Sophie Conran

Last updated

Sophia Conran
Born
Henrietta Sophia Conran

October 1965 (age 58)
England
OccupationDesigner
Spouses
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2002,divorced)​
  • Nicholas Hofgren
Children2
Parent
Relatives

Henrietta Sophia Conran (born October 1965) [1] is a British designer, retailer, cook and author. She is the founder and director of the Sophie Conran Shop.

Contents

Early life

Conran is the daughter of designer and restaurateur Terence Conran and food writer Caroline Herbert. [2] Her brothers Tom and Edmund are both restaurateurs. The fashion designer Jasper Conran [3] and the product designer Sebastian Conran are her half-brothers.[ citation needed ]

Career

After leaving school at 17, Conran worked as an apprentice for couture milliner Stephen Jones before joining the fashion team at the studio of her brother Jasper. Following this, Conran interior-designed apartments and show flats in the Butler's Wharf development and overhauled the Design Museum Shop's collections, where she also acted as a buyer. At the same time, she worked as a buyer for The Conran Shop and eventually launched her own store, 'Wong Singh Jones'.[ citation needed ] She began to receive private interior design commissions after buying a flat in Bayswater, reuniting the rooms which had been parcelled out as bed-sits, and renovating them.

In the early 1990s, Conran lived in Australia. On returning to the United Kingdom, she renovated a dilapidated farm in Devon, rearing pigs and growing vegetables. [4] After a few years she returned to work for her father as a Colour Director and then as a Product Manager in a variety of areas.[ citation needed ] She helped with Jasper's Sackville Street townhouse store before the 2005 opening.[ citation needed ]

In the food world, Conran created a supper club and then collaborated with her brother Tom on a catering company. [5] In 2004 she launched Sophie Conran Pies, [4] [6] [7] which won four Fine Food Awards. [8]

Her debut cookbook, Pies, was published in November 2006 by HarperCollins, [4] [9] with a mini version entitled Easy Pies later released. Her second book, Soups and Stews, was published by Collins in October 2008. She has written food and entertaining stories for many UK titles including InStyle and Living , and has been a contributing editor to Junior magazine.[ citation needed ]

In March 2006, Conran's kitchen, glass and tableware range for Portmeirion was launched. [10] It received an Elle Deco Style Award for Best in Kitchens 2006 and the House Beautiful Award for Best in Tableware in 2008. [11] Conran then created a fine dining range, White Oak, launched in the USA.

In December 2007, Conran was a designer in Save the Children's Festival of Trees fundraising event. [12]

In 2009, with Harvey Jones Kitchens, Conran launched 'The Cook's Companion', a freestanding kitchen bench. [13] In 2010 she launched the first of two cutlery collections with Arthur Price.[ citation needed ] In 2011, she designed a range of garden tools with the Sheffield-based company Burgon & Ball. The range was shortlisted for Product of the Year at the Chelsea Flower Show 2011.[ citation needed ] She has also collaborated with Melt chocolates of Notting Hill to create a chocolate inspired by sweet pies from her first book and which uses flavours including Earl Grey tea, ginger and cranberry;[ citation needed ] with bathroom store Drummonds to redesign their Chelsea showroom and design a range of coloured baths;[ citation needed ] and with wallpaper company Arthouse to create collections for B&Q stores. [4]

The Sophie Conran Shop, sophieconran.com, is Conran's personal homeware company. [14] [15] Launched in 2013, the brand currently has a 2 star rating on TrustPilot. [16]

Personal life

With her former husband Alex Willcock, Conran has two children, Felix, in partnership with his father as a furniture designer, [17] [18] and Coco, a fashion designer. [14] [19] She later married Nicholas Hofgren, a London-based financier. [20]

Related Research Articles

Sir Terence Orby Conran was a British designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer. He founded the Design Museum in Shad Thames, London in 1989. The British designer Thomas Heatherwick said that Conran "moved Britain forward to make it an influence around the world." Edward Barber, from the British design team Barber & Osgerby, described Conran as "the most passionate man in Britain when it comes to design, and his central idea has always been 'Design is there to improve your life.'" The satirist Craig Brown once joked that before Conran "there were no chairs and no France."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Cole</span> English model and actress (born 1987)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasper Conran</span> British fashion designer

Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran is a British designer. He has worked on collections of womenswear and for the home, as well as productions for the stage in ballet, opera and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedgwood</span> English pottery and porcelain manufacturer

Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapidly successful and was soon one of the largest manufacturers of Staffordshire pottery, "a firm that has done more to spread the knowledge and enhance the reputation of British ceramic art than any other manufacturer", exporting across Europe as far as Russia, and to the Americas. It was especially successful at producing fine earthenware and stoneware that were accepted as equivalent in quality to porcelain but were considerably cheaper.

Portmeirion is a British pottery company based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. They specialise in earthenware tableware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Torode</span> Australian-British celebrity chef (born 1965)

John Douglas Torode is an Australian-British celebrity chef and TV presenter. He moved to the UK in the 1990s and began working at Conran Group's restaurants. After first appearing on television on ITV's This Morning, he started presenting a revamped MasterChef on BBC One in 2005. He is a restaurateur; former owner of the Luxe and a second restaurant, Smiths of Smithfield. He has also written a number of cookbooks, including writing some with fellow MasterChef presenter and judge, Gregg Wallace.

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Joel Kissin, originally from New Zealand, is a restaurateur who was the co-founder, managing director, and shareholder of Conran Restaurants. Kissin has been involved in opening a dozen restaurants in London and New York.

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References

  1. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "Celebrity offspring: One degree of separation". The Independent. 14 January 2007. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008.
  3. ↑ Carl Wilkinson (16 July 2006). "Pendennis – 7 Days". The Observer. Archived from the original on 25 August 2006.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Profile on Sophie Conran". Design Network. 17 March 2009. Archived from the original on 1 September 2011.
  5. ↑ Sudi Pigott (13 November 2004). "Just like daddy used to make". The Times . Features, Food & Drink. p. 102.
  6. ↑ "We love...pies". Caterer & Hotelkeeper. 193 (4350): 22–23. 18 November 2004. ISSN   0008-7777.
  7. ↑ Lydia Slater (12 May 2004). "Pie and mighty". The Sunday Times . p. 73.
  8. ↑ Annabel Harrison (15 October 2018). "Sophie Conran: My Life in London". Luxury London (interview).
  9. ↑ Sophie Conran (18 November 2007). "The knowledge: how to teach your children to cook". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 November 2007.
  10. ↑ Mark Anstead (26 March 2006). "Live like a Conran". The Sunday Times.
  11. ↑ "Currents: London". The New York Times (photograph). 8 March 2006.
  12. ↑ "Save the Children's festival of trees fundraising event". politics.co.uk (press release). July 2008.
  13. ↑ "The Cook's Companion by Sophie Conran". Harvey Jones. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  14. 1 2 Madeleine Howell (21 March 2020). "How I work with my mother (without falling out, too often)". The Telegraph.
  15. ↑ Madeleine Howell (27 May 2021). "How the pros plan the perfect garden party". The Daily Telegraph.
  16. ↑ "Sophie Conran is rated "Poor" with 2 / 5 on Trustpilot". Trustpilot. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  17. ↑ Ella Alexander (12 May 2021). "Inside the home of... the Maker&Son founders". Harper's Bazaar.
  18. ↑ Sophie Bew (20 December 2021). "In the British Countryside, a Holiday Feast With Sofa-Shaped Butter". The New York Times Style Magazine.
  19. ↑ Astrid Joss (23 December 2020). "Inside Coco Conran's chic Christmas wedding to Alex Vardaxoglou". Tatler.
  20. ↑ Kate Finnigan (9 August 2020). "Sophie Conran's Georgian Manor House Is A Stately Ode To Colour". Vogue. UK.
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