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Up Front and Personal
Maximalism Personified With his flamboyant dress, exuberant turn of phrase and lavish designs, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen knows how to flaunt the max out of maximalism, and now he has turned his frills and flair to a range of greeting cards for The Great British Card Company (GBCC) which debuts at PG Live 2023. As LLB preens himself in readiness for his trip to the London show, PG maxed out with this self-confessed ‘original gangster of maximalism’.
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here is only one Laurence LlewelynBowen, the master of style and substance, who has built up a widespread following for his elaborate design aesthetic, distinctive eloquent verbosity and adroitly delivered witticisms. Having achieved fame and a strong following from his 30 year TV career, notably through flexing his interior design skills on Changing Rooms, he has returned to his fine art roots, setting up his own ‘glamporium’ showroom in Cirencester, his hometown for the last 15 years and sharing his design acumen through various collaborations. As if primed, Laurence countered: “I suppose because I have been around for
58 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Above: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen in his glamporium in Cirencester. Below: GBCC’s creative director Lucy Ledger has enjoyed developing the inaugural collection with Laurence.
2,000 years I am recognised, that said I am more frequently mistaken for David Grohl [of Foo Fighters fame], Captain Hook or Dick Dastardly - the first has great kudos, the latter two less so!” Somewhat at odds with his full-on natural flourishing, the collaboration with GBCC came about as a result of some chilled-out mooching by GBCC creative director Lucy Ledger. “Lucy had recently joined GBCC, which is based locally to us, and happened to pop into our showroom. Lucy is great and it is so lovely to be able to work with businesses on your doorstop, something which has definitely become more prevalent since Covid,” believes Laurence. The idea of collaborating on a collection of greeting cards was something that chimed with Laurence, both for personal and historical reasons. “Jackie [Laurence’s wife] and I have always been big greeting card senders, hoovering them up when we see something