There is something about our digital age that appears to create a large element of sameness across much of what is designed and produced. As an example, it is often difficult to tell one smart phone, laptop or digital camera from the next. Product design has in many ways become bland in aesthetic and complicated in execution. Why some designers feel the need to add an excess of buttons to a device is beyond me. Simplicity in both design and function is ergonomic, graceful and practical.
This latter rationale, one of simplicity in design, is why my visit to the Kenneth Grange “Making Britain Modern” exhibition at the Design Museum in London was such a pleasurable journey of nostalgia. But more than just nostalgia, it was a career spanning retrospective of design by both an extraordinary and innovative designer. Walking through Grange’s design history, you are exposed to a creative mind that was able to combine originality, functionality, simplicity and style in so much of what he did. Kenneth Grange’s designs are authentic, minimal, elegant, modern and genuinely served (and still serve) a purpose.
One of the greatest anomalies about Kenneth Grange is that whilst he has touched many people’s lives with his designs, many of those same people are unlikely to know Grange as the designer. Of course this can be extrapolated to other designers. I would guess that a large percentage of people buying a MacBook, iPhone or iPad for example, wouldn’t know that the lead designer behind each of these was Jonathan Ive. As a society it can be argued that we take design for granted and don’t think about or appreciate the efforts of the designers who made it all possible. I believe this is a key reason why the Kenneth Grange exhibition at the Design Museum is hugely significant; it shows us just how much he made possible.
As a visitor to the exhibition you have an opportunity to see what is an eclectic mix of design and innovation: products for Kenwood such as the Kenwood Chef, electric knife and Mini handmixer; sewing machines for Maruzen; Instamatic cameras for Kodak; the InterCity 125 for British Rail; razors for Wilkinson; the Adshel Landmark Series bus shelter; B&W loudspeakers; the wire shopping basket used in Boots stores; lamps for Angelpoise; and the redesign of the London Taxi, Manganese Bronze. Whilst the curation is eclectic, one thing in common across the entire exhibit is a “less is more” philosophy to design. Grange’s products have always had the consumer in mind. He is a protagonist of good design, beautiful design and straightforward design.
As a fan of modernism, minimal, elegant and functional design, Kenneth Grange’s “less is more” ethos and product styling is what I find most appealing. With many of Grange’s products, there is a fusing of contemporary design with classic styling. I particularly love the grey and orange colour palette found in his Kenwood appliances, the grey Margaret Howell shirt and the orange Edith Chair, designed for Hitch Mylius. Grange’s designs certainly stack up against many of the best product designs out there, both old and new.
Kenneth Grange, now 82, is beyond doubt a design icon in his own right. He has had a monumental hand in helping to make today’s Britain a modern and forward thinking society. I feel that as a society generally, we are again moving towards a less is more maxim, investing in design that will last and endure. Design complexity must certainly contribute to our already complicated, fast paced and frantic lifestyles. Good design of the Kenneth Grange ilk is undoubtedly for the betterment of humankind, helping to make life’s burdens that bit easier.
Kenneth Grange “Making Britain Modern” finishes at the Design Museum in London on 30th October 2011. If you haven’t been, it really is worth a visit, but you’ll have to be quick. And if like me you have, it’s certainly worth another look. What’s more, I highly recommend the book “Kenneth Grange Making Britain Modern,” and is really Grange’s modernism retrospective on modernism.
