Little space with a big impact: Talking about 430 King’s Road at ICA interior design symposium in March
//Portfolio shot of the newly completed Seditionaries, 430 King’s Road, London SW10, December 1976.
(c) Ben Kelly//
Interior Design: Dead Or Alive is the title of the symposium being organised by the prominent British designer Ben Kelly at London’s Institute Of Contemporary Arts on March 14.
I am a contributing speaker alongside writer/curator Michael Bracewell, designers Fred Deakin, Ed Barber & Jay Osgerby and Peter Saville, artists Lucy McKenzie and Bridget Smith and David Toop of the London College Of Communications and Tate Britain’s Andrew Wilson.
“We’re going to be taking stock of the ways in which iconic interiors affect and influence the direction of popular culture and the wider world,” says Kelly, who is putting the event together in his capacity as professor of interior design and spatial studies at the University of the Arts London.
//Portfolio shot of the freshly installed Seditionaries name plaque, December 1976. (c) Ben Kelly//
Among Kelly’s designs was the November 1976 transformation of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s shop Sex at 430 King’s Road into Seditionaries. Knowing that I have researched and produced a substantial document on the history of 430 King’s Road, Kelly has asked me to address this little space with a big impact in terms of its importance as a cultural hub and incubator of often radical ideas.
My presentation will focus on the magic conjured in 430 Kings Road by tracing the building’s story, from the centuries prior to construction in the 1870s amid down-at-heel Bohemia to the eight fashion incarnations and the shifting series of interiors from the mid 1960s to the early 80s (since when it has remained unchanged as Westwood’s Worlds End, bar a facelift currently being completed).
//1750: The fields of Chelsea Farm. Future position of 430 Kings Road marked by red dot//
//1894: World’s End. Alfred Withers’ Pawnbroker’s at 430 Kings Road is marked in red//.
//1941: Air-raid wardens paint kerb outside 430 Kings Road//
//1956: The new Cremorne Estate. Ida Docker’s Cafe at 430 King’s Road is marked in red//
//1968: Ad for Hung On You in Oz magazine, issue 12//
Through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, 430 Kings Road became one of the most significant addresses in post-war pop culture, acting as a magnet for a diverse cast of characters who alchemised cutting-edge ideas and fast-tracked them into the mainstream.
As per Evelyn Waugh’s 30s summation of the effect of the Worlds’ End locale, 430 Kings Road wreaked transformations: “The docile became angry, the resigned querulous”.
//430 King’s Road left to right from top: The 430 Boutique 1965-67; Hung On You 1967-69; Mr Freedom 1969-70; Paradise Garage 1971; Let It Rock 1971-72; Too Fast To Live 1972-74; Sex 1974-76; Seditionaries, 1976-1980; World’s End 1981 to date. Photographs: Sukita Matayoshi, David Parkinson; Pathe; Rex;
Michael Roberts; Peter Schlesinger//
Equal parts retail environment, counterculture testbed and art installation, the successive manifestations at the address continue to resonate throughout creative communities in the digital age.
My presentation will include the first public discussion of my research and rare and previously unseen photography and footage.
The other speakers and their subjects at Interior Design: Dead Or Alive are:
• Michael Bracewell – The British Art School and the Interior
• Fred Deakin – The Digital Interior
• Lucy McKenzie – Art and the Interior
• Barber Osgerby – The Ace Hotel, Shoreditch
• Peter Saville – The Mayfair apartment he occupied in the 90s
• Bridget Smith – The Social Interior
• David Toop – The Sound of the Interior
• Andrew Wilson – Richard Hamilton and the Interior
Interior Design: Dead Or Alive is staged as part of ICA Symposia in collaboration with the Institute’s university partners – read more about the event here and book tickets here.