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Living The Dream
Face To Face: Nadiya Hussain
Petite, passionate and articulate, Nadiya Hussain - winner of The Great British Bake Off in 2015 and now a TV chef, presenter and author - has carved a very special place in the British public’s hearts. With her first foray into licensing this month, PG&H caught up with her lively Q & A session at the recent Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) show to hear about her new homewares range for BlissHome, and why she can’t resist the temptation to buy her friends and family random gifts at random times of the year!
winning The Great British Bake Off in 2015 has taught Nadiya Hussain anything, it’s to have more self confidence and self belief. “My husband Abdul entered me for Bake Off and I went along with it to humour him,” she reveals. “However, amazingly, after six months of auditions I made it through to the final 12!” Avid Bake Off fans will remember her heartfelt, tearful winner’s speech, which certainly wasn’t put on for the cameras. Nadiya takes up the story. “On the day of the final, friends and family are invited along to stand outside the tent to shout their support and cheer the finalists as they come out. Through the tent, I could hear someone ask my daughter if they thought I would win. Her reply was, “my mum doesn’t win anything,” which, to be honest, didn’t do much to boost my confidence!” she smiles. In fact, Nadiya didn’t think she should win either. “I thought Tamil should have won,” she admits. “I said that to Paul Hollywood and actually gave the trophy back to him and suggested we should re-film the final,” she laughs. But today, she admits that she wouldn’t part with it, with her Bake Off trophy which is displayed proudly in Abdul’s office.
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But whereas most winners of Bake Off, and other cookery shows, fade away, Nadiya’s life has changed beyond her wildest dreams. She has not only become a familiar chef on our TV screens, but also has a cookery column in the Times magazine on Saturdays, and works with BBC Good Food. Discovering her innate creative streak since winning the title, she has also written eight books and is a popular TV presenter. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of, and one more dream that has come true for Nadiya this month is the launch of Nadiya for BlissHome. The range, which was launched on November 7, has been inspired by Nadiya’s love of vibrant colours and tactile designs, and is the result of her passion to produce something beautiful and handcrafted that can be used every day. It features eight different designs across the full tableware range, as well as kitchen candles, aprons, oven gloves, tea towels and spice racks. There are tapas bowls too, for dips and nibbles. With Christmas gifts in mind, the candles feature five different designs with tasty Top: Nadiya with her MasterChef trophy in 2015. Right: The colourful bowls in the new Nadiya range for BlissHome feature four different designs.
Desert Island ‘Must Haves’ What couldn’t Nadiya do without if she was stranded on a desert? “Marmite crisps and a radio,” she laughs. Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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