In 1971, as Ringo Starr was transitioning from The Beatles to being a solo act, he also turned a hobby into a profession.
That hobby was designing steel furniture, which you can see in a newly released archival video from the BBC.
On September 16th, 1971, Ringo was a guest on the network’s children show Blue Peter, where he showed off some of his work including a round steel tower with shelves, a steel table featuring Rolls Royce grills on either end, and a kinetic sculpture.
The table was the only one made, as he says in the video, because “the radiators are very hard to come by because you phone up Rolls and they say ‘Well, what’s the chassis number?’ So they’re very hard to get, but we found this man who got them — I don’t know how he got them — but he sold them to us. He ran in with them in a little bag and said, ‘give me money’ and off he went.”
Ringo established the company ROR, short for “Ringo or Robin,” the latter being his business partner and designer Robin Cruickshank, in 1968. It was run out of The Beatles’ Apple offices on London’s Saville Road, before eventually opening a small store.
The company did quite well, having been commissioned to work on various projects, including for clients such as British Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, actor Christopher Plummer, Rod Stewart, David Bowie and Elton John.
In 1982 they received a $10 million commission to redesign the interior of the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi.
We reached out to Ringo to see if he still designs the odd piece now and again, and his spokeswoman said she will ask him.
REUTERS PHOTO
