Sir Kenneth Grange’s influential industrial designs are chronicled in a new book
‘Kenneth Grange: Designing the Modern World’ explores the life and work of the pioneering British industrial designer
The genuine heroes of modern design are few and far between. Sir Kenneth Grange certainly qualifies. Now well into his nineties, Grange is a British industrial designer whose work and influence spans genres and generations, helping define the modern high street as well as the profession itself.
Born in London's East End in 1929, Grange’s childhood was shaped by vivid memories of the Second World War, as well as a talent for drawing that led him to study art at the Willesden College of Technology. This was followed by National Service and then a first professional role as an architectural draftsman that saw him work on exhibition stands and graphics, including the Festival of Britain.
Kenneth Grange: Designing the Modern World
Lucy Johnston’s excellent new monograph traces Grange’s early life and influences, through to the founding of his first design agency, Kenneth Grange Design, in 1958, and onwards through a career defined by variety.
As one of the founding members of Pentagram, alongside Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, and Mervyn Kurlansky, Grange was well placed to pioneer a multi-disciplinary approach to consumer design. From trains to cameras, lights, pens, post boxes and kitchen mixers, Grange’s work was often at the heart of the consumer revolution without ever losing sight of quality and innovation.
Five biographical chapters are followed by a chronicle of Grange’s designs that ‘shaped the modern world,’ together with sketches, prototypes and personal insights into their development. Sir Jonathan Ive has contributed a foreword that further cements Grange’s reputation within the industry. Ive writes that Grange’s approach to design as a form of public service made a vivid impact on him, as well as on British visual culture in general.
Kenneth Grange: Designing the Modern World, Lucy Johnston, foreword by Sir Jonathan Ive, Thames & Hudson, £50, ThamesandHudson.com, @ThamesandHudson
Available at Amazon
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Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
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