Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

About

Laurence is a much admired homestyle consultant best known for his appearances on the BBC television programme Changing Rooms. His personal charisma and ability to inspire people to express themselves which have established him as the UK’s favourite and most easily identified interior designer–he is also one of television’s most sharply dressed men!

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen was educated at Alleyn’s School in Dulwich before graduating from the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (now a constituent college of the University of the Arts London) in 1986 with a Fine Art degree.

After graduating, Llewelyn-Bowen worked for the Harefield Group of Companies and the interior design firm Peter Leonard Associates. In 1989 he started his own design consultancy.

His wife Jackie had heard through her agent that a production company was searching for a designer and in 1996 he appeared on the first episode of Changing Rooms.

In 2004 Llewelyn-Bowen designed the interior of the Inc Bar in Greenwich, England in a former 1830s music hall.

He has also presented a three-part BBC special Taste (2002), about the history of interior design, and in autumn 2005 he began presenting the weekly BBC1 travel show Holiday 2006.

His books include Fantasy Rooms: Inspirational Designs from the BBC Series (1999), Display (2001), “Home Front”: Inside Out (2002), Design Rules (2003) and A Pinch of Posh (2006) co-written with his wife, Jackie.

He has also made a guest appearance on Changing Rooms’ American counterpart, Trading Spaces.

In March 2005 he starred in a one-off mockumentary as a prospective candidate for Parliament. His party, the Purple Party, “lobbied” for a restoration of Britain’s heritage.

In 2007 he designed Decodance for Blackpool Illuminations, featuring six illuminated burlesque beauties.

On 13 April 2009 he presented a documentary on BBC One in the West region in which he went “In Search of England’s Green & Pleasant Land”. The programme explored the threats to the rural way of life from urban creep and the loss of local services.

Laurence appeared on the 2010 series of the ITV1 reality show ‘Popstar to Operastar’ as a critic along side Meat Loaf, and classically trained mentors Katherine Jenkins and Rolando Villazón.

For the 2010 Blackpool Illuminations Laurence has become the Creative Director and has designed lots of new features trying to make the illuminations more modern. Including Dinosaurs, Vampires and Gouls.

Since 2010, Laurence has presented the daytime ITV1 show Auction Party.

He and his wife are ambassadors to the aid agency CARE International UK and in February 2008 visited the cyclone-hit areas of Bangladesh. They are also active patrons for children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent and Shooting Star Children’s Hospice

Laurence is also a patron of the children’s charity MERU, co-founded by his father Trefor Llewlyn-Bowen with Bill Bond in 1970.