening to Sir Kenneth Grange
talk about his new coffee machine
simultaneously underlines the leading
product designer’s own ethos, which
he has put into practice during a
dazzling career spanning more than
50 years. ‘there is a massive rigmarole
of ostentatious technology related to
coffee, so they offer you 23 versions
of these silly little capsules,’ he spouts,
with characteristic authority. ‘we get
a cup of coffee from a machine that
significantly discounts comfort and
functionalism in so many parts of it.’
Grange, now 85, has dedicated
his career to designing products that
make our lives easier, encouraging
higher quality experiences of everyday
objects. while his name is relatively little
known, his work is instantly recognisable
and has transformed the design
landscape in the UK – from Kenwood
food mixers and parker pens, to Kodak
cameras, the country’s first parking
meter, wilkinson Sword razors and the
London black cab as it is today.
Sitting in the airy living room of his
north London home – filled with rows of
books, neat wooden stools and bridget
riley prints on the wall – Grange asserts
that he was especially happy with his
design for british rail’s intercity 125 train,
the livery of which he was commissioned
to produce in 1968. ‘i think the train will
see me out,’ he says of the streamlined,
navy-and-yellow-striped vehicle. ‘that is
an amalgam of all sorts of materials and
processes. it was the first big plastic job
i ever did. nobody thinks of it in those
terms because it’s such a massive use of
moulding compounds, but it’s all greatly
to do with its amalgam with metals.’ the
rural post box from the 1990s – a sleek,
red, rounded rectangle attached to an
elegant black pole – is also cited. ‘that
will be good for a thousand years. cast
iron takes a bloody long time to wear
away, i tell you.’
Grange’s most recent design is the
april sofa, retailed by british furniture
brand modus, which was co-designed
with Jack Smith – one of his past
students at London’s royal college
of art (rca), where Grange is visiting
professor. the design, presented as
a system of modular elements that
can be manoeuvred into a variety
of seating shapes, was launched in
September 2014 during London design
week. ‘i think we got it right,’ says
Grange. ‘the basic geometry is pretty
decent. we developed a few pieces,
but how to then get those shapes
made is not as easy as it looks. 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
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.
opposite modus furniture april corner sofa (2014).
Below modus furniture april curve sofa (2014).
14 MADE [ issue 3.14]
having to be cost-conscious, you’ve
got to be wittier than that.’ comfort,
however, was unsurprisingly considered
the most critical element in the making
process. ‘i’m determined on that front.
these days, the only places where you
find furniture that even makes offers
towards comfort are airports.’
Smith, who was chosen for his
computer drafting skills ‘and excellent
resourcefulness’, is the first designer
with whom Grange has officially
collaborated – and he was eager that
Smith’s name make it into the credit. on
the process of designing with another,
Grange comments, ‘it’s not terribly
different to having very good assistants
who have grown up with you. where the
first spark comes from and then, more
importantly, where the real ignition takes
place, is often difficult to remember,
but those things then send you mutually
off on one path.’ the pair will soon be
undertaking another job for modus,
which Grange describes as ‘more
structurally challenging’.
having acted as a mentor of sorts
to Smith, not to mention his other
long-term students at the rca, Grange
is aware of the environment young
designers are exposed to today. while
he praises the level of opportunity
available, he is disappointed about
how such opportunities are arising. ‘the
sector now is larger than it ever has
been. the marketplace has changed
tremendously. but that is mostly because
the decisions have slipped into the
hands of big corporations and these
people are ruthless, to the point of being
determinedly uncaring.’ Grange also
believes that alongside this corporate
domination has grown a desire to suck
in consumers with short-lived products –
‘whether they’re buying frocks, furniture
or coffee, it hardly matters’. the greatest
concern for Grange, however, is that
designers are losing sight of the eventual
customer. ‘that is the most significant
fault of the great corporate process.’
out of inDustry
when Grange was a student at
willesden art School in the late 1940s,
the term product designer did not even
exist. in fact, the term design was not
even used. ‘it was just faintly known
about,’ recalls Grange. ‘only later did
i learn that at that time there was a
design department at the rca, but even
then you had to come from a relatively
well-off family, because nobody else
went on to higher education. that
was bloody rare.’ the designer’s own
upbringing was within ‘a very decent,
god-fearing family’. he describes his
father’s exceptional talent for drawing
and admiration for the great painters,
but ultimately ‘he was a policeman first
and foremost’. his mother, on the other
hand, worked in factories all of her life
and early on, Grange got a job in one of
them. the designer has always relied on
his inexhaustible enthusiasm for making,
which he associates with these former
experiences of an industrial environment.
‘i think it is this constructivist part that has
always really driven me.’
pictureDAnglepoise type 228 green floor-standing lamp (2009).
opposite1 1958 Kenwood chef
2 1970 Kenwood slow cooker
3 1985 reuters monitor
4 1972 british rail hSt 125 train
5 2011 anglepoise type c
6 1968 morphy richards openhand
7 1960 Kodak brownie
8 1972 binns multiple hooks
9 1997 manganese bronze taxi
10 1996 rural pillar box
11 1973 wilkinson pocket knife
12 1972 Kenwood mini mixer
13 1989 Geeco watering cans
14 1996 boots shopping basket
15 1977 parker pen 25 series
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16 MADE [ issue 3.14]
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.
pictureDSir Kenneth Grange and his 2011 hitch mylius chair, in orange.
17
after completing his studies in
commercial art at willesden, Grange
secured a position with the bbc as a
scene painter. ‘we’d be painting back
walls of houses. it was a very honourable
profession,’ he reflects. prior to carrying
out national service in the army, where
he landed on his feet with a job as a
technical illustrator – ‘the glimmerings of
meeting the problems of construction
and function’ – Grange worked at
an architectural firm called arcon.
the company proved life-changing
to Grange. ‘it was there that i was
introduced to modernism. i’d never seen
a room with white walls before. it’s hard
for you to believe, but i promise you.’ it
was the enterprising nature of the place
that also caught Grange’s attention,
chiming with his own fierce work ethic
and hugely curious mind. ‘the company
had landed an important contract in
the design of pre-fabricated housing, so
there was this definite prospect of being
able to learn about the creation of
things. i’m 18 and i’m not an unintelligent
young man, but i’d probably never even
heard of architecture.’
after working with a few architects
and contributing to the Festival of
britain in 1951 (‘i made small things.
displays, handrails, bits of staircases – all
the product bits of buildings’), Grange
started out by himself in 1956, making
his living as an exhibition designer for
trade shows at earl’s court and olympia,
in London. ‘it was an accident that i
landed a job while i was doing one of
the exhibitions. i became acquainted
with Kodak and that’s how i went on to
design the camera for them.’
Grange enthuses about the then
council of industrial design, which later
became the design council, that was
set up by the UK Government in the
1940s as an agency to promote the
sector. ‘they even had a brokerage
department where designers and
manufacturers could be paired
together by the council. So Kenwood,
for example, went to them and said
that they needed a designer. the
council would then send them four to
choose from.’ he also mentions design,
a magazine published by the council
that he found very influential. ‘it was
probably, in world terms, the most
accessible publication and offered the
best-presented examples of emerging
products. i’ve got every issue that was
ever published. it’s a terrific library to go
to if you want to look at the growth of
design in commonplace things.’
Britain’s golDen age
Grange believes that the UK was able to
resurrect itself very skilfully and creatively
after the Second world war. ‘we were
way ahead of europe,’ he declares.
‘although the German industries had
recovered from the war very well, in
terms of the modernism of the product,
they were so behind. as were the
French.’ the kitchenware Grange was
designing for Kenwood in the late 1950s
is a case in point. ‘even what i was
doing rather instinctively was progressive
– where i started substituting plastic
mouldings for what used to be metal
casing. if you went to an international
exhibition you would find that at
moulinex – a huge firm in France, much
bigger than Kenwood – every single
thing was made in metal. they were still
happily making metal whisks for every
housewife in France. it was years before
they adopted electric motors.’
while the designer describes what
may sound like the golden age of
design in the UK, does he still feel that
we are an innovative nation? ‘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
undo themselves when they get so
successful that they sell out. that’s the
beginning of the end in our society.’
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.’
elecTronics‘obviously really commonplace now, but this absolutely changed everything.’
The o-ring (Toric joinT)'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.'
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
as commonplace today as it was a few
hundred years ago. it’s very nice when
something that you know has always
been there still has value in the minds of
the young, because it encourages them
to understand the material better – and
maybe even to use it more wittily.’
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