General
Kenneth Grange, Industrial Designer of Modern Life, Dies at 95
His cameras, food mixers and lamps, and even taxis and trains, were widely celebrated objects of post-World War II design.
Sir Kenneth Grange, the British industrial designer whose cameras, food mixers, trains, taxis, parking meters, pens, alarm clocks, lamps and razors were among the most celebrated objects of modernist, post-World War II design, died on July 21 at his home in London. He was 95.
His wife, Apryl Grange, confirmed the death.
Spare, aesthetically pleasing, with a near maniacal focus on ease of use, Mr. Grange’s creations modernized the look, feel and routine of daily life, especially in Britain — from waking up, to switching on a lamp, to a tidy shave, to a purée for breakfast and then the commute to work, by taxi or train.
“When I think of his work, I do not immediately think of the designer, but of the millions of users that have been beneficiaries of his care and thought,” Sir Jony Ive, the former head of design for Apple, wrote in the foreword to “Kenneth Grange: Designing the Modern World,” which was published earlier this year. “He created products that assumed such a rare cultural significance that they ultimately became icons.”
Mr. Grange, a founder of the global design firm Pentagram, began his career in the late 1950s, when consumers started seeking out more lively, colorful and sleek products than the dowdy and chunky objects that personified consumer and home goods from the Victorian era well into World War II, when manufacturers were focused on the war effort, not smart design.
His first major project, in 1958, was an upside-down, teardrop-shaped parking meter. Its stark design and simplicity attracted the attention of consumer goods manufacturers such as Kenwood, which hired him to redesign its once-popular but out-of-style Chef mixer.
