“I’ve never specialised and that’s why I’m good at joining things together, making connections. Whether you’re designing a pair of shoes or a city, it’s the same process of analysis and functionality.”He attended the Florence Conservatory of Music and then went up to Cambridge where he initially read modern languages but switched first to philosophy then to history of art and architecture.He then led what he describes as “two weird, parallel lives designing for the theatre and people’s houses”. His lighting and furniture design consultancy, McCloud & Co Ltd, numbered among its clients the Savoy Hotel and the Queen of Jordan But he sold it in 1999. “I was good at the creative stuff but I didn’t like running a company,” he explains.Although he also created a lighting range for Debenhams, writing books and newspapers articles became more of a focus – something that clearly appeals to his temperament. He also began to present the television makeover show Home Front and from this came the more ambitious Grand Designs in 1999.”It was very different from any other kind of programme about the home but luckily I had a very courageous commissioning editor at Channel 4, Liz Warner, and a very inspiring series producer in Daisy Goodwin.
Even then when we were editing the first programme we didn’t know whether it was going * to be a one-hour or a half-hour show let alone if we’d get another series. But we created a new vocabulary, it was more like a documentary.”The antithesis of the MDF-and-staple-gun school of interior design, it attracted up to 4.5 million viewers, indicating there is a significant audience for serious architecture and design. As well as an international version, the series has spawned a magazine and a live show.But McCloud describes television as “very wasteful” of time “You’re forever filming, travelling and editing. I live a nomadic life during the week.” Weekends are spent in Somerset with his wife Zani and four children aged from four to 17.
His home is an amalgam of tastes, with a modern kitchen and traditional living room.The initial discussions for Place began just 18 months ago and its development has been rapid but McCloud believes many designers were looking for a vehicle like this. When asked to describe the look of the pieces, McCloud seems stumped for a moment.”Well, there’s quite a lot of leather sofas,” he laughs “No, it’s very neutral, lots of black and brown. With the first catalogue we’re trying to provide large objects of furniture in fairly neutral colours and then add colour with cushions, throws, glassware and decorative objects We’ve had two big inputs. One is a sort of beachcomber look – dry, dusty oak – while others have a more crafted feel. In spring we’ll add products which have a slightly funkier, more 21st-century feel with a hint of the 1960s and 1970s about them.”He is particularly excited about the tableware by David Rhys Jones, and the use of skilled craftsmanship has been an important element Almost all the designers are British “I’m very interested in designer-makers,” says McCloud. “Charlie Fowler who has made tables and chairs is a brilliant designer and he’s come from a family of carpenters.
We’re very good in this country at producing designer-makers because we’ve got to – we don’t have the culture of corporate sponsorship they have in Italy, for instance.”"Kevin is very into craftsmanship and quality,” says Charlie Fowler, a 25-year-old based in Dorset who graduated just two years ago “What he’s doing is fantastic for young designers. He saw some of my pieces and then, once we met, we corresponded by email and used computer-aided design to get the right look.”As well as the furniture and classic glassware, there are quirkier concepts. Edinburgh-based designer Stefanie Damm creates cushion covers using old pullovers bought from charity shops. “We wondered how we could manufacture her cushions,” says McCloud.
