RODNEY FITCH CBE PPD&AD PPCSD
Fulltime professor in Retail Design, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of
Industrial Design Engineering, the Netherlands.
Supervising director of the TopTech Program at Delft University of Technology on
‘Retail Design & Management’.
Background
Rodney Fitch was born in London in 1938 and studied architecture and building,
furniture, interior and theatre design at various London colleges of art and design.
Fitch discovered retail design in the 1960s after early flirtations with architecture,
theatre and TV design. Since then he has worked at the forefront of retail design
across the globe. His fame grew during his early years at the Conran Design
Group when he was closely involved with the extension and refurbishment of
Terminal 1 at Heathrow for BAA. He also created the first Board of Trade/Design
Council led overseas exhibition on design in Moscow and went on to work closely
with Terence Conran on the creation, development and design of Habitat. By
1968 he was Chief Creative Officer and Managing Director of Conran Design
Group.
In 1970 he decided to branch out alone and in 1972 founded Fitch and Company.
From its inauguration, with 10 employees in 1972 the firm grew rapidly and by
1990 had 450 employees in offices in Europe, the US and the Middle East.
Among its successes during those years was the creation of the Top Shop chain
for the Burton Group – the first stand-alone fashion chain for young people in the
UK. In the mid 1980s Fitch rescued the near bankrupt Debenhams department
store for the Burton Group, creating a flagship that was declared at the time to be
the ‘best department store in the world’.
Such was the success of the firm that in 1982 the company was the first such
business to obtain a full listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Since the 1980s, Rodney Fitch has famously explained his commitment to
revolutionising retail design with the words ‘shopping is the purpose of life’. His
belief in the importance of retail and of retail design remains as strong today as it
was then although his definition of ‘retail’ has evolved to reflect its evolving role in
’the realization of everything’ in our lives.
In 1990 Rodney Fitch was honoured as Commander of the British Empire, (CBE)
for his influence on the British Design Industry.
In 1994 Rodney Fitch resigned from Fitch and Company to set up Rodney Fitch
and Company and subsequently Rodney Fitch International in order to form a
new, smaller, more focussed consulting firm specialising in retail and
entertainment interiors, and brand communication graphics with projects and
clients located in Europe and SE Asia. In this period he worked with many Virgin
Group companies, Unilever and Bijenkorf in Holland as well as many retail
projects in Asia and China for clients including Swire, Hong Kong Land and
Hutchinson.
In January 2004 at the invitation of Sir Martin Sorrell, Rodney Fitch returned as
Chairman and CEO of Fitch, which had been acquired by WPP in 2003.
Over the past five years, the Fitch global studio has grown in recognition, stature,
confidence and size. The firm now has nearly 600 associates working from 20
studios, in 12 countries throughout the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia
working with clients such as HSBC, Vodafone, Nokia, Microsoft, Boeing,
Timberland and Harrods.
In addition Fitch and Company has completed an important redesign and
repositioning of Lego retail, the prototype outlet of which was declared the
European and International Store of the Year in 2004/5 by the International Store
Planners Society while Retail Week magazine declared Fitch’s new design for
Aquascutum to be UK Store of the Year in 2005. Also in 2005 the Gerber “Sippy
Cup”, created by Fitch, was declared the Best Product of the Last Decade at
IDEA 2005.
He has also created a new umbrella positioning for Fitch as the global design and
brand consultancy, whose expertise today also encompasses environments,
product development, brand communication, including live events, future insights
and strategy.
This multidisciplinary approach opines that retail, used as a noun, to describe
shopping and the selling of goods through shops is now too narrow a definition of
Fitch’s work in today’s multi polar landscape: “In today’s environment ‘to retail’ is
to distribute information and ideas whilst telling stories about products, services,
social message or political ideologies,” he says.
“Retail as a verb is where Fitch is positioned. We design consumer experiences
that enhance people’s lives across multiple points of interaction.”
Profile in Education
Rodney Fitch has also been active in the development of design education and
the arts in the UK. He is a Senior Governor of the University of the Arts, London,
helping to manage Europe’s largest collegiate university of the arts; has served
as a member of the Design Council, the Council of the Royal College of Art and
as a past President of the Designers and Art Directors Association and of the
Chartered Society of Designers.
In Holland Fitch supervises an MA course in Retail Design at the Willem de
Kooning Academy, part of the University of Rotterdam.
Since 2009 he has been appointed as supervising director of the TopTech
Program at Delft University of Technology on ‘Retail Design & Management’.
Since 2010 fulltime professor on retail Design at Delft University of Technology,
Faculty of Industrial design Engineering.
Awards
He was awarded a CBE in 1990 for his influence on the British design industry.
Outside of the UK he had the honour in 2005 to be inducted into the Legion of
Honor and Hall of Fame of the American Institute of Store Planners,
He has been a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum and is now Chairman of
V & A Enterprises, the museum’s commercial business.
Publications
Rodney Fitch has for long been identified with innovative retail design and in
1990 Phaidon published 'Fitch on Retail Design' which has become one of the
standard texts on this subject.
As a designer Rodney Fitch has produced numerous designs, only a few
examples of which has been presented below.
There are many publications about Rodney Fitch such as the following:
http://www.fitch.com/company/leadership.aspx
http://www.fitch.com/news/news-item.aspx?id=15
http://www.fitch.com/news/news-item.aspx?id=151
http://www.retail-week.com/careers/power-list-2009/rodney-fitch/5004351.article
http://www.designtaxi.com/news.php?id=13288
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php
http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/store_designer_rodney_fitch_on_retail_in
_india/
http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/search/article/408963/uk-best-deal-rodneyfitch-chairman-fitch-rs/
Over the years Fitch has given countless keynote speeches at conferences and
seminars, this year at Cannes (Lions 2009;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu7gkK3YKZ0) and Mumbai (Designyatra
2009; http://www.designyatra.com)
Professional Appointments

Elected member of Design and Art Directors Association (DADA) 1966.
Executive Management Committee member 1973/75. President in
1985/86.

Elected Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) 1978.

Council Member 1981, Treasurer 1982/84 and President 1988/90.

Fellow Royal Society of Arts (FRS), elected 1978.

Member of the board of Management of the Design Management Institute,
Boston - 1990/92.

Trustee, Cartoon Trust, London – 1990/96.

Honorary Member, since 1991 of the Association of USA Professional
Design Firms (APDF).

Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Art 1990.

Chairman, Retail Interiors Awards Committee 1997/2001.

Rotterdam University, Willem de Kooning Acadamy. Course Supervisor
‘Retail Design M.A.’, since 1997.

Inducted into the Legion of Honor and Hall of Fame of the American
Institute of Store Planners 2005.

Nominated for Prince Philip Designer of the Year 2006 (see Appendix).

Honorary Fellow, University of the Arts, London (UAL) May ‘08
Public Appointments

St Martins School of Art
Governor 1980/86.

Art Colleges Foundation Committee
Deputy Chairman 1986/89.

University of the Arts, London (formerly The London Institute)
Deputy Chairman of the Court of Governors 1989 - 2005. Chairman of the
Finance Committee 1997-20005, member Personnel/Estates and
Conferments Committees. 1989 
Public Orator for Conferment’s Ceremonies.

Royal College of Art
Member of Council 1988/94. Member of Finance committee 1989/93.

The Design Council
Member of Council 1987/94

Victoria and Albert Museum
Trustee 1990/2001 with special responsibility for V&A Enterprises and
contemporary collecting.
Board member of V&A Enterprises 1994. Chairman 2002.
Board member of The Wellington Museum at Apsley House 1998/2001.

Member of the Board, The City of London Festival of the Arts 1997/2002.

Awarded CBE 1990 “for service to design.”
Hobbies
His family, cricket and fly fishing and the opera.
Clubs
MCC, MCCC, Taverners, Forty Club and the Savile Club
Some examples of the international work of Fitch
For over thirty years the Fitch agency has led the international design industry,
working for clients all over the world on a broad portfolio of multi-disciplinary
projects ranging from brand comms and brand strategy, to live events, retail,
industrial design and fashion and style trends.
The firms’ work delivering “consumer experience” in the retail environment is
acknowledged the world over on projects across all the retail sectors; from food
and fashion, to phones and financial services; from the planning of shopping
malls to merchandising and duty free. Fitch is organised as a ‘global studio’
employing around 550 staff in twenty studios and twelve countries embracing the
Americas, EMEA and Asia the firm became a part of WPP in 2003 and is that
groups leading retail design agency, working for many of the worlds leading
retailers including: Tesco, Harrods, Walmart, Best Buy, HSBC and Nokia. The
firm has a growing presence in the emerging markets of Asia, particularly in
helping to develop the organised retail sector in India.