Sir Terence Conran
founder of Conran
Shops and Restaurants
1. What is your favourite
shop and why?
E Dehillerin, 18-20 rue
Coquilliere, Paris. Because it is full of everything I like –
a chaotic abundance of cookware.
Deyrolle, rue du Bac, Paris.
A paradise of beetles and butterflies which I adore.
Dean & Deluca, Broadway,
New York. For its foods and cookware.
Egg, Kinnerton Street, London.
A wonderful quirky mix of objects of desire
2. Your favourite restaurant
and why?
Guastavino’s. Because it’s
my latest!
3. And your favourite
hotel and why?
Park Hyatt, Tokyo. Because
it’s a modern hotel that is comfortable, serene,
welcoming, calm, functional,
efficient and professional.
4. Where have you received
the best customer service?
Ditto.
5. What do you dislike?
The recited litany
of daily specials, complete with method of cooking and garnishes
(always minus the price)
in New York restaurants.
6. Who or what has been
your biggest influence?
The Bauhaus
7. Is beauty or function
more important?
One should be symbiotic
of the other.
8. What do you need to
relax?
An A4 layout block and half
a dozen 3B pencils.
9. Where would your ideal
holiday be?
At home in Berkshire, early
June, with the phone disconnected.
10. What is your favourite
item of clothing?
A 15-year-old pair of bleu
de travail, soft and comfortable from many years of
washing, and some old, frayed,
blue Tur nbull & Asser shirts.
11. What is your favourite
fragrance?
White truffles from Alba,
Acqua di Parma, newly laundered linen shirts, epoisses, an exceptional
Burgundy, the garden in the spring after the rain, wisteria in the evening
and the garrigue in Provence, the scent released when you walk in the hills.
12. What is your ideal
watch?
A vintage Boucheron that
was my father’s. The nice analogue clock in a Porsche 911.
13. And your ideal car?
A Porsche 911; Décapotable
Citroen DS.
14. Which luxury company
currently has the best ads?
All ads are pretty ridiculous,
but I like Connolly and Tanner Krolle.
15. Do you collect anything,
or would you like to?
I collect ideas. I have
an eclectic collection of objects I really like.
16. If your home was
on fire, what would you save?
My dressing gown and a Paolozzi
head.
17. What were your most
recent luxury purchases?
A ticket to New York on
Concorde, an Audi TT, a Kenneth Noland, 7 ounces of Jean Patou’s 1000,
250 Hoyo de Monterey Epicure No 2, a collection of Bugatti pedal cars,
seeds and bulbs for the garden
18. What are you currently
dreaming of buying?
A Gulfstream, a week’s holiday
somewhere warm and sunny,
another 250 cigars, a Japanese
teahouse, a trampoline.
19. Who do you tip to
watch over the next 10 years?
Nothing dot.com.
20. What do you predict
will be the biggest trends this century?
The appreciation of time,
space and privacy.
A Question of Luxury
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