In 1993 The Conran Foundation Collection was established. Every year a young, design-associated personality would be invited to spend £30,000 (in 1993 money) on “things you'd like to live with” reflecting their personal opinion of what they found most inspiring. Ross Lovegrove became the first guest “collector” and he included items from a special edition camera to coat hangers, and from a Castiglioni sofa to Gillette shaving gel!
The initiative was a hugely popular annual event and guest collectors were:
1993
Ross Lovegrove
Merkur Futur Adjustable Safety Razor
Nilfisk GM80 Vacuum Cleaner
1994
Jasper Morrison
1995
Alice Rawsthorn
Comme des Garçons Eau de Parfum - Marc Buxton
Packaging for NKG Spark Plugs
1996
Janice Kirkpatrick
1997
Dan Pearson
Haws Original Can - Galvanised Steel
Olympus Camedia C-1400 L
1998
David Constantine
1999
Carol Vorderman
IDEO - Palm V
Tabarome Millesime Eau de Parfum
2000
Tyler Brule
2001
Marc Newson
Lamy 2000 Mechanical Pencil
Manufactum - Collapsible Colander
2002
Droog
2003/4
Tom Heatherwick
Berlin Wall Piece
After celebrating its 11th Anniversary with Tom Heatherwick as its guest collector, it was decided to break for a few years in order to properly archive and document the previous collections.