Designers await reaction to fly-on-the-wall US TV show
DEVOL INSTALLS HIGH-END KITCHENS FOR THE STARS
THE team at designer kitchens company deVOL are on tenterhooks to see how a fly-on-the-wall show about them goes down in the UK and US.
For the past few months, cameras have been following its staff around as they work on some of the poshest homes in Britain.
The series, For the Love of Kitchens, is airing on America’s Magnolia Network – launched by celebrity home makeover specialists Chip and Joanna Gaines – and will stream on Discovery+ over here.
The eight episodes centre on deVOL founder Paul O’Leary and creative director Helen Parker – who are a couple – and managing director Robin McLennan as they oversee the English business, based at historic Cotes Mill, on the banks of the River Soar, near Loughborough.
The £20 million turnover business, which Paul built from the ground up, has worked for the rich and famous on both sides of the Atlantic, and now has two showrooms in London’s trendy Clerkenwell and another in the fashionable No-Ho district in Manhattan.
Over the years, the team has installed kitchens for celebrities including Zoe Ball and movie stars Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.
Paul said it was hard work and at times terrifying having a TV crew follow them around, but was also great fun and he hopes the added exposure will pay off.
For the Love of Kitchens does not just feature their kitchens, he said, but also deVOL products such as a new paint range, lighting, sinks, furniture and antiques.
Paul said: “We also make inspirational visits in it, going to places we’ve always been interested in and we talk about what we love and what inspires us.
“We also have a chance to meet interesting people we’ve got to know on Instagram, which was quite fun.
“The show doesn’t just show kitchens, but all the work we do designing new products.
“We’ve had to make sure all the products featured are going to be in stock and online, just in case.
“When they announced the show we got 1,000 brochure requests in a day.
“People use them as a coffee table book and we have to sell the copies – it’s called the Book of Kitchens.
“We were spending £40,000 printing them every two months.”
Paul said they had been lucky to have some control over how the series was filmed and edited and were really happy with the result.
He said: “The Magnolia Network have been really, really good to deal with and they’ve been talking about a second and third series from the start, but my response was ‘let’s wait and see how it goes down’”.
“I do think it’s pretty good and I’ve been watching some of their other shows, and even went back to watch an old episode of Changing Rooms.
“It’s a fascinating industry and it’s got my creative juices flowing and made me want to do more – exactly what that will be I have no idea.
“These chances do not come along very often and sometimes you have to jump in the deep end and hope for the best.
“It’s not something you have complete control over so you do have to have trust in people.”