Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
British TV presenter and interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen talks with darc about his new venture as Design Curator for Rangeford Villages retirement accommodation, as well as his approach to lighting design within residential projects.
Laurence Llewlyn-Bowen is an internationally acclaimed interior designer and television presenter, who is well-recognised for his beautifully outlandish wardrobe of patterned blazers and British rom-com-esque mop of dark hair. In the 1990s and Noughties, his design expertise played a large role in creating a movement in British interior design that encouraged personal expression and confidence in exploring colour and pattern in an era that had a tendency to lean into neutral chromes and greys.
Llewelyn-Bowen has graced the British TV screens since the mid-1990s, featuring on iconic interior design shows, including Changing Rooms, which became a staple household viewing.
Nowadays, Llewelyn-Bowen splits his time between escaping the claws of Bear Grylls’ treacherous Bear Pit (“Celebrity Bear Hunt”, Netflix 2025) and designing a new generation of retirement living accommodation.
darc’s editor, Sarah Cullen, had the unique opportunity to sit down with the designer to discuss his relationship to lighting as well as one of his most recent projects for Rangeford Villages and the role that lighting plays in creating a safe and comfortable space for our older populations. In July last year, Llewelyn-Bowen opened his first Rangeford design offering in its stunning Siddington Park residence in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
As the appointed Design Curator, Llewelyn-Bowen brings his creativity, maximalist approach and fresh style to Rangeford’s developments, offering a sophisticated touch to the brand’s luxurious living spaces in their first collaboration. His passion for design innovation aligns with Rangeford’s vision to redefine retirement living and a mutual aim of setting a new standard for luxury and design in the retirement sector. Throughout the residential spaces, the majority of fabrics, upholstery, furniture, artworks and accessories are handpicked and sourced from the Llewelyn-Bowen’s brand and patents. “As you get older, you must not stop being brave, you must not compromise, and you must not assume, ‘I’m old now, so I’d better turn down the volume’,” he explains.
Llewelyn-Bowen’s initial interest in retirement living began when the Siddington complex was being built on the edge of his village, Siddington. “Working on a retirenment accommodation project is not something I sought out to do. I was intrigued by it and really went in to play devil’s advocate more than anything. Here I am, a 60-year-old squire of Siddington,I’m not going to be forced into some sort of beige/oatmeal trailer park. I saw the Sex Pistols live! I want to go down fighting, with the ship!” And from those initial discussions with the Rangeford team, it was apparent to Llewelyn-Bowen that wasn’t the case for these later-in-life residences. Instead, Rangeford drew design inspiration from boutique hotels, which was what appealed most to Llewelyn-Bowen. “I said to the Rangeford team I wouldn’t be their poster boy; I’m not going to be involved in this unless I’ve got skin in the game. I want to be part of the design process. If they want my name, the cost is that they have to trust me as a designer. I think this is why the project became so big, because there’s a natural affinity there that you can’t license, you can’t franchise, you can’t manufacture.”
CEO of Rangeford Villages, Howard Nankivell, adds: “Laurence is the undisputed king of wild, spectacular and adventurous design. At Rangeford, we strive to really raise the bar for retirement living, creating thriving new communities that promote healthy, active lifestyles, hobbies, friendships, and wellbeing, so we are absolutely delighted with this partnership.”
As the Creative Curator for Blackpool Illuminations for 15 years, Llewelyn-Bowen knows a thing or two about fun lighting. But when it comes to considering its role in a residential setting, and especially for those who may be hard of seeing, it was important to address suitable illumination considerations for Siddington Park.
“I still think people are not properly, thoroughly, and creatively getting to grips with the absolute basics of lighting a room, which is that it’s a very simple thing. It was drummed into me in the 1980s; lighting should be in at least three, if not four, corners. Direct overhead lighting is something that will never be flattering to the room and deeply unflattering to anyone who occupies it as well. Try and create an environment where you are using as many points of light in as many different ways as possible.”
Looking more closely at the Siddington Park project, Llewelyn-Bowen explains that they completed all of the lighting schemes in-house. “I didn’t want the scheme to become too contrived because ultimately, these residents need to be able to live there.
“We’ve got a number of projects at the moment where we are working with a variety of lighting companies, which are all lovely and marvellous. In contract setting, lighting for shops and restaurants etc. you can use as many solutions as you need. In the B2B market, you’re dealing with professionals. But I think, when you are creating spaces for people to live in, presupposing that they’re going to have a cupboard with eight or nine different shelves, each of which is labelled with a specific light source in various colour temperatures, is something that’s never going to work.
“So, one of the things I’ve seen is that people are getting more and more interested in anti-tech interiors. Six, seven, eight years ago, interiors were very much about slinky lighting solutions that were hidden in troughs with tech that meant you could click your fingers and it all changed colour. All of these are becoming less interesting to people. They’re wanting an end result now. An indicator of this is the way that the television has now become something that is incredibly discreet in most people’s lives. It is disguised as a picture or a mirror or just left as a television, but it’s not dominating the room in the way that it did in the 1990s.
“So, I think that it’s about trying to achieve schemes that feel organically unlit in many ways and feel as if they are creating an ambience and an atmosphere, predominantly, rather than showing off that we are using lighting in a clever way.”
To achieve these lighting levels, Llewelyn-Bowen references the use of low-level light fixtures, such as table and floor lamps, as a key. Particularly for the Rangeford retirement projects, he was keen to interject a 1970s vibe through the low-level lighting; something he feels his generation will be able to connect with through a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. One way he has incorporated this is through the use of table lamps within cabinetry and display shelves as opposed to track or linear LED lighting. The act of switching a lamp on manually rather than through a connected automation system is something he believes the residents will appreciate more in a world that is taking a step back from technology. “I think people want design to stop being so technocentric and desire interiors that feel less like Big Brother, less digital,” he explains. “Particularly, a lot of our younger clients feel a lot of the big, showy tech that occurred in the 20th century has led to a lot of environmental issues that we witness today. When you look at the classic Noughties, spaces were enormous and minimalist with great big windows with concealed lighting. These spaces are incredibly heavy on resources, whether that’s heating or cooling. All of that glass is allowing for the energy that’s being expended on behalf of that room to escape. It makes you feel embarrassed for it. They’re terribly wasteful spaces.
“Look back at the Renaissance era when the super wealthy would express their wealth through ornamentation, decoration, gold leaf, and classical statues. Nowadays, people express their wealth solely by how much empty space they have.
“For a lot of people, it feels politically, socially, ecologically, and spiritually wrong to own a lot of space that you’re doing nothing with other than spending planetary resources making it comfortable for you on your own.”
Turning the conversation to the topic of natural daylight at the Rangeford’s retirement villages, Llewelyn-Bowen explains that a main ethos is very much about outdoor spaces. “Every apartment has incredible access to visual space, so you don’t get that feeling of cheek-by-jowl. Outdoor spaces are a very important part of the sociability of the Rangeford lifestyle. And this is all linked with the idea of preserving lifespan by creating interest, diversion, and excitement, while also creating easy-going access to outdoor spaces.
“One thing I can’t bear is over-lighting exterior spaces. You can end up with these golf course-type spaces with different coloured lights springing up through conifers, randomly dotted around. Instead, I like light sources to be visible in outdoor spaces, and to treat these areas in the same way I would an indoor space, with occasional table lamps and chandeliers hanging from trees.”
Another key ethos for the residential brand is one that isn’t about downsizing, but instead about rightsizing. It’s about providing a stimulating environment in which you can continue to be yourself, while minimising the physical frictions that come with ageing, for example, difficulties in climbing stairs.
It removes any worries or concerns about the upkeep of old English houses and instead puts the focus back into a community that you can choose to opt in or out of. “It’s about harnessing design, treating it seriously and using it as an important part of making people feel that they are still valued. They’re allowed to be surrounded by things that interests them rather than the traditional attitudes, which see the dial turned right down and next thing you’re shuffling along a beige corridor in your carpet slippers, passing pictures that were in shades of euphemism. This sense of literally sucking the life out of an interior, and in turn sucking the life out of the inhabitants of that interior.
“Our work is about doing the absolute reverse; this is about breathing fire, life, chilli, excitement and rock and roll into areas that are occupied by people that are all about that.”
When asked whether imposing such a strong sense of design, colour and pattern into a space that needs to cater for all tastes, Llewelyn explains how it is important not to like some things. “It’s always going to be marmite, isn’t it? It’s all about the fact that if you had absolutely everything in an interior, the right shade of pink, that shade of pink would be devalued. You need to have dissonance. You need to have some spice in there that makes if feel slightly different.”
Some of the ways in which this spice and flair were incorporated into the residences were through the decorative lighting fixtures. The Llewelyn-Bowen brand has thousands of patterns, colours and paintings created by the man himself. In addition to the specification of his in-house fixtures, Llewelyn-Bowen also worked closely with Soho Lighting and Pooky to interject added colour and points of interest. “We use Soho Lighting a lot, which I think is wonderful. I think there’s a real swing back to being physically engaged with technology. The idea of the Siri control and the Lutron controls etc. are less favourable. There’s something really nice about a light switch, and when it’s being configured to work and feel perfect – it’s something Soho do so well. Also, I think for too long in Britain we’ve been settling for these clumpy bits of white plastic on the wall. Something like a light switch is an incredibly important part of that wall; it’s part of the pictures that you see, it’s part of the vase that you might be displaying on a table. So we’re building Soho Lighting into our schemes more and more.
“I’ve also had a really strong affinity to Pooky Lighting. I think they’re arty, crafty, 1960s/70s aesthetic chimes very well with what we’re doing in terms of pattern and colour. One of the best ways of making a real difference to the way that a space feels when it’s lit is putting a pattern on lampshades. And I think particularly when you are dealing with the LED lights nowadays, they do have a very flat light because they’re so diffused. A pattern shade, which is about light and colour, is a bit of a stained-glass window that brings some of the romance, some of the mystery back to lighting that was lost with the change to LED. Also, doing things like using foil inside a lampshade also makes a big difference. And, controlling light through lampshades, which literally block the light, so it’s like
a hand in front of the light, making it move off to the sides. All of these things are part of the sculpture of light play that you can be quite theatrical with. And I think this is something that the Rangeford buyers are really responding to; the fact that they’ve got this very high-end, boutique, bougie idea of lighting in the apartments, which is not what you’d typically find in a retirement context. That would usually be a lot of light. There are times when we do need this – such as when picking out the perfect plush velvet tie to go with our flares – but most of the time we don’t. We want to be in a gentle, sultry, sexy environment.
“As you get older, you must not stop being brave, you must not compromise, and you must not think, I’m old now, so I’d better turn down the volume. Rangeford has proven it’s about keeping the volume up, keeping up the rock ‘n’ roll, and keeping the excitement. Design is there to help, it is there to make you feel a lot better about who you are, where you are and how you live – this collaboration is the perfect example of that.”
