I’m really excited to share this Colour Couch interview with you because this time I am sitting down with the winner of this year’s BBC Interior Design Masters, John Cooper. If you watched the series like I did, each episode was a must watch. I always enjoyed seeing what John would come up with and whether he would manage to get everything finished in time. There were a few nail biting moments along the way.

And the funny thing is, this conversation very nearly did not happen. Back in October at Decorex in London, I was sitting in the VIP lounge having a coffee when I looked up and spotted John, with runner up Rita beside him, wandering past as if the universe had timed it perfectly. I had been wanting to interview them ever since the series ended, so I thought, it’s now or never. I jumped up and ran after them.

They had cake in hand, balancing their cups of coffee, trying to work out where they could sit, and there I was suddenly appearing in front of them. Yet even with all that going on, they both said yes on the spot. It was the loveliest and slightly surreal moment, and I’m so glad I trusted my instinct to go over.

If you would like to explore everything we covered in our chat, here is where to begin.

Just below the video you will find the full written interview with the classic On the Colour Couch questions, along with John’s insights into his experience creating his John Lewis collection.

If you want to go a little deeper, the video has even more. We talk about his life before the show, how teaching shaped his approach to design, and why stepping into bold colour can change not just a space but how we feel in it. We also dive into his time on Interior Design Masters, how he navigated those tense sofa moments, and what it was really like to design his collection for John Lewis. How he had to keep being on the show hidden from his students. It is a conversation filled with honesty, warmth and plenty of colour. If you love colour, you’ll love this!

Read The Colour Couch Interview

Below is a small taste of the questions I asked John. If you’re curious to hear the whole story, you can watch the full interview here.

What is your earliest colour memory?

I was born in the 70s, so I grew up surrounded by that classic 1970s interior palette of browns, oranges, warm yellows and olive drab greens. Everything inside had that earthy, cosy feel. But what really stands out in my memory isn’t the inside of the house at all, it was the outside.

The front of our house, and the garage door too, were painted this vivid turquoise. I must have been under five, but I can still see that bright colour so clearly in my mind. It really stood out against all those muted tones. Looking back, I think everyone in that street had their own distinctive colour for their front door and garage door. Maybe that was just the thing to do at the time.

And funnily enough, that turquoise has found its way back into my life. We’ve got a decked area at the back of the garden where we painted two wooden benches in the same bright turquoise. It’s such a happy, lively colour. Perfect for sitting out in the sun with a drink, surrounded by cushions, and soaking up the atmosphere.

What does colour mean to you now?

It has changed over the years. When you’re young, colour is just something that is there. You don’t really give it much thought, apart from maybe having a favourite colour. I went through art school as a student, and that is where I learned about colour, the significance of colour and colour relationships.

After years of teaching colour theory to children, I see it now as one of the tools in my designer’s toolkit, along with pattern and texture. It’s one of the things I use to set a mood, create an atmosphere, or tell a story.

I often compare colour to baking. You have all these ingredients and sometimes you think they couldn’t possibly work together. But it comes down to the combination and the quantity of each ingredient you use. The same applies to colour. You can have unexpected combinations that work beautifully depending on the quantities you put together. That’s what makes it exciting.

It is one of those core ingredients in creating a space or designing a product, and it has a huge influence on the people who experience it.

Do you have a favourite colour now? Is there a colour that you feel you gravitate more towards?

I’ve got a kind of twofold answer to that one. For as long as I can remember, my favourite colour’s been red, a vivid red. It’s got an intensity, a confidence and a warmth that I absolutely love.

I don’t know if it’s because I was quite a shy child and teenager that I used a really bold colour to express myself, maybe.

Red’s one of those colours people are often terrified of using. When the whole unexpected red theory came up on social media, I found that really exciting. I loved seeing people start to use it, even if it was just one item.

For the longest time I’ve wanted to do a red room, and my wife’s always been a bit worried about me going down that road, but she’s finally agreed. So there’s a red room coming up in our home renovation.

What was it like being on Interior Design Masters?

Being on Interior Design Masters was an absolutely incredible experience. I’d applied a few times before, so when I finally got the call to say it was happening, it felt like a real pinch me moment. I remember thinking, oh my goodness, I’m actually going to be on that show I sit and watch. How am I going to do this?

It was probably the most intense thing I’ve ever done. I’ve worked in industries with tight deadlines, but nothing at the pace you work on that show. The budgets are small, the time frames are short, and all of that creates the jeopardy that makes the show entertaining. When you’re living it, there’s definitely stress, but I was enjoying the process so much.

I spent a considerable amount of time on the sofa, and at no point was I not enjoying that either. For me it was another part of the whole experience. You only see a few minutes on television, but in reality you can be on the sofa for up to an hour and a half. They edit out all the lovely bits, because the audience wants the juicy drama, but the judges also talk through what went well and why. I actually found it really useful.

As a school teacher I’m usually the one giving the critique, so suddenly being the one on the receiving end felt like everything I tell my students. Be open minded. Explore. You’ll get things wrong. Don’t take it personally. So I had to practise what I preach. A learner’s mindset really helps. If you go in defensive, it won’t serve you.

There were brilliant designers on the show. Sometimes someone made a mistake not because they weren’t good enough, but because they were pushing themselves and taking risks, which is how amazing things happen.

Overall, it was exciting, intense, and completely different from anything I’d ever done before.

I loved the whole wild ride.

Your prize for winning BBC1 Interior Design Masters 2025, was to create a collection with department store John Lewis. What was that like?

It was an absolutely incredible prize. When we found out that was going to be the prize, we all got quite excited. We didn’t know at the start of the show what the prize would be, so it was a real surprise.

What was amazing is that we’d only just finished filming. We wrapped on a Friday in Portmeirion, and by Monday I was on my way to London to meet the team at John Lewis head office and start designing. It was crazy in the best way.

When I arrived, I met so many people. They’d already been briefed on the spaces I’d created on the show and had picked out their favourites.

They wanted to see whether our favourites aligned, because that would become the starting point for the collection.

One that stood out for both of us was the monochrome geometric office I designed for the shipping container challenge. It totally surprised me that they were so keen on it, because it felt so un John Lewis, but that was exactly what excited them. It gave them the chance to do something really different.

I thought they might want to water it down, but not at all. They actually pushed it further than I would’ve done. My instinct told me to trust them. They know their target market and they know what sells. So I went in with a learner’s mindset.

On the first day I found myself designing cushions. I started on the computer but then asked if could I have a pencil and paper instead as I needed to draw by hand.

They showed me samples of all the techniques they could use, and we started having these great conversations: can we combine this technique with that one, can we do it in this colour way? A lot of the time the answer was, I don’t know, but we can find out. Let’s see. They were so open to every idea.

They were absolutely fabulous to work with.

Is there a colour you find more challenging or one you tend to avoid?

I do find blue quite challenging. I don’t know whether it’s because I live in the north of England and it’s quite cold, and blue is an intrinsically cold colour. I don’t want to make my already freezing house feel any colder just through the colour I use.

I tend to use blue more as an accent if I use it at all. In the red room I’m doing, for example, there are some elements of blue in there, quite a deep, rich blue. But pale blue is probably the colour I struggle with the most

Were you ever scared of colour or afraid of colour, or have you always have you always loved it?

I think as a child and a teenager I was never hesitant about using colour. I wasn’t scared of it at all. I think it’s one of those things that can set in as you get older. People become hesitant about using colours and think everything’s got to be neutral and safe. To some extent that did set in for me.

I’ve been quite lucky throughout my life. Before teaching I worked as a costume maker and I worked as an architectural modeller.

When I first worked as an architectural modeller I was actually employed as a sculptor because they wanted sculptures to represent where the buildings were going to be on a master plan. I got to work with a fabulous architect who’s sadly now passed away. His name was Will Alsop. His buildings are out there. They’re bright, they’re colourful, they’re crazy shapes. I was very lucky to have that as an influence in my mid to late twenties. It’s always been there at the back of my mind.

Then you go into teaching, which is a very structured and safe profession. And of course you do something wild when you’re middle aged and decide to go on a TV show. At that point I think I was a little bit safe with colours. I like colours and I like a richness to colour, but quite muted.

Following the show, I’ve become open to every possibility with colour. I just thoroughly enjoy it. As an entry point for people, I think the safest thing to do is take an item, a chair or a side table, choose your favourite colour, pick the most vivid tone of that colour and paint the height of that colour. See how it sits with you. If you don’t like it, strip the paint off or paint it a neutral colour.

But if you do like it, you’ve just taken your first step in a really exciting journey. Doing it on something small like that to begin with is probably the way forward.

For anyone afraid of colour what would your number 1 piece of advice be?

I would say start with your favourite colour and then turn it up to the most vivid tone. You have got to do that, just to see how it makes you feel when you see it in a space.

When I was on Interior Design Masters, Craig Masson was the master of doing this. He had such confidence in using colour and in combining colours and patterns. I was in awe of him. Everyone who watched the show would have seen that, but working alongside him really showed me how he does it.

When we did the shop challenge together, he gave me some advice that really stuck with me. He said, “Choose a colour scheme, and whatever happens, stick with it and make it work.” That was brilliant advice. It helped me through the rest of the show, and I think it is good advice for anyone decorating their own home too. Choose your colour, stick with it, do it, and see how it feels once it is there.

I also remember listening to Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen speaking about colour. He said, “Do what makes you feel alive in your space. Do what makes you happy and do not worry about what other people think.” You are creating that space for yourself. He talked about how, during lockdown, so many people found themselves in beige or grey boxes and suddenly wanted to bring colour back in.

Which colourful person do you most admire and would love me to interview for the On the Colour Couch series?

I am going to say Craig Masson because without the things he discussed with me about doing the show and the use of colour, I probably would not have won it. I hold him in such high regard.

He just uses colour wonderfully. He would be the most fabulous interviewee as well. He is an absolute darling. He is lovely.

My takeaways from chatting with John

I hope you enjoyed this episode of On the Colour Couch. What a joy it was to dive into John’s world and hear how colour has shaped his life, his creativity and the way he now approaches design.

What really struck me was John’s openness. The way he talks about colour as something to play with and experiment with, and his willingness to push himself beyond what feels safe. His story shows how our relationship with colour can shift over time, especially when we give ourselves permission to explore it more deeply.

I also loved hearing how his childhood turquoise has found its way back into his life, how red has always been his bold companion and how green has quietly become his go to. It is such a lovely reminder that the colours we connect with are never random. They come with memories, emotions and a sense of who we are becoming.

John’s advice is simple and powerful. Start with your favourite colour, turn it up, place it somewhere small and see how it feels. There is something wonderfully freeing about that. It invites curiosity rather than fear.

So I am curious. Has John inspired you to try something a little braver? Is there a colour you have been avoiding that might deserve another chance? And if you turned up your favourite colour to its most vivid tone, what might that unlock for you?

If you would like to watch the full conversation you can find it here.

If you would like to discover more about John Cooper, head over to his Instagram @john_cooper_design.

If you would like to check out John’s collaboration with John Lewis (John Lewis X John Cooper) head over here.

If you would like to watch BBC Interior Design Masters 2025 series head over here.

Wishing you a colourful day,
Karenx

Image courtesy of John Cooper.