19 October/20 October 2019 ★ FTWeekend 15
(Clockwise from
left) Anglepoise
Type 75 floor
lamp; Type 80
Pendants; Type
75 desk lamp by
Paul Smith
(Edition Four);
Model 1227
(1935)
Andrew Suttonrequirement is a low price,” he says.
This means that changes to contempo-
rary designs are “more and more
superficial”. What consumers really
appreciate is “any material improve-
ment in the function of a thing, which
rarelyhappens.”
One of his own elegant white toasters
sits in his kitchen.There are almost
no major differences between it and
models designed 10 years ago, he says.
Is that because all its practical elements
have been resolved? “Yes, to an
adequate level,” says Grange. “But to
the best of my knowledge, there’s been
no analysis of the different types
ofbreadthatgointotoastersnowadays.”
He also points out that many every-
day objects are poorly designed forelderly users. “I struggle on a daily
basis with simple controls. When you
get older you realise how inconvenient
manyproductsare,”hesays.
Do older people make better design-
ers because they are more aware of
these shortcomings? Grange thinks so.
“Adegreeofinfirmityencouragesyouto
make almost anything better from a
user’spointofview.”
Nevertheless, he strongly approves of
the majority of those working in the
design industry: “People go into it out of
love,nottoearnagoodliving.”
How does he see the future of design?
“I sense there’s more of an interest in
products with a long life. That is cer-
tainly the case with Anglepoise.” At this
point, he suggests we explore his living
room, an orderly but comfortable space
furnished with design classics such as
Charles and Ray Eames’s lounge chair
andottoman.
He is particularly proud of his first
design for Anglepoise: the Type 3 desk
lamp.It used a dual-layered shade that
offered protection from the heat of the
then-popular 100W bulbs. Thelamp
has since gone out of production,
because cool LED lights have super-
sededhotincandescentbulbs.
I also spot a Kenwood mixer in
his kitchen. “It’s not one of my
designs,” he admits. “But none of the
interfaces have changed in the past
30 or 40 years. The only thing that’s
newisitsdigitalcontrol.”‘I struggle with simple
controls. When you get
older you realise howinconvenient products are’
House Home
its classic models a colourful, contem-
poraryupdate.
While Grange s concerned with func-i
tionality — almost above all else — he
is no po-faced modernist judging by
his home. Traditional cuckoo clocks
hang at different heights in his
dining room and he is a fervent
admirer of the Memphis
Group, the 1980s Ital-
ian design collective
known for its vibrantly
colourful furniture. His
taste for pop extends to
his work — in the yellow
nose of a 125 train or the trade-
mark tangerine accents of his Ken-
woodmixers.
Thereisaneat,uncannycircularityto
Grange’s career. Heunderstood springs
fromayoungage.“Mymothertransmit-
ted her interest in practicality to me,”
says Grange. “She worked in a spring-
making factory and loved it — she was
veryskilledatcoilingspringsbyhand.”
Aged 14, Grange won a scholarship
to studygraphic design t Willesdena
College of Art, thenhoned his drawing
skills as a technical illustrator during
National Service with the Royal Engi-
neers.He worked for several forward-
thinking architects in London — an
exhilarating entry to modernism,
then seen as an antidote to postwar
austerity. “It was all so far from the
brown and cream of my parents’
home,”hesays.
Before setting up his own design stu-
dio in 1958, Grange worked for architect
Jack Howe, a former assistant to Walter
Gropius,founderoftheBauhausSchool.
Howe’s practice also designed street
lighting,bussheltersandclocks.
While there, Grange’s career took off
thanks to a combination of serendipity
andhisenthusiasmwhileworkingonan
exhibition stand for Kodak at the Brus-
sels World Fair. “I remember saying
aloud, ‘This would be a nice job if the
products weren’t so bloody ugly’ ,” he
says. He was overheard:“That evening
Kodak’s sales director phoned me and
said, “I understand you’re designing a
camera for us’.” It was the start of a 30-
yearcollaboration.
Grangebenefited from his association
with the Design Council, which played
a key role in promoting“good design”
in postwar Britain. “It introduced
designers to manufacturers and I was
on its list,” he says. He was commis-
sioned in 1958 to design Britain’s
first parking meter and his
first Kenwood food mixer — he
had only four days to redesignthe antiquated machines, but went on
to achieve phenomenal success. “Its
great advantage is its solidity,” said
the journalist Shirley Conran at the
time.“Itdoesn’tshakeandcharge
about all over the room. It
hums efficiently, instead of clatter-
ing.” In 1972, Grange co-founded Penta-
gram,which is now a multinational
designagency.
Grange — a visiting tutor at London’s
Royal College of Art until last year — has
strong views on contemporary design.
He decries today’s “unremitting com-
mercial call for novelty” and what he
perceives as a preference for the faddish
rather than the functional. “For buyers,
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