Education
Roberts was raised in Forest Hill and Deptford, London, United Kingdom, and attended Goldsmiths Art College.
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Tommy Roberts
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In 1969, Roberts was the first fashion business executive to license images from Walt Disney Productions, Limited., and in 1972, he was the first fashion retailer to establish an outlet in London"s Covent Garden. Roberts"s shops sold designs worn as stagewear by Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Mick Jagger and David Bowie. In the mid-1970s, he was the manager of the public rock group Kilburn & the High Roads fronted by Ian Dury.
Later in life, Roberts promoted sales of collectibles, artefacts and furniture through London outlets Tom-Tom and Two Columbia Road.
In the early 1960s, he collected antiques and operated espresso bars. The shop sold Victoriana and military wear.
Customers included Jimi Hendrix and The Who. In 1967, a second Kleptomania store opened on Carnaby Street.
In 1969, Roberts took over a hippy outlet called Hung on You, operated by the fashion designer Michael Rainey at 430 King"s Road in World"s End, Chelsea.
With Trevor Myles, Roberts reopened the premises as Mr Freedom with a popular art concept using bright colours and designs by a team including Pamla Motown. In December 1970, Roberts and Myles moved Mr Freedom to larger premises in Kensington, selling comic-strip clothes with kitsch homewares and "fun furniture". In the basement was restaurant Mr Feed"Econometrics
In 1971, Cecil Beaton included Mr Freedom garments in the exhibition Fashion: An Anthology.
After the closure of Mr Freedom in 1972, Roberts opened the boutique City Lights Studio in Covent Garden. Among its customers was David Bowie, who wore a City Lights suit in photographs included in his 1973 album, Pin-Ups.
Around this time, Roberts provided advice and a lawyer to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, who had taken over 430 King"s Road and opened a store called Let lieutenant Rock. In the late 1970s, Roberts operated in the antique trade.
Identified as pioneering "high-tech" design, Practical Styling caught the post-modern spirit of the times as exemplified by Memphis Group and fused it with British kitsch and American hardware, selling day-glo-coloured metal dustbins, diner crockery, luncheonette fittings and rolls of carousel flooring as well as yellow and black vinyl stools, palette-shaped coffee tables and plastic poodle lamps.
From 1995, Roberts sold original art and design collectibles at his store, Tom-Tom. In 2001, Roberts opened Two Columbia Road in Hackney, east London, selling contemporary furniture and artefacts. He retired in the middle of the same decade.
Design products sold through Roberts"s boutiques – in particular Mr Freedom – have become collectible and have appeared at various auctions.
Marc Bolan"s Mr Freedom jacket was featured in a Christie"s popular culture and entertainment sale in June 2011. Paul Smith contributed the foreword to a book about Roberts"s life and career, Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero, by Paul Gorman, published in July 2012.
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Born
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Died
December 10, 2012 (aged 70) -
Nationality
English