Martyn Lawrence Bullard

Martyn Lawrence Bullard
Born	Martyn Lawrence Bullard (1967-03-30) 30 March 1967 London England
Residence	Los Angeles, CA
Nationality	British
Occupation	Interior designer, author, television personality
Organization	Martyn Lawrence Bullard Design
Notable work	Live, Love & Decorate
Television	Million Dollar Decorators Hollywood Me
Awards	Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year Architectural Digest AD100 Elle Decor Top 25 Designers
Website	martynlawrencebullard.com

Martyn Lawrence Bullard is a British interior designer in Los Angeles, author, and television personality.^[1] Named as one of the world's top interior designers by Architectural Digest,^[2] Bullard stars in both the Bravo series Million Dollar Decorators and Channel 4's Hollywood Me.^[3][4]

Early life

Born in London, Martyn Lawrence Bullard began his career in design while in his teens. His father, an actor turned businessman, would accompany his son to the Greenwich Antiques Market in South London, where he rented a stall. At 13, Bullard began to buy and sell what he called "oddments," and learned to identify decorator items that were valuable or well-designed.^[5] By the time he was 16, he had developed a clientele of prominent dealers and collecters, including the head buyer for Ralph Lauren Antiques, who shipped Bullard's pieces to the United States to dress the windows of Lauren's Madison Avenue and Rodeo Drive boutiques.^[6]

At 17, Bullard decided to pursue a career as an actor, and used his earnings to attend the Lee Strasberg Actors Studio in London's Covent Garden. While in school, Bullard continued to buy and sell antiques and raised enough money to move to Los Angeles in 1994.^[2][7][8]

Career

Interior design

After moving to Los Angeles, Bullard was cast in several roles, including a part as Eartha Kitt's boy toy in Ed Wood's final film, I Woke Up Early The Day I Died. One of the film's producers visited Bullard's home, and, impressed by its decor, invited Bullard to decorate his office. From there, Bullard was hired to decorate the office and home of Liz Heller, a Capitol Records executive, and was eventually asked to help create Heller's wedding to producer John Bard Manulis. As a guest at the event, he was seated next to Cheryl Tiegs, who became his first celebrity client. Together, Tiegs and Bullard transformed Tiegs' Bel Air home into a "Balinese-inspired pavilion," which was featured in publications worldwide, and appeared on the cover of more than a dozen magazines.^[5] After his success with Cheryl Tiegs' house, Bullard began to build a celebrity clientele. His early clients included Rebecca Romijn and John Stamos, Christina Aguilera, William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman, Eva Mendes, Patti LaBelle, and Edward Norton.^[1] Later, he decorated homes for Cher, Ellen Pompeo, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Aaron Sorkin, Kid Rock, and Tommy Hilfiger, among others. While best known for high-end residential design, Bullard has additionally worked on commercial properties, including the Colony Palms Hotel^[9] and the Jimmy Choo boutiques in London and Osaka, Japan.^[10] Bullard is currently designing several luxury resorts and restaraurants, including the Château Gütsch Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland, and Red O Restaurant in Newport Beach, California.^[9][10]

In 2010, Bullard won the "Oscar of the Interior Design World," the Andrew Martin International Designer of the Year Award.^[11] In 2011, Rizzolli published Bullard's book, Live, Love & Decorate, which reached its third reprint in its first 16 weeks of release, and topped the best-seller list in the interior design genre.^[12][13] The book featured 16 of Bullard's projects, including Cher's "fantasy villa," and Tamara Mellon's $30 million Manhattan penthouse.^[14] The book also included Bullard's home in the Whitley Heights neighbourhood of Los Angeles, which was previously owned by Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, and William Faulkner.^[15]

Ellen Pompeo's home, from Martyn Lawrence Bullard's Live, Love & Decorate
Photo by Tim Street-Porter

Style

Bullard's style has been described as "Hollywood glamour meets ethnic exotica,"^[16] and "eclectic, luxurious, sophisticated, comfortable and fearless."^[17] He has been noted for his "adventurous use of texture, colour and extreme attention to detail,"^[18] and his "strong command of proportion and scale, a deft hand with color and pattern, and an exuberantly global sensibility."^[19]

Television

Bullard is a star of Million Dollar Decorators, a Bravo docu-series which airs in 62 countries. Examining the world of high-end interior designers, Million Dollar Decorators premiered in 2011.^[20] In a 2012 interview, Bullard, whose appearances on the show frequently feature his celebrity clients, said "Celebrities live their lives in the spotlight. As such, it's vital for their homes to be sanctuaries – places for complete relaxation and privacy. My one great joy with my celebrity clients over the years has been their passion to live out their fantasies, be it an Indian palace in Hollywood, a Tuscan villa in Malibu or an English country cottage in New York City. I'm here to be their enabler and make these fantasies into decorative reality."^[3]

Bullard also stars in Hollywood Me, a series which brings unsuspecting Brits to Los Angeles for personal makeovers while Bullard redecorates their homes. Hollywood Me, which won a National Reality Television Award in its inaugural season,^[21] launched in the UK in 2012 and will air in South Africa and Australia in 2013.^[22] He appears frequently on The Talk, and in Hollywood at Home design segments onThis Morning on ITV. Bullard portrayed himself on The Young and the Restless (2008 and 2012), and on the television series Jane By Design (2012). He was also featured on TLC's Material World in 2008.^[23][24]

Other enterprises

In 2010, Bullard introduced a fabric collection he designed in collaboration with Schumacher, a high-end interior design retailer; he won the UK Focus Best of the Best Fabric Designer Award in 2011 and 2012 for the collection, which features prints and wovens derived from antique textiles, motifs and patterns. Bullard has licensing agreements for porcelain, crystal, rugs, tiles, flooring, wallpaper and fabrics with luxury design companies, and has launched his own lines of furniture, fabric, and wallpaper collections, as well as home fragrances, jewellery, and clothing.^{[25][26] [27][28]}

Bullard is the face of Vi-Spring Beds, a British luxury brand, and a spokesperson for Jaguar automobiles.^[28]

Philanthropy

Bullard is actively involved with amfAR, the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program, P.S. Arts, and DIFFA (Design Industry Foundation Fighting AIDS).^{[5][29][30][31][32]} In 2013, Bullard was recruited by the Designer Dollhouse Showcase to design a dollhouse, which was auctioned to benefit the UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute at the Mattel Children's Hospital.^[33]

Awards and recognition

• Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year (2010)^[34]
• Architectural Digest AD100, (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,2013^[35]
• Elle Decor Top 25 Interior Designers (2010)^[1]
• Elle Decor A List (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)^[36]
• Luxe Interiors + Designs Gold List (2012)^[37]
• Architectural Design France Top 100 Designers in the World (2011, 2012, 2013)
• Architectural Design Russia Top 25 Designers in the World (2012, 2013)
• Conde Nast Top American Tastemaker
• UK Focus Best of the Best: Fabric Designer, Focus Design, London (2011)
• Departures World's Best in Travel and Design; Most Influential Designers Working Today (2013)^[38]
• Hollywood Reporter 25 Most Influential Designers in L.A. (2012)^[39]
• UK Focus: Best of the Best: Collection of the Year (Schumacher Collection), Focus Design, London (2012)

Bibliography

Martyn Lawrence Bullard; photographed by Tim Street-Porter; Live, Love & Decorate;4 October 2011; Rizzolli; ISBN 978-0-8478-3676-5

External links

• Official website
• Million Dollar Decorators at Bravo
• Hollywood Me
• P.S. Arts
• DIFFA
• amfAR

References