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Following the success of the Yellow Ochre Edition, which was colour-matched to an original 1970’s Anglepoise® lamp, Margaret added two additional complementary colours to the collection - Saxon Blue and Seagrass.
Margaret Howell has frequently championed the Anglepoise® lamp, admiring the similar design qualities that are the essence of her men’s and women’s clothing: simplicity, functionality, authenticity and timelessness. Type 75™, designed in 2004 by British industrial product designer Sir Kenneth Grange, reinterprets the original 1930s Anglepoise® design. Its clean lines combine with the perfect balance and range of movement made possible by the unique spring mechanism that defines the brand.
Margaret Howell is a contemporary British clothing designer who started her business from a modest flat in South-East London over forty years ago. After graduating from a fine art degree at Goldsmith’ College, London in 1969 she began making accessories which came to the attention of Vogue and other fashion magazines, encouraging her to go onto designing clothes. This led to a partnership with Joseph Ettedgui and the opening of Howell’s first dedicated men’s shop in South Molton Street, London, 1976. The first independently owned Margaret Howell shop opened in St Christopher’s Place, London in 1980. In 2002 the company moved its London offices and prime shop to Wigmore Street, designed collaboratively with architect William Russell. As well as selling the men’s and women’s clothing collections, the shop is used to stage exhibitions that draw attention to aspects of British design.
In 2007 Howell was made a Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Art and was awarded a CBE for services to the fashion industry. In 2010 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from University of the Arts London; in 2013, Howell was awarded an Honorary Professorship from the University for the Creative Arts. Margaret Howell is now sold worldwide with flagship shops in London, Paris, Florence and Tokyo and has more than 100 outlets throughout Japan.
Kenneth Grange
Design Director of Anglepoise® since 2003, Sir Kenneth Grange began his illustrious career as a technical illustrator whilst in National Service. He subsequently made his reputation as an industrial product designer and in association with four partners founded Pentagram, now an international design practice with offices in USA, Germany and London. Grange’s remarkable work spans half a century and his user-centered, often quintessentially British designs have helped shape the parameters of everyday life for so many. Not only everyday household brands like Kenwood, Parker, Kodak - and of course Anglepoise® - have received the Kenneth Grange treatment but also the InterCity 125 train, the regional Royal Mail postbox and the latest London BlackTaxi.
In 1932 automotive engineer George Carwardine develops a formula for a new type of spring. He discovers that pivoting arms supported by a sequence of these springs can be repositioned with the lightest touch yet will remain perfectly in place once released. Carwardine has just created the blueprint for an Anglepoise®.