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.’