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Meet the man behind Hollywood’s hottest homes
WHEN THE A-LIST want their homes made gorgeous, they call Martyn Lawrence Bullard. The designer’s clientele includes Kylie Jenner, Winnie Harlow, RuPaul, Tommy Hilfiger, Elton John – and Cher, who wrote the foreword to his new book.
‘Celebrities are the same as everyone else – they want their homes to be sanctuaries,’ says Bullard. ‘We want to make sure that every element they dream of is created.’ Not a problem when money is no object – his biggest budget to date is £25 million.
Part of the job is helping people to live out their design fantasies. ‘I’ve been asked to gold leaf a garage and to create an underground grotto that looked like you’d excavated into an ancient Roman temple,’ he says. Specialised closets are a must for many clients – RuPaul’s home contains 5,000 square feet of them.
Bullard has also interior designed homes for the Kardashians – Kourtney’s, Khloé’s and Kylie Jenner’s. ‘It was amazing to work for a 21-year-old billionaire and create things… that are a little bit wild, fun and playful.’ Full of character, Jenner’s home features leather dining chairs dyed to match shades in her lip kits, and bronze consoles sculpted to resemble the giant drops of gold on her make-up collection’s packaging.
When it came to Winnie Harlow’s home, the brief was ‘glamorous, luxe and modern’. ‘She loves to entertain. The house had to flow in a way where it was easy for her to throw a party quickly, but also feel chic.’ He even created wallpaper out of images from one of her photo shoots. ‘I wanted it to be very high glam. Her bedroom looks like an old Hollywood star’s.’
Bullard’s own Hollywood Hills home is pretty glam, too. It has previously belonged to Andy Warhol, Tina Turner and Dennis Hopper. ‘I decorated it with Moroccan elements mixed with a bit of mid-century furnishings,’ Bullard says. ‘My style’s eclectic but it’s ever evolving.’ He may live the Hollywood high life now but he was born in Britain and, as a teenager, sold trinkets to tourists on a stall at Greenwich market. ‘Without really realising it, that was
Following drama school, Bullard moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career, but his career pivot came after befriending a film producer, who was taken with Bullard’s interiors style. ‘I had no money, I did everything from flea markets, but he loved what I’d done with my apartment,’ he says. The producer asked him to decorate his offices, and Bullard’s work later caught the attention of model Cheryl Tiegs, who asked him to reimagine her Bel Air home. ‘Within nine months, I was on the cover of six magazines around the world. It was the most insane journey,’ he says. ‘And it’s still something amazing to be part of.’
‘Star Style: Interiors Of Martyn Lawrence Bullard’ is out now
WORDS ALICE HALL PHOTOS MARTYN BULLARD: © LANDRY DESIGN GROUP 2017