It’s like Master Chef meets The Apprentice... but for interior design
INTERIOR MASTERS DESIGN SEES 10 FLEDGLING DESIGNERS COMPETE FOR A PRESTIGIOUS CONTRACT. GEORGIA HUMPHREYS FINDS OUT MORE FROM THE SERIES’ EXPERT JUDGE MICHELLE OGUNDEHIN
Can you sum up what to expect from Interior Design Masters?
I SAW it as a show that really celebrates what it takes to be a great interior designer. It’s kind of like Master Chef meets The Apprentice, but for interiors. Though it’s definitely not an amateur, have-a-go makeover show.
So, for me, it was exciting, because you’ll see really, really good work.
And what about your role as series judge – what does that involve?
I THINK the word ‘judge’ can be a bit loaded, that, ‘This is good and that is bad’. It’s never as clear as that with interior design; it was like, ‘This could work’, ‘This might have been better’ and, from each challenge, ‘Are they really taking on board everything they’re learning?’
Because one thing you can find with these sorts of endeavours, is the people who think they’re really, really good don’t listen as well, because they don’t think they’ve got anything to learn.
Fearne [Cotton, presenter] got to do nice huggy stuff, and I had to be a little bit more removed and sometimes a little bit harder on them.
The competitors are made to work in teams too, right?
IT’S easy to think, ‘It’s all about me’, and it’s like, ‘No it’s not, it’s also about how well you fit with other people, how well you negotiate, how well you can talk with your clients, how well you can just be a team player’.
So that was just as important, and I think that was quite a hard learning curve for some of them.
How impressed were you with the calibre of the talent on show?
IF I could have bet on who I thought would win from the beginning, I would have been wrong, because every single week a different person absolutely pulled it out of the bag.
The quality of their work was extraordinary, which is why I think this is going to be such a great show, because you fall in love with the people, you care about them, but you’re also getting loads of really great ideas.
Was it quite an intense shoot?
FOR me, not bad. I get the jolly bit, I just waft in at the end and go, ‘Ooh wow, not sure I’d have done that!’
Giving verdicts is always tough because they want this so badly – this is a game-changing thing for them. So, to know I’m going to have to be the one to tell them this is where this dream ends is pretty hard, but I tried to do it with lots of what was really good about what they’d achieved.
As we went on through the series, it got harder and harder to draw a line between them. Did contestants get emotional? WE had some tears. I think there were even a few tantrums, a little bit of falling out... Lots of hugs!
You can’t do interior design half-heartedly. It’s quite personal as well, because you’re bringing your view of what you think makes a room or space beautiful, and someone else might not like it.
In the early days in your career, that can feel quite hurtful, or you could take it quite personally. As you get older, you realise it’s not personal at all and you adapt.
Why do audiences love design shows so much?
IT’S inspiring because you see real people doing stuff and think, ‘Wow, I would never have thought to have painted my room that colour, but I could do that’.
I personally very firmly believe that you do not need to have a lot of money to really make a significant difference to your home, and it will make you feel better.
You’ve appeared in other shows, such as Grand Designs. How do you feel the TV industry is changing?
I’M very happy with what I see as the rise of presenters with a level of expertise. You want to know that people are talking about stuff that they actually care about... And I think the consumer, they’re smarter and smarter and smarter.
I think we’ve passed that era of shows that might have cut from the person going, ‘Oh I don’t mind what they do, as long as they don’t paint it pink’ and the gleeful designer on the side opening a tin of pink paint going, ‘I think they’re going to love this’. You’d just never do that in real life.
We’ve passed that era of shows that might have cut from the person going, ‘Oh I don’t mind what they do, as long as they don’t paint it pink’ and the gleeful designer... opening a tin of pink paint going... ‘They’re going to love this’