Design is Editing: 'Terence Conran: Designing Modern Britain' at Tokyo Station Gallery

The Conran Shop arrived in Japan in the 90s.
It felt like the quintessential stylish interior shop, and I remember often seeing Sir Terence Conran in Magazine House publications like BRUTUS and Casa BRUTUS. At the time, I thought of him as a nice-looking, stylish old man. His trademark blue shirt also comes to mind.

This is an exhibition that looks back on the achievements of Sir Terence Conran.
I had been looking forward to it after seeing the annual schedule when I bought the Tokyo Station Area Museum common ticket, so I visited quite early after it opened.

The chapters are organized as follows:
○ The Beginnings of Conran the Designer
○ Entrepreneurial Ambition: Habitat and The Conran Shop
○ Food and Restaurants
○ Regeneration Projects and Architecture/Interiors
○ Barton Court: His Own Home
○ Craftsmanship: Benchmark and Products
○ Projects in Japan
○ Towards the Future

Sir Terence Conran in his younger days (though not yet a 'Sir') looks different from my image of him. He seems a bit more intense.
However, the textiles and tableware are all wonderful, and they still feel fresh today.
The recreated Habitat store space doesn't look like much to me now, but I can imagine it must have been a surprising sight back then, considering people used to buy things at specialized shops—this item here, that item there.
And the displays still look stylish even today. I get the feeling that shopping at Habitat was a status symbol.

In each chapter, there are interviews with people related to Sir Terence Conran. These include his son, his grandson who lives in Yoshino, Nara, other family members and colleagues, and, as expected, Zenta Nishino from Magazine House. He talked about how Sir Terence Conran was an editor. There were also back issues of Casa BRUTUS next to him. The old logo brings back memories.
In a surprising turn, food essayist Sakiko Hirano also appeared. She talked about how she visited his restaurant in London without knowing he was the one running it, and how his book on restaurant management was very practical, which made me want to read it.

True to the subtitle 'Designing Modern Britain,' the content showed how he led modern British design.
There were also many stylish goods. Although the cassette player seemed to confuse the young people. They didn't seem to know what it was or how to use it. I wonder why it was a cassette tape...

By looking comprehensively at not just the furniture and tableware he designed, but also his shops, restaurants, workspace, and his own home, I left the venue convinced that design is indeed editing.

Postcards I purchased

◾️ Bonus
Lunch at WUMEI, a Japanese-style Taiwanese diner in Yaekita Shokudo at Tokyo Station.