The Conran Foundation is an educational charity set up by a donation from Sir Terence Conran in 1980.
The foundation’s first initiative was the Boilerhouse project, set up in 1981 in a dilapidated space in the basement at the V&A. Under the directorship of Stephen Bayley, it hosted more than 20 exhibitions over the next five years. Amongst those represented were Sony Design, Kenneth Grange, Issey Miyake, and Dieter Rams retrospectives.
In 1987 the Boilerhouse Project metamorphosed to become the Design Museum relocating to a purpose-built, modernist building in Butlers Wharf close to Tower Bridge.
Also funded principally by The Conran Foundation, the objective of the Design Museum was to stimulate interest in the design of the industrially produced object. Opening to the public in 1990, the first exhibitions were wide ranging and included Porsche, Alfa Romeo, the Bauhaus – Charles & Ray Eames and Brunel. It was the first museum in the world dedicated to the promotion and examination of design.
