Will Conran be lured back to his natural Habitat?

Business Profile: Style guru eyes an opportunity to revive the retail chain that made his name

When you visit Sir Terence Conran you expect the design guru's environment to be styled to within an inch of its life – all blonde wood and glossy magazines. But the Habitat founder's London habitat overlooking Butler's Wharf is surprisingly, how should we put it, relaxed?

Sure, there are lots pleasingly styled people around (both glossy and blonde). But the man himself works in an office that has rather a lot of clutter for someone who has apparently been trying to "de-accessorise" his life. There are cardboard boxes stacked on his impressive wooden desk, piles of dog-eared magazines such as Blueprint and a large collection of Michelin men. "We own the Michelin building [in South Kensington] and people find them when they are out and about and give them to me," he explains.

Perhaps all the design treatment has been saved for his penthouse apartment upstairs. "I love living here," he says in his soft voice with rounded vowels. "I sleep out the back [overlooking the dock] and it's very quiet, apart from in the morning when you get police boats and planes coming out of Heathrow."

Sir Terence Conran is back. The man who gave us Habitat in the 1960s, the Storehouse retail conglomerate in the 1980s and a revolution in London restaurants in the Nineties, is returning to what he loves best; designing mass-market furniture that has been blessed with the Conran touch.

The reason is a new venture with Christie-Tyler, Britain's biggest furniture maker, to produce a new range called "Content by Conran". The deal will see Sir Terence design a 70-piece range that will be launched to the trade in January and on sale in shops by next summer. It is not simply a design brief either, but a new joint-venture company. Christie-Tyler holds 75 per cent and provides cash and manufacturing expertise, with Conran Holdings owning the remaining 25 per cent in return for design expertise.

Now 71 but with an enthusiasm and healthy look that belies his years, Sir Terence is clearly relishing the return to his roots. Wearing his trademark deep-blue shirt and cradling a huge cigar, he waxes lyrical about the job in hand. "It seems a wonderful opportunity," he says. "I've always been interested in producing intelligently designed products for as many people as possible. Although for the last 12 years I've been in the top quartile [with his upmarket Conran Shops], I've always been interested in the middle market and Christie-Tyler is biggest furniture company in Britain with a very, very bright bunch of people."

These people include James Benfield, a former Marks & Spencer marketing director who now runs Christie-Tyler and Sally Smith, a highly regarded designer.

The idea, he says, is to create mass-market furniture brand that is not linked to a major retailer. "We've been designing this for the department stores and the independent shops who are longing to have a branded range. If you think about it there are hundreds of clothing brands and yet can you think of a brand of furniture?" I mention G-Plan, owned by Christie-Tyler and he laughs. "You're showing your age there."

The Content by Conran range is divided into four sub-brands: fashion, town, coastal and loft-living, with prices ranging from £200 for an occasional table to sofas for under £800. Individual pieces include a red two-seater love chair and a trendy coffee table with sunken middle and storage around the edge for CDs and DVDs.

Designing it was rather fun, he says. "I happened to be going on holiday to my house in France and I found I really got going there. After I'd read a couple of trashy novels and let the tension drift away I sat down in the garden with a bottle of wine and ended up faxing five designs a day back to the office. I didn't design all the pieces myself – it's a team effort – but the majority came out of that two weeks."

The store he would really love to stock the new range is Habitat. Ah, yes, Habitat, the store that created designer chic in the Sixties but has lost its way under Ikea's ownership. "The best thing Habitat could do is take this range of furniture but I don't think they will because it is all so Ikea- fied now."

Sir Terence clearly doesn't think much of what Ikea has done to his baby. "There's nobody running it with any passion for it. The staff don't have a leader. I go in the shops and see some things that are very good but the shops themselves just feel listless."

Would he ever try to buy it back, giving the rumours that Ikea might be willing to sell? "A lot of people have asked me about buying it back," he says. How many? "Four, one pure venture capital company and three others with retail interests. If someone did buy it I'd be happy to get involved again. I wouldn't buy it back myself, I've gone there and done that."

Might he have a stake, though? "I might have some options," he says smiling. "I would like to help re-energise the business."

Sir Terence is scathing about what has happened to some of the other Storehouse businesses. Here he is on Mothercare. "Despite ridiculous mis-management over the years it remains a strong brand. I met the new guy [Ben Gordon] who came in to see me to get a sense of the history. I think he has a good chance of turning it round."

And Bhs? "I think it's terrible. It seems to have gone back to the rather cheap and cheerful look it had before we started to make the changes. Philip Green is a bright operator and I'm sure he is doing a terrific job making money out of the business. But as far as improving some of the merchandise available to the British customer, it doesn't seem to have progressed."

And what next for the hard-working knight of the round tables? "We've got a new restaurant in the Royal Exchange in the City of London in the middle of next year and we will be opening in Canary Wharf too."

It certainly sounds like retirement is a long way off for this thrifty veteran of the designer scene who takes no pay or dividends from his companies and exists on book royalties instead. "Furniture designing is my passion. I even have a furniture factory in an old barn at home. I don't play golf. I don't have a yacht. I don't have any hobbies outside of what I do. And 98 per cent of what I do I do for pleasure."

SIR TERENCE CONRAN DESIGN BRIEF

Title: Chairman of Conran Holdings

Age: 71

Pay: None from Conran Holdings, which has sales of £120m and is "modestly" profitable, according to Sir Terence.

Career history: Left Central School of Arts in 1950 to join the Rayon Centre as an industrial designer. Set up own furniture-making business in 1952. Set up Conran Design Group in 1952. Opened first branch of Habitat in 1964. Created Storehouse Group which absorbed Mothercare, Bhs, Heal's and Blazer. Left in 1990. Opened Neal Street Restaurant in Covent Garden in 1971 (now owned by his brother-in-law Antonio Carluccio). Opened Bibendum restaurant in 1987, the first of a large group including Le Pont de La Tour, Quaglino's, Mezzo and the Zinc Bar and Grill. Founded the Conran Shop.

Interests: Supporting The Design Museum, food, furniture and growing vegetables.