PRINT, PATTERN & PASSION: 5 minutes with sophie robinson Sophie Robinson is an interior stylist for leading home magazines and a TV interior design expert. Most recently she has been one half of the judging team on BBC2 ’s Great Interior Design Challenge in the UK. MOYO caught up with the self-proclaimed ‘colour lover, pattern clasher and cushion hugger’ to find out more about her love of design.
1. When did you first discover your passion for interior design? When I was about 7-years-old. I was given the opportunity to choose the decor for my bedroom and I went with a multi-coloured rainbow theme. It was the eighties so I chose graph paper style wallpaper, a rainbow border and a matching duvet and curtain set. I still remember flicking through the wallpaper book and picking out a co-coordinating border – it had me hooked for life!
2. What do you enjoy most about the creative process? I like the fact that it’s always changing – you rarely do the same thing twice. There is always a new brief, new problems to solve, new collections being launched, and new designs to choose from. It’s a very exciting and stimulating area to work in. And then you get to be creative by putting your own spin on it.
4. What do you love most about your hometown of Brighton and how has it inspired you over the course of your life and career as a designer? Brighton was where I came to do my degree and it was an amazing city as a student. It has a large and successful art college so I had a great time meeting lots of creative people. After going to London to pursue my career I noticed that all my friends had stayed in Brighton – and they seemed to be enjoying a better quality of life! So eight years ago I moved back, met my husband and started a family. I love the creative energy here, the open-minded culture and the fact that it’s less than an hour into London by train.
3. How did you become an interior stylist and what have been the highlights of your career 5. We were thrilled to see The Great Interior to date? Design Challenge return to our screens for a I did a degree in furniture design and on graduating I was second series. How would you describe the struggling to think of a career. I had a friend from university show to anyone who hasn’t seen it? whose mum was an interior stylist and she worked on the Laura Ashley catalogues, so I became her assistant. I spent my days unpacking boxes, steaming curtains, and making lunch. It was a great insight into a whole vocation I’d never even heard about. I loved the quick turn around and working with a great team of professional creative people to create gorgeous photographs. So after assisting for a few years, I went out and started styling shopping pages for home and lifestyle magazines. 5
We’re now filming the third series so it’s a real testament to the popularity of interior design that the show has been so well received. The show pitches keen amateur designers against one another. They are given the task of designing someone’s room, to their brief, within 48 hours and with a budget of just £1,000. Each designer will have a builder and a decorator but they will also carry out a large