Conran’s de Trense sets up as consultant

Conran Design Group new business development director Peers de Trense has left the company after ten years in the role.

De Trense (pictured) left the Havas-owned consultancy at the end of last week, after working out a year’s notice. There will not be a direct replacement at the consultancy, but the task of new business will be given to marketing manager Thom Breslin. However, de Trense will continue to work with CDG on a store design project in Beirut, Lebanon, for Kuwaiti supermarket retailer Sultan Centre.

He is to set up as an independent adviser to start-up design consultancies, explains de Trense. ‘It was time for a change, as ten years is a long stint in the same role. This was a planned move, which [CDG managing director David Worthington] and I discussed some time ago,’ he says.

He is lining up advisory roles at a couple of ‘young start-up’ consultancies, which ‘have lots of design talent but not much experience developing a business’.

Worthington says the fundamentals of the business will not change following De Trense’s departure, adding that he is looking to grow the consultancy. ‘Any business which doesn’t grow is a hobby,’ he says.