Despite it being a drizzly Monday, we are feeling pleasantly animated and energised today. No doubt something to do with the fact that The Conran Shop has been nominated for ‘Retailer of the Year’ at this year’s Homes & Gardens Designer Awards.
With 15 years of awards under their belt, Homes & Gardens have become something of experts when it comes to spotting outstanding design. With categories ranging from Innovation to Young Designer, the awards seek to hunt out the best talent from both established and emerging designers, individuals and retailers alike. The judging panel is chaired by distinguished journalist Barbara Chandler and includes such design figureheads as Nick Munro, and Robin Levien, not to mention Homes & Garden’s Editor, Deborah Barker.
The Conran Shop is nominated for the impressive ‘Retailer of the Year’ Award, which has previously been awarded to the likes of retail magnates John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. In amongst such retail powerhouses, has stood the smaller, yet no less impressive 2012 winner, RE-Found. This innovative and quirky shop is full to the brim with wonderful collectibles, unique design inspiration and rescued and restored objects. With our eclectic mix of time-honoured names, unique vintage pieces and up-and-coming designers, we like to think our edit has something special about it too. We are up against innovative interiors house, Mint, and The Cold Press, a unique gallery and print making studio in North Norfolk.
The Conran Shop
Having taken over as Chairman last year, Jasper Conran has set about spring-cleaning mission, ridding The Conran Shop of 6,000 products that don’t cut the mustard in the modern landscape. In a 2012 interview with The Financial Times, Jasper said of The Conran Shop, ‘It should be a joyful place, full of treats, innovation, discoveries…we’re about a modernity that’s very easy to live with, nothing too tough or too hardline…we want to be a major forum for design without being pompous.’ By looking at each and every item and refreshing the store spaces, Jasper is injecting a little of the dynamism that was evident when the store first opened in 1973.
Jasper Conran
It would seem that Homes & Gardens are not the only ones having a Jasper Conran ‘moment’. We were thrilled to read an interview with Telegraph.co.uk yesterday that salutes his illustrious career, from his first fashion foray aged 19 to the present day. Producing over 20 collections across fashion, homewares, luggage and accessories, Jasper Conran is a force to be reckoned with in the retail industry. You can read the full article here.
We are very excited to hear the results when they are announced in April and will be keeping our fingers crossed, we urge you to do the same!