The first Habitat store opened its doors on the 11th of May 1964 on Fulham Road, Chelsea. The man behind it all is designer Sir Terence Conran who decided to open the store as a means to sell his design range furniture. Together with a group of partners, this highly personal endeavour, achieved to revolutionise the retail world, which was ready for fresh ideas and products for stylish living.
“The designer's job is to imagine the world not how it is, but how it should be.”
Sir Terence Conran
Habitat brought to the UK market a contemporary international air with pieces carefully selected across multiple countries by a design team. The aim was to make design items accessible to the general public and not just the wealthy. It also brought innovations such as the flat-packed boxed furniture and the first mail order catalogue, published in 1966 and illustrated by Juliet Glynn Smith.
In 1973, after a big success and multiple stores in the UK, Habitat opened its first store in Paris and continued the expansion across numerous European countries. This brought recognition and established the Habitat brand. Nevertheless, the company has been bought and sold multiple times. The UK subsidiary at present is owned by Sainsbury's, but all the other European stores are owned by the French retail company CAFOM. Corporate ownership aside the Habitat brand still rings true to its values and ethos of carefully selected goods.
Through the years, many famous names within the art and design world have been somehow connected with the Habitat brand. Among them, Charles and Ray Eames, Robin Day, Torde Boontje, Eduardo Paolozzi and David Hockney; to name a few. Tom Dixon joined the company in 1998 and became Creative Director from 2001 until 2008 with Theo Williams as his successor. Tom Dixon was also responsible for the incorporation of the distinctive 'heart in the home' icon back in 2002.
Habitat has celebrated a remarkable 50 years. It is a very much loved brand by designers and people who admire design products and see the value of its offering. We love Habitat products, and we hope, in the years to come, it'll bring us many more exceptional creations into our habitat.