Sir Terence Conran is a workaholic - at 77, he's even joined the mydeco Design Board . Born in 1931, he founded Habitat and has been celebrated for starting a design revolution that has made good design accessible to the masses. He talks exclusively about interior trends and lighting that makes you jaded.
I live... in an 18th Century country house with very modern interiors. It's large, comfortable and filled with natural light which creates a fresh atmosphere. I have always liked to mix antique and flea market furnishings with the finest and latest modern designs.
The best room in my house is... my huge, airy kitchen. It is a family room for cooking, eating and socialising. We have a wonderful 33-year-old AGA which makes the most splendid roasts and is the star of our kitchen.
My favourite piece of furniture is... the Karuselli chair, which is the most comfortable chair I know and is wonderful to sit in because it relaxes you.
I would be lost without... my work. It gives me so much pleasure. I don't play golf and I am not very good at idling time away. I want to go out with one final project on the go.
People are always surprised... when I say the object that I am most proud of designing is a plain white teacup (£3.95) from the Casper dinnerware range. The porcelain and beatiful, organic shape feels great in your hands.
I adore... an antique table that I bought from a market in Isle sur Sorgue in Provence. It was made in the 1920s, has a decorative metal frame and a glass top. It was very damaged when I bought it and it practically had to be remade.
I am incredibly proud of... my range for Royal Doulton, the Biblioteque table (£3595) I designed for Benchmark, the Bibendum restaurant and the Michelin Building which our architects so splendidly restored.
I am tremendously excited about... launching the Boundary [hotel and restaurant] later this year in Shoreditch. I am looking to develop my branded collections such as Content by Conran, Light by Conran, Bed by Conran and my collection for Royal Doulton even further.
I actually rather hoped that... one of my children might become a first-class lawyer or accountant - no such luck!
I tried to impress upon my children that... whatever you do you should design and make things that improve the quality of people's lives whether it be their clothes, food, furniture or environment.
Everybody is fascinated by... my giant map of London from the 1740s done by the surveyor, John Roque. It is painstaking in its detail, showing every imaginable nook and cranny of London and the wiggle of the Thames.
Trends in interior design fluctuate like... hemlines, but notions of comfort and intimacy are timeless. There is no magic formula. What is airy and uplifting to one person is sparse and cold to another; what one person may consider cosy may give somebody else indigestion.
The greatest thing in my life is... the fact that everything I do, I do for pleasure. Design is my hobby and whether it is opening restaurants, shops or hotels, designing furniture or writing books, it has never felt like a job.
A simple, yet dramatic way of changing an interior is to... improve the quality of light, as this directly affects the way we feel. Where possible, flood a room with as much natural light as possible.
Improving the arrangement of lighting can... transform a room from somewhere that makes you feel jaded or ill at ease for no readily identifiable reason into somewhere that is positively alive with vitality and warmth.
As designers... we have a great deal of power and responsibility to find eco-friendly solutions to very serious and very real problems that loom large over future generations.
If my house was burning down... I would return - after saving my wife - to collect my collection of 19 Bugatti pedal cars that I have hung in the entrance hall, and some HB pencils, a note book and my favourite Japanese bowl.
Good design... improves quality of life, but unless you put it in front of people, they simply can't like or buy it.
mydeco... has brought the design community together in an innovative and useful way that allows people to interact with each other. The average home in the UK these days looks much better because shops like IKEA, Habitat and The Conran Shop have started offering good design to a wider audience.
Magazines and television programmes demonstrate that... people can enjoy a better style of life when they make choices about their homes. mydeco is the latest incarnation of this, and will hopefully help continue the enthusiasm that people have for their homes.
I would never leave the house without... an interesting place to visit or something exciting to do, like a visit to my vegetable garden.
