Katrina Burroughs is the Interiors Editor of the Sunday Times, Home section and is a highly successful journalist and social media influencer in the interiors industry. She loves luxury, desires good design for all and hates curtains…
Katrina will be on the Colour in Design Award judging panel for New Designers Part 1 2018
So Katrina…
What role does colour play in your life/work?
At home it makes me contented: an orange mug or a red blanket are such a joy. At work, colour is the first element that draws me to a design. I also spend my life asking designers to provide photos with “colour and contrast” for the newspaper - it’s not just my taste; grey tones don’t work on newsprint.
Highest career point in the past year?
I’m lucky enough to meet brilliant designers, stylists, makers all the time, writing about interiors for Sunday Times, Home. This year I met Terence Woodgate, who is not only a distinguished designer but the man behind the SCP sofa I have been sitting on for over a dozen years. I found out he has one of the same vintage, in the same upholstery, too.
Hardest lesson learnt when you were starting out?
It would have been harder to NOT learn this: people will often ask, but don’t agree to work for nothing. Exposure is lovely but exposure + money is where it’s at. (Unless it’s for a good cause!)
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Terror of missing deadlines. Eagerness to discover pretty things. A dog that needs walking.
Was there one person who made a difference to your career path when you were starting out?
Gillian de Bono, editor of FT How to Spend It, saying: “I like this, I’ll have more of the same, please”. I wasn’t sure if the writing thing would work out until she started commissioning me.
Career goal?
I’ve never had a career goal in my life. Should I get one?
Favourite colour ?
Red. Because it goes so well with my other favourite colours, orange, pink and burgundy.