Allen Boothroyd M Des RCA, FSCD, FRSA (1943–2020) was a British

industrial designer Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...

of consumer electronics, best known for the Lecson amplifiers, BBC Microcomputer and co-founder of Meridian Audio.

Career

Inspired by his Meccano set, Allen knew from an early age that he wanted to design mechanical objects. He went to Merchant Taylors’ school and, after a foundation year at Hornsey College of Art, went on to study Art and Design at Manchester. On graduating he obtained a scholarship to the Industrial Design department at the Royal College of Art in London. During his time there, he designed hoppers for moving books around in a bookshop, a hospital bed, a parking meter, and received a prize for his pushchair design. He was a great admirer of the designers and architects of the Bauhaus, notably Walter Gropius who designed the Dessau Art School, and Mies van der Rohe whose adage, ‘less is more’, Allen adhered to and often quoted. When Allen graduated from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

. in the 1960s, not many people knew what an industrial designer did. He was always at pains to explain that it was not just a question of the product's appearance: it encompassed all the production engineering and mechanical stages to take a product from concept to market. He was a talented draftsman and, for most of his professional life, Allen's designs were produced by hand, with 3D visuals as well as detailed engineering drawings. On graduation, he joined Hulme Chadwick and Partners, an architectural and design practice. His work there included the design of a new corporate identity for Bass Charrington.

Designs

Together with Bob Stuart, an award-winning electronics engineer, they designed the Lecson AC1 pre-amp and AP1 power amplifier which they produced in 1974. The Lecson hi-fi is now in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. It also earned them their first British Design Council Award in 1974. Allen joined Cambridge Consultants Ltd in 1972 to set up their Industrial Design division. One of his designs was an electric bicycle, which was the winner of the Prince Philip Designers Prize. In 1981, he provided the case design for the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

, the computer used in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Recognition and later life

File:Acorn atom zx1.jpg, Functions as keyboard for the

Acorn System 2 The Acorn Eurocard systems were a series of modular microcomputer systems based on rack-mounted Eurocards developed by Acorn Computers from 1979 to 1982, aimed primarily at industrial and laboratory use, but also home enthusiasts. The experience ...

and as case for the

Acorn Atom The Acorn Atom is a home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd from 1980 to 1982, when it was replaced by the BBC Micro. The Micro began life as an upgrade to the Atom, originally known as the Proton. The Atom was a progression of the MOS Techn ...

. File:BBC Micro Front Restored.jpg, The

Career

Designs

Recognition and later life

References

External links