Embrace the colours that resonate most strongly with you’: pictures brighten up the kitchen walls. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer As befits a fashion designer with decades of experience, Matthew Williamson knows exactly how to put together the perfect look, whether for the red carpet or a room. “Starting a room with a rug makes a lot of sense,” he says. “It can really anchor the room.” Palm Circular rug by Matthew Williamson Born in Manchester, as a child Matthew was dazzled by his stylish mother’s choices of clothing and decor. After graduating in fashion and textile design from Central Saint Martins in 1994, he launched his fashion label in 1996 and became hugely successful worldwide. Majestic Trinity rug by Matthew Williamson

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Everything has to have a little bit of a worn and torn quality’: the mint green bedroom, with floral bedspread. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer In 2009, he opened stores in New York and Dubai before returning to London Fashion Week for its 25th anniversary.He launched his coffee table book, Matthew Williamson, in 2010 at a star-studded event at Somerset House. The book included an introduction by his friend and muse, Sienna Miller, and contributions from Anna Wintour, Alexandra Shulman and Diane Von Furstenberg. Not long after the 5-year milestone, Matthew received two successive nominations for Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 1999 and 2000. In 2004, he was also awarded ELLE Magazine’s Designer of the Year Award. The following year, Matthew was awarded the Moët and Chandon Fashion Tribute award. The award ceremony was attended by Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Jade Jagger and Helena Christensen and featured a catwalk show of the company’s archive collection. Williamson grew up in Manchester before moving to London to study at Central Saint Martins at the age of 18. In the same year, Matthew Williamson teamed up with Vinterior, the online marketplace for vintage and antique furniture, to create a series of online, shoppable Edits to point customers in the right direction for a one-of-a-kind, totally personal living space. Antiques play a significant role in Matthew’s interior design projects, allowing personality, uniqueness and charm to flood the space, especially when paired with contemporary wallcoverings or artworks. Just like his fashion designs, Matthew’s new collection of rugs features colour combinations and original patterns with global influences inspired by nature. He collaborated with Obeetee, the largest handmade rug-maker in India. Iris Ikat Circular rug by Matthew Williamson

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For his second collection of rugs, Matthew partnered with Obeetee, the world leader in handwoven rugs, in the spring of 2021. Today, Obeetee has one of the largest and most cutting-edge rug manufacturing facilities in the world. Matthew’s collection sees his joyous designs inspired by the natural world, from starry skies to the dense undergrowth of tropical forests, interpreted by the skilled weavers in India. A simple list,” says Matthew Williamson. “Twenty questions. Like,” counting on his fingers, “What’s your design icon? What’s your favourite restaurant? Do you have a treasured possession? Who’s your favourite artist? That sort of thing.” This is how fashion designer turned interior designer Williamson begins every project, sitting down with his client, creating a moodboard, before going away and thinking quite deeply about, say, the colour pink. Do you have a favourite decade? What’s your favourite scent? What’s your earliest childhood memory? But the list, he points out, isn’t just for wealthy clients – it’s useful for everybody. “If you’re renovating your kitchen and you’re struggling, which people obviously are because there’s so much choice out there online, such a barrage of visuals, it’s quite nice to use these questions to really ask yourself: what do I like?” The same year, he collaborated with H&M on a summer collection which featured model Daria Werbowy in the advertising campaign.He celebrated his 10 year anniversary in fashion in 2007 by curating an exhibition about his work at the Design Museum in London. During his London Fashion Week show, musician Prince staged an impromptu performance. Having pivoted in recent years from the world of fashion to interiors, Matthew says: “Putting an outfit or a room together that brings a smile to your face and the faces of others is the objective in any project I undertake.” One of the key considerations for my collection of rugs was an element of craftsmanship,” Matthew says. “I am an admirer of craft in all its forms, celebrating the natural material used in the process. From mesmerising woodwork to the brutal beauty of ironmongery, these quintessentially human skills can have a hugely uplifting presence in the home. Oh So Sisco rug by Matthew Williamson

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established Matthew’s reputation in the world of interiors with his appearance as a guest judge on the BBC’s Interior Design Masters, also streaming on Netflix. The series has been hosted by Fearne Cotton and Alan Carr with former Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Decoration magazine, Michelle Ogundehin. Matthew has also made several appearances in the third season, airing in March 2022. I describe my style as rustic decadence’: vintage furniture and a chandelier in his ornate living room. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The ObserverIn 2005, he joined Emilio Pucci as creative director - a natural progression with his reputation for kaleidoscopic colour. The same year, he was awarded the Moët & Chandon Fashion Tribute Award.

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I’m also drawn to quite earthy, crafty, humble things’: Matthew Williamson in his kitchen. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer In 2023 Matthew was commissioned by The Design Museum in London’s Kensington to create a space within the iconic John Pawson modernist building. The space inspired by it’s park views is now bathed in shades of green and includes an edited selection of mid century vintage furniture along with hand blown glass lighting to create the perfect resting spot for art and design lovers. He closed down the fashion business he’d built with his partner of 30 years Joseph Velosa (the two now have a daughter, and live between London and Mallorca) seven years ago, after decades as a household name. He looks exactly the same today as he used to in the tabloids and fashion magazines, suave and feline, nipping for cigarettes out of the window while we chat. In the 90s Williamson’s face was as recognisable as his clothes – “boho-chic” party dresses in dazzling colours, worn by Kate Moss and Sienna Miller and all their fellow it-girls. As he was launching his career, American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, looking at a dress he’d made by patchworking pink sari scraps together, told him, “You should have a pink dress in every collection.” He took her advice.

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