RIP Terence Conran

GrandmaFrench our chicken brick looked like a chicken. Was in two parts and unglazed. Its a DDs or I'd photograph it. Must have been a later model!

Another chicken brick owner here! Habitat was where we most liked to browse when setting up our first home. We were given lots of Habitat items large and small. The shops were so smart. Quite a kick up the backside for other furniture and furnishings shops. Pored over the catalogues too.
We were also given lots of crystal glasses as wedding presents and still have them along with my parents, grandparents and in-laws glasses. The trouble is that no one seems to want them any more as they're too small for current appetites for alcohol. . I used to work in the crystal department of a large store and decanters were very popular presents. They languish unwanted too these days.

Our first furniture was two brown covered chairs with a beech frame and rubber “Springing”. We bought the matching settee (which was flat pack in a large cardboard box) at Tottenham Court Road Habitat and carried it home on the tube, then the train back to rural Bedfordshire. We had no car then so carried it from the station too. Daft but happy days. RIP Terence.

I love Habitat and furnished my flat almost entirely from there.

Would love to be able to do the same from his last venture.

benchmarkfurniture.com/our-story/

RIP Terence .

Here's the Chicken Brick, Badgranma. Bottom corner of photo. It worked, it was unglazed, it was solid earthenware in two parts - leakproof in the oven.

In the 1977 catalogue £2.45 including instructions !!

I was born in the 60s so maybe missed all the fun ? but am still curious about the chicken brick? Was it a terracotta chicken shaped pot? I remember seeing something like that but we never had one. Did it work? Was it unglazed? How come the juice didn’t leak out? So many questions......

I’ll never forget Shirley Conran’s quote of ‘life is to short to stuff a mushroom’.

I loved Habitat too.Like many of you,my first house was furnished from Habitat.

We haven't got the dining set any more Dianahmo but still have bedroom furniture (also second-hand but very serviceable).
Although I do prefer the MFI furniture in the spare bedroom - still very modern!

Tonight we drank our post-dinner coffee from our little Habitat coffee cups and remembered Terence Conran. We couldn't afford the furniture, only the coffee cups!

Another Habitat fan here as well, I remember buying some bedding and curtains there and they lasted for years, washed and wore so well. I could wander round their shop for hours.
RIP Terence Conran.

Does anyone else remember Shirley Conran describing how when the had friends round for supper, he used to sit in the kitchen with a copper bowl and a whisk, making mayonnaise. It was the only thing he did make at that time. She had cooked the rest of the meal but their friends would think he was wonderful for making mayo.

Callistemon

^I remember we felt vague pity for people we knew whose houses were furnished traditionally - they were young people like us, but their houses looked middle-aged!^
Perhaps that was us as ours was secondhand G Plan! But there was no Habitat where we lived, we wuz yokels.

Some G-Plan is prized now. stuff from the fifties is more sought after and can fetch very high prices.

Oh "Badgramma* I'm guessing that you're too young to remember the 1960s.

Although there is a saying that if you can remember the 1960s you weren't there.

Actually I think that only applied to London where apparently everyone was stoned in the 1960s.

Those of us who lived elsewhere can remember quite a lot about the 60s and some of us never took drugs.

What is a chicken brick?

I was 17 when the 60s began. That whole decade was about my contemporaries. The see all these icons that were so hip and cool and the quintessence of the swinging sixties, slipping over the edge, first Diana Rigg, now Terence Conran, reminds one that our youth is now history.

Our first living room was Habitat from wall to wall

No longer did we need anti-maccasars or doilies or chrystal sherry glasses or embroidered guest towels.

I am not sure I ever wanted them, they certainly did not feature on my list of essential household goods when I married.

Personally I love dressing up for a dinner dance. We were fortunate to have close friends in the Navy and we got invited to a lot of black tie events in the Wardroom, balls that ended at dawn with breakfast, I loved them and miss them now our friend has died.

I was married in the mid sixties and I agree we have lived through interesting and very varied times Paddyanne

Varian now I dont know if we were behind the times or ahead of them.Married 1975 ,had regular dinner parties ,went to many a dinner dance and always the odd Ball or two over the Christmas/NewYear period ..Oh an dwe got chrystal glasses galore as wedding presents ,in fact I still have the six sherry schooners on the little wooden tray .Alas I lent the wine glasses ,red and white and the matching decanter and water glasses to a neighbour for a party for her Inlawsand her OH washed them and sat them on a tray on a working washing machine !!! No more chrystal for a wee while in our house.She DID apologise but no offers to replace them .

I think Terrence Conran gave us all permission to be more relaxed at home.

No longer did we need anti-maccasars or doilies or chrystal sherry glasses or embroidered guest towels.

We were given permission to be casual.

This was a revelation in the 1960s which was the decade when I was married, but it took a setback in the 1980s when formality returned - think dinner parties and dinner dances and balls.

Our generation may well have been temporarily trapped again by formality but we did eventually break free and Terence Conran showed us the way.

I think mid-century is more 1950s; lots of yellow, red and black furniture with metal sticking- out legs. I hated it, and loved Habitat; plain, simple, stylish. It epitomised the 60s for me. There was no Habitat where I lived, so had to order my Le Creuset casserole and a blank note book by mail order; still have both, and a white china chicken which I used to keep eggs in. Never had a chicken brick, although I coveted one.

Cream* dishes* autocorrect!!!

We also had Habitat items in our first home. I remember the storage tins with brown and clean wicker pattern on them, also available in orange and green. Our curtains were Habitat fabric, as was our bed linen and duck down duvet. It lasted for many years. Such good quality in the early years.
We still have a set of dished, cream with a blue stripe, a bit crazed now. ( but aren’t we all!).
Bought more recently, 20 years ago, we have a circular garden table made out of a hardwood, with six matching chairs.
They spend every year outside and are oiled once a year. Still in a fabulous condition.

Grandmafrench I think I must know you! I was there at that time too. Great days.

I remember we felt vague pity for people we knew whose houses were furnished traditionally - they were young people like us, but their houses looked middle-aged!
Perhaps that was us as ours was secondhand G Plan! But there was no Habitat where we lived, we wuz yokels.

We couldn't afford Habitat either, but Terence Conran was inspirational.

RIP Sir Terence