Design mogul Terence Conran is some feisty maverick -- albeit polite, smiley and wonderfully at ease with the world. He has had more impact than any other designer of his generation on everyday living in contemporary Britain and Ireland, and he has parellel careers too, as a writer, restaurateur and designer.

Philippe Starck, the uber-cool French designer, recently described Conran in his television reality programme, Design for Life, as one of the UK's greatest-ever designers. But Conran, who is in his late 70s and beginning to look perhaps a little frail now, is not planning to slow down any time soon.

"It was incredibly generous of him and I was amazed to hear him say it," says Conran, leaning back in his Eames Soft Pad leather chair with a puff of his cigar and a bemused smile. "I have a love/hate relationship with Philippe. He's a rogue but a very likeable rogue. What Philippe was trying to bring out in his programme was that design was much more than sitting at a drawing pad or computer trying to think of ideas. He was trying to encourage young designers to think."

For Conran, it is almost a case of 'I think, therefore I am'. Intelligent, well thought-out design has always been at the forefront of all Conran's varied ventures. From relatively humble beginnings designing furniture when he left the Central School of Art and Design in London, he went on to set up Habitat, which became a hugely influential retail giant. He formed a chain of iconic restaurants where good food and good design became almost synonymous, and he also founded the powerful Storehouse Group, which included Heals, Next, BHS and Mothercare. Later came The Conran Shop, which today has stores in London, Paris, New York, across Japan and, now, a major concession in Arnotts in Dublin.

While his career path has been incredibly diverse, Conran thinks of himself as a designer first and foremost. "I would call myself a designer, but everything I do has got to do with a style of life, whether it's the style of the food in a restaurant or the design of the restaurant or the design of a piece of furniture."

Conran, whose main love is designing residential work, likes his designs to be useful, unpretentious and well considered, but the style can change daily. "Designers have to make themselves aware of everything that is going on in the world, so I read endless magazines and newspapers. I am always looking at new things. My basic style is to design things that are plain, simple and useful."

The conflict of making sustainable products with today's 'cheap 'n' chuck' mentality worries him and he wonders where it will all lead. "The whole cheap and chuck mentality is a very difficult one," he muses. "I think this is one of the causes of the economic chaos that we are in. The huge supermarket chariot is filled perhaps with things that you need but a lot of things that you don't need.

"I have always preferred to design things that last and get better with age, but we need to provide work for people and if everything you design lasts for centuries, why should the consumer buy anything new? And if they don't buy new things, where will the work be?" he asks.

"I'm not sure there is really a solution to this, so I suspect that cheap and chuck, the Topshop mentality of what is good for a night, will continue."

Bringing design to the masses, however, is of huge importance to Conran and he was very involved in the setting up of the Design Museum on London's Shad Thames. The riverside museum, housed in a striking modernist-style building, has been a tremendous success, but it is just too small. Conran is busy with plans to move the museum to the old Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington, which is four times larger. "I think that it might open to coincide with the Olympics [2012], if we are lucky. We still have many hurdles to clear before we get there."

From designing a hotel, The Boundary in Shoreditch, to co-writing Planting with gardener Diarmuid Gavin -- "he's another lovable rogue" -- Conran is constantly juggling new projects and ideas. A new kind of retail store, for example, is in the air. "In the old days it would have been called a departmental store," he says with a smile. "It is a new way of looking at a store with more of a market mentality."

Perhaps, as when Habitat first opened its doors, Conran is aiming to offer that irresistible feeling of plenty that comes with a market stall. "Exactly," says Conran, who is unwilling to reveal the location. "It will open somewhere in centralish London, but I can't say where because nothing is sealed or signed. All I can say is that it's a particular building that is gritty and unpretentious."

Opening Habitat in the 60s, Conran wanted to offer people intelligent, well-designed products at an affordable price. In today's age of Ikea that may not sound so unusual, but when Habitat opened its doors it was a lone player.

"I think good design is about being available at a price people can afford, and that is the thing that made Habitat take off. It was the first time that anybody had opened a lifestyle store. I hate the word lifestyle, but it is a word that people understand. It wasn't just intelligently designed products, it was a whole way of life."

Habitat was bought by Ikea for £78 million in 1992, and in many ways Ikea has continued along Conran's original, well-trodden path. However, Conran, a stickler for detail, feels the lack of service in Ikea leaves a lot to be desired. "What I don't admire about them is the standard of service they offer, which to me is a very important part of retail. When you buy something, it should be a pleasure all the way through."

When Arnotts approached Conran with the idea of opening a Conran Shop concession, it was perfect timing as he was in the process of expanding the brand. "We want to create a bigger volume of sales so that we can afford to make more design," he explains. Last May, Conran launched his Well Considered range of well-priced, essential products for the home, including a capsule collection of furniture with products such as a 50s-inspired timber Plank table from British company Ercol and a scarlet or green version of the classic Bentwood chair.

"Now, more than ever, affordability and simplicity are key," says Conran with a last puff of his cigar.

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Amanda Cochrane is editor of Image Interiors, out now

- Amanda Cochrane

Irish Independent