University of Sussex
Browse
Habitat's Scenographic Imagination.pdf (500.64 kB)

Habitat’s scenographic imagination

Download (500.64 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-15, 20:45 authored by Ben HighmoreBen Highmore
Habitat, the furniture and household goods retail chain, has been characterised as evidencing an ‘eclectic’ approach towards design styles and promoting a ‘lifestyle’ attitude towards domestic interiors. In an attempt to fill-out these two terms and to explore the elusive (and allusive) content of Habitat’s ‘eclectic lifestyle’ this article analyses the domestic scenography that is presented in three arenas of display that can be seen as being authored by Habitat: the shops themselves; the annual catalogues; and the advice books that were published under the authorship of Terence Conran and promoted and sold by Habitat (but also available more widely). I suggest that one way of recognising the affective content of Habitat’s scenographic imagination is to grasp it as constituting a genre that incorporates variety yet also mobilises a particular set of domestic promises.

Funding

Habitat and the making of Taste 1964 - 2011; G1272; LEVERHULME TRUST; MRF-2013-158

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Design History

ISSN

0952-4649

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Department affiliated with

  • Media and Film Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-07-14

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2018-10-02

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-07-14

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC