Wild Isle Style: Resourceful And Sustainable Interior Design Ideas

Product Information

BB: When we were filming my television show, Designing The Hebrides, we didn't have any money whatsoever really to do these spaces. It was about what we could find for free and how resourceful we could be. So, I think the best price is free. Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our newsletter here. READ NEXT: In Designing The Hebrides, interior designer Banjo Beale and his friendly team of tradespeople travel across the Scottish islands using their craft skills, energy and creativity to bring Banjo’s Hebridean design dreams to life. Banjo Beale is an Australian Interior Designer based in the Scottish Hebrides. Winner of Interior Design Masters, Banjo is the host of Scotland's Home of the Year on BBC, author of a forthcoming book and star of a brand new TV series premiering in Summer 2023. From a family-owned fish shop in Tobermory, a bothy on the remote island of Ulva to a bookshop and café on Skye, Banjo and the team rise to the Hebridean make-over challenge.

Crumbling bothy on tiny Scots island with no power

It doesn’t matter whether you’re living in London or the Hebrides, I think we can just decide to actually make a conscious effort not to run out to these big stores and buy flat things. ‘Because part of the adventure is just getting the free stuff, isn’t it? I love going and meeting the person that I’m getting it off and going into their living room and you’ve got a story then immediately where it’s from. Originally from Australia, he now resides on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, where he lives with his partner and dog. What makes you happiest at home? Designing The Hebrides is a DSP production (a Banijay UK company) commissioned by Steve Allen for BBC Scotland and Catherine Catton, Head of Commissioning, Factual Entertainment and Events. The Executive Producers are Donna Clark and John Featherstone. The Commissioning Editor is Clare Mottershead. The final result sees the bothy retain its rustic feel, while being transformed into a stylish and comfortable living space. Pieces of upcycled furniture add to the authenticity, while the wooden panels that cover the lower half of the walls are painted in neutral colours to reflect the natural landscape.

I turned cowbells into light pendants at a farm because they had no money. Also, some of the spaces are inaccessible, I had to take a boat, full of stuff out to a lighthouse we were designing, and I had to walk two hours to one space. On an island logistics are a big part of it. In this warm and characterful new series, Banjo and his friendly team of tradespeople travel across the Scottish islands using their craft skills, energy and creativity to bring Banjo’s Hebridean design dreams to life. Designing the Hebrides will air on BBC Scotland, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer later in 2023. Over another mouth-watering lunch, John Goodlad will explore how salt fish from Shetland became a staple food for Europe, powered an economic boom and inspired artists, writers and musicians.

Wild Isle Style by Banjo Beale | Waterstones

It’s about community and connection and stopping and being really grounded. And once you’re on [the Isle of Mull], you can’t get off. You’ve got to get a ferry and it’s a logistical challenge. When you’re there everything washes away and it’s just magic.’ Combining unique finds with clever design, Banjo is known for creating sustainable, characterful and collected spaces for his interior design clients. Well, I would have said that the pace is slower, but I’m quite a chaotic person and anything I do tends to be a whirlwind, so I’m probably the wrong advertisement for slow living. But there is a definite pace that things move on an island, which means that you get to enjoy the smaller things. Tourism is a big thing on an island, and it just closes up in winter. It swells from around 10,000 people in summer, to 1000 or 500 people in winter. Sophie Allen, senior commissioning editor, acquired world rights from Ben Clark at the Soho Agency. Wild Isle Style will publish on 12th October 2023. My city of Tobermory is one of the most colourful in the UK, but some of the interior spaces are begging for individuality, according to Banjo. Thankfully, some courageous locals are giving me the keys to their homes, including a bothy that is two hours by foot from the closest road and a distant lighthouse, castle turret, and cherished local rugby team. Although they are logistical problems to deliver, they are dream properties to design.

Finding inspiration

Banjo combines unique finds with clever design to create sustainable, characterful and collected spaces for his interior design clients and TV projects. The weather is unpredictable, the locals are straight talking, the budgets are lean and you can’t just run to the shops to buy supplies - you have to be resourceful!” The second episode of the six-part series features, which airs on Monday evening, sees Banjo heading to the small Inner Hebrides island of Ulva to take on the crumbling bothy that locals want to rent out to visitors. The whole premise of the book is from the perspective of living on an island, embracing the materials that we have, using finite resources and only our own skills to bring them to life. So, it’s about taking that mindset into everything we do. Also on an island, you just have fun, there’s no pressure, and it’s not trying to be trendy. It’s just, it’s just a little bit of fun and tongue in cheek.’ The rest is history, but what was it really like being on the show? And how scary is Michelle Ogundehin when it comes to judgment time?

I won a reality TV show - but disaster struck my new telly job

I love India. Every time I visit, I collect more [bhars]. I love seeing my collection in my home because I know that I've had chai on a street in India out of every one of those cups. What would we find in your bedside table? Well, at the time, it was the most terrifying thing in the entire world. But I think that’s for all of us because it means so much to us. And genuinely, you know, that Michelle just wants you to do the best. And she knows our potential. So, it’s her job to make it uncomfortable and for us to stretch ourselves.

Sustaining local craft

The publisher says: “Living on the remote island of Mull has inspired Banjo to be resourceful and inventive in his design outlook. With sustainability and budget in mind, he combines vintage finds with clever design and re-purposes the old, re-imagining it into something new. So winter is when we do all our craft, when we do all our weaving, we knit, and we make all our preserves. We coorie, which is a Scottish word, meaning a kind of hunkering down, like a warm hug. We light the fire and just hibernate for five months. It’s bleak though. Because it’s super dark and, cold, but there’s something really magical about it.’ Finding inspiration Long-time fans of this column (Anyone? Come on there must be one of you) will know that I have a peculiar aversion to wholesome TV. This is, simply, because I am quite a nasty person. You can’t say that these days, can you? We all have to try to maintain the artifice that we’re all good and moral and true. Well, I’m not. I’m horrible. So fuzzy-sided, warm-hearted television that has absolutely no scenes where someone’s head explodes very rarely does it for me. The tiny home, which features on the latest episode of Designing the Hebrides on BBC Scotland, had no power or running hot water, and was damp and rotting.