INTERIOR Design Masters winner, Scotland’s Home of the Year judge and makeover show host – adopted Scot Banjo Beale is well on his way to becoming a national treasure.
The larger-than-life Aussie, who moved to Scotland nearly a decade ago, is already one of the BBC’s standout stars and next week he’s back on our screens with a second season of hit series Designing the Hebrides.
Bubbly Banjo, 37, who has become so well-known folk have been chasing him down the street for selfies, says he sometimes feels like one of the Beatles.
The design guru, who lives on Mull with his husband Ro, admits as a child, growing up in the Australian outback, he had a feeling he was destined for something “fabulous” but didn’t expect it to be 10,000 miles away in Scotland.
Banjo, who judges on Scotland’s Home of the Year with designer Anna Campbell- Jones and architect Danny Campbell, said: “I’m still getting used to being recognised everywhere I go. On film breaks from SHOTY we usually head for the nearest garden centre and I’ve had to start taking a deep breath because we get besieged. We’ve even been chased down the street for selfies. I think I now know how the Beatles must have felt. It’s crazy but it’s lovely.
“A woman came up to me on the ferry to Uist and told me her son was gay and they were having trouble accepting it, but after seeing me on the telly they knew he was going to be OK. It was a really weird moment but was great she felt she could share something like that with me.”
The craftsman, who was bullied as child for being gay, explained: “I remember being a little boy and staring in the mirror and telling myself I was fabulous. I weirdly always thought there was more for me out in the world.
A woman her son after seeing TV she with “I grew up in the macho car-racing town of Bathurst, New South Wales. I didn’t have many friends and no one really understood me, not even my parents. They were salt of the earth and loved me but my mum used to say they had no idea where I had come from and that I must have been born on the other side of the tracks.
“I was doing a corporate job in Australia when I met Ro and bought a one way ticket out of Oz. I knew adventure and bigger things were out there but never reckoned it would be on the other side of the world in beautiful Scotland.”
Showcasing distinctive makeovers set against stunning Scottish landscapes, Designing the Hebrides, which starts tomorrow night on BBC Scotland, me on was OK it encapsulates Banjo’s irrepressible enthusiasm, ingenuity and design flair.
From an apothecary on Harris to honesty boxes in Mull and South Uist, and a wool shop in Iona to a Tobermory hotel, each week Banjo and his design team embrace a unique interior design project, fulfilling the client’s brief on a limited budget and a fast turnaround.
Banjo, who is currently re-designing two five-storey Georgian houses in Bath, says he had the time of his life making the latest series – despite ending up stuck on South Uist when a cyclone blew in.
He said: “In this series we branched out to new islands and had so much fun even though we had our work cut out for us with some of the transformations.
“The honesty boxes were really different. They are great little things and very popular in the Hebrides and are a reminder that there is trust still left in the world and people are good.”
He added: “I took a step back and let the team loose on them. They created an amazing seafood box on the Isle of Mull for a lobster fisherman and his wife to put sandwiches in and converted an old caravan in South Uist into a teeny ice cream parlour.”
Banjo, who has a rescued lurcher named Grampa, added: “I also faced two of my toughest challenges yet when a couple in Iona wanted me to give their wool shop a contemporary Hebridean feel. Modern spaces are my kryptonite, even on SHOTY, as I hate anything that looks like new. I love rustic, wobbly stuff so I had to dig deep to create the client’s vision but in the end I was very impressed with what we achieved.
“Then there was the Western Isles Hotel in Tobermory, “They wanted a room that was a relaxing spa by day and a parlour bar by night. At first I was stumped, as what they were asking for was outrageous and I could not say no.
“We managed it though and when I see Jennie, who runs the spa, in the street she hugs me and tells me I looked into her heart and saw what she could not articulate. There is not much higher praise than that.” Banjo, whose second book, A Place in Scotland: Beautiful Scottish Interiors, is out later this year, said the whole team were left emotionally and physically drained after their trip to Loch Skippart in South Uist .
He explained: “We were tasked with creating a croft shop for a family who had been on the land for generations. The crofter had not long lost his dad and was carrying the weight of the loss and keeping the croft going for his family.
“He teared up when we incorporated a photo of his father in the design and his reaction changed us all because here was this big tough bloke letting his emotions out.
“It was also a tough job logistically due to the weather. A storm came in complete with cyclone, the ferries were cancelled and we got stuck there for two more days, but it was well worth it.”
Banjo, who will start filming the SHOTY Christmas special soon, added: “Life is pretty busy at the moment but that’s the way I like it.
“The future looks pretty bright too. I’m glad I never gave up on my little boy dreams and that realising them brought me all the way to Scotland.”
* Designing The Hebrides is on BBC Scotland on Monday’s at 7pm. All episodes available on BBC iPlayer
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