Breaking the boundaries of interior
design is what keeps my job interesting. So last month I was honoured to meet
Reev Aram, a designer who brought contemporary design to Britain at a time
when the country was a modern furniture wasteland.
Reev was speaking at the annual
conference of the BIID, held at RIBA HQ at Portland Place, London, followed by a gathering at designer rug company Front,
which turned into quite a party as it was also the Institute’s 50th
anniversary.
Reev opened his first showroom on
London’s Kings Road in 1964, filling it with the work of Castiglioni, Breuer,
and Le Corbusier when the English were on a diet of G Plan and Stag.
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| The Aram Store in Covent Garden |
Passers-by were shocked! Zeev would
stand outside, listening to their comments as they stopped and stared at the
bright, white, stainless steel interior. Most thought the modern showroom and
its modern furniture were an affront – he even received hate mail. "Who needs this rubbish?" they
asked. They called it clinical, and wondered why anyone would want to buy
'hospital furniture'.
A few months later, Terence Conran
opened Habitat further down the road; for the first time, the British consumer
had an alternative to chintz. Mary Quant and her mini skirt wasn't the only
revolution happening in Chelsea that year.
How times have changed, and now the
pieces Zeev chose have become design classics, endlessly copied but still
looking as fresh as they did in the 60s. Fifty years on, Aram is now located in
the heart of Covent Garden and remains the capital’s top destination for
furniture and product design.
In a room filled with the UK and
Europe’s leading designers, I was not alone in my reverence for Reev Aram. As
well as bringing great design to Britain, he’s a designer in his own right,
notably producing the iconic arc lamp that is now so in vogue. I have used this
lamp many times in my designs and I love his knack of mixing old with new for
an eclectic feel that is very much the ‘At Home’ style too.
One thing Reev said really resonated
with me, and it was this: ‘Good design is something that fulfils its purpose in
the most beautiful possible way. I have learned to trust my instinct; if
something makes me catch my breath, then I know I'm looking at good design.’
Wise words, and a sentiment that I
would always aspire to.
Hugh Jamieson, Principal Designer, At Home Interiors
