Since bursting onto our screens in 2003 as the face of Changing Rooms, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has become a household name in British interior design.
As well as running his own business, the TV favourite also has a string of successful product ranges, a Littlewoods collection and is head judge on an interior designing reality show in Asia.
Best known for his flamboyant flair and forward-thinking designs, the 44-year-old has established himself as the ‘go-to-guy’ of style and the long-haired celeb had nothing but praise for Manchester when he stopped off in the city to host the Christmas Ideal Home Show last week.
“I’ve said several times that I feel that actually people in Manchester are better dressed than people in London. It’s a very style conscious place”, he told MM.
“I think a lot of time Manchester homes are much better designed than London homes because there’s an individuality, a sense of feeling confident about personality which means people are much more creative.”
He added: “There’s almost a bit more pride involved they’ll spend a little bit more time to get ready, they do their makeup they do their hair. London’s still quite grungy theirs sort of haughtiness about London and Londoners compared to people from Manchester.”
Along with his involvement with the Ideal Home Show, Llewelyn-Bowen also manages to juggle various other projects which include a hit reality show in the Middle-East, The Apartment.
The series challenges teams to design and decorate homes to be judged by the man himself and has a worldwide viewership of 120 million people.
Although he’s not afraid to appear on reality TV, the Kensington star says he won’t be ditching his sharp suits and caviar to head into the celebrity jungle any time soon.
“I constantly get asked which is very gratifying, very sweet of them but the problem I have is that I have a real job, taking that time off to do that would not really work,” the 49-year-old said.
“I actually quite like the idea of surviving in a jungle clearing for 3 or 4 weeks, I don’t necessarily think that you need Ant and Dec with you when you do it, I’d probably end up eating them to be honest, well the slower moving one, whichever that one is.”
However, UK audiences can look forward to seeing him back on screens next year with a new series on BBC 2 which he described as a ‘Who Do You Think You Are for the house’, an idea inspired by the importance of history to the British and in the home.
“History is very important to the British there’s no doubt about it and one of the things that I want to do with this series is say to people you don’t have to do a Grand Designs, you don’t have to get rid of history to live in the 21st century,” Lleleywn-Bowen said.
“It can sit very easily with a flat screen plasma television, we don’t have to live in a museum but it is nice to reflect on where you come from as well as where you want to go to when in the way that you design your space.”
Image courtesy of Littlewoods, via Youtube, with thanks.