In this special episode we catch up with Richard O Gorman, AKA Instagram's HouseHomo. Richard designs colourful and awe-inspiring murals for Interaction and many others, having gained Insta notoriety for his incredibly vibrant do-over of a Birmingham Victorian terraced house.

In this episode he's in conversation with Interaction's Account Design Lead, Lucy Symons.

Watch here: https://youtu.be/ccbCwfCkRS0

Show notes

Richard on Instagram (@househomo)

Tour Richard's Eclectic Victorian Terrace

Molly Mural on Instagram (@mollymural)

Molly Mural's work at Runway East, The Hickman for Interaction

Make sure you're following us to see Richard's work for one of our projects in Brighton! @interactionltd

Thanks for listening! Check out Interaction's website for more workplace culture content and case studies (or just follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter).

Richard O'Gorman in conversation with Lucy Symons

Lucy Symons: I think we'll start with how we know each other.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, that's the core of this relationship.

Lucy Symons: The core of this relationship is why you're here. And obviously this is actually the first time we've met in real life, which.

Richard O'Gorman: Is wild because we have been insta friends for almost three years. I know, like pretty much three years or so.

Lucy Symons: Modern. I know. So we both had a house account. We did. Mine is much more tragic than yours. You can't say. Definitely not committed to the Insta as well.

Richard O'Gorman: But I loved Bumble Cottage.

Lucy Symons: But tell me about your house. So you started your account?

Richard O'Gorman: So I moved into my house just before lockdown. And I'd never lived alone before. And I'd never had a mortgage before. And then suddenly I was kind of thrown into living alone in lockdown with loads of testpots.

Lucy Symons: And I thought, I love that you already had them. You're already prepared..

Richard O'Gorman: Well, as soon as I started, as soon as the house got accepted, I just started, like, scouring the world for testpots and getting as much colour as I could. And then I thought, rather than just blob them on the wall, I'm going to see what happens. Why do some shapes love that?

Lucy Symons: And then I love that. So we obviously we've been chatting online for a few years now, but we do live quite far apart now we've got you down here. So in terms of what you did beforehand, what were you up to before we knew you as rich, the mural artist? What was your previous life?

Richard O'Gorman: So I was I just had like a very normal office job. I used to work for a model agency as a booker. Yeah, I did the social media and I loved it so much. Um, but when I started the house account and then I was pulled back from furlough, it just kind of got. A little bit untenable. And my boss was a little bit angry at this success.

Lucy Symons: So you're like, I am actually on to other things now and then.

Richard O'Gorman: Ultimately, she made me redundant. Yeah, which is very terrifying because obviously I live alone. I have a mortgage to pay. Yeah, but my little sister kind of sat me down and was like, Something is happening. You're her account is growing. She's gonna go with it. You're just going to lean in and like, this is a really great opportunity to kind of see if it works. And if it doesn't, then it doesn't. Absolutely.

Lucy Symons: But it did. So how long were you furloughed for that.

Richard O'Gorman: Time, Your three months. Exactly. And so the moment she could get me back into the office and stop painting the house, she pulled me straight back in. But that's why I did it, because I thought I'll never have three months at home without excuse and without reason, like to not paint. So I was like, I'm just going to decorate the house as quickly as possible, thinking I'd just do it like a normal person would. And then as the aesthetic grew and changed, it became less normal and way more homo.

Lucy Symons: Way more. Did you start painting it before you started taking pictures of it and then went back and did all the murals? So was anything plain at all?

Richard O'Gorman: So the first the first iteration, the first dining room was just like orange with a blue picture. Rail. Okay. And it was a very deep orange. It was beautiful. Yeah, but might need some more. But my when I first did it, my family were like, This is a bit wild, like rich, like the orange and the blue. And I was like, You don't know what's coming next. This is my.

Lucy Symons: Plans for this place.

Richard O'Gorman: This is the tame room. But then I did. The first actual shape was a circle that I painted over the fireplace. And I painted it with a teeny tiny painting by numbers brush, because it's all the only brush I had. And I kind of stepped back and I was like. “This is something.”

Lucy Symons: This is me. This one circle change one.

Richard O'Gorman: This one circle is going to do stuff to me. And what's really funny is my grandma came in to look at the house and after I'd painted it and she walked in and she's like, Oh, I'll give you your due. You've got good taste, that would get on my nerves.

Lucy Symons: I would remove that wouldn't do it.

Richard O'Gorman: Very annoying.

Lucy Symons: It depends as well, because if it's a period house, I feel like people quite opinionated with what it should look like totally on the inside. And what is yours? Yours is a Victorian house. Yeah, yeah, So people have like, preconceived ideas of what it should look like.

Richard O'Gorman: This is again, like this. This whole thing about this, like, elusive interior rule book. Like, I need to find it. I need to, like, hunt it down. We're looking for it and burn it to the ground.

Lucy Symons: Because I've never seen one. It doesn't.

Richard O'Gorman: Exist. And everyone says that there's you can't do this and you can't put blue and green together and you can't do this and like. But why Your house, your house is for you?

Lucy Symons: Exactly. I think people forget that as well when they're designing their own house. People are so concerned with like, I'm going to sell it on. Yeah, what somebody want to buy in the next five years. But actually you could just paint it white in five years time. Exactly. If you really.

Richard O'Gorman: Want. Like designing your house for a future person to live in. It just seems insane to me. It's completely irrelevant. It's like wearing clothes knowing that somebody else is going to wear them in 100 years. 100 years? They won't last that long. Primark. No, thanks.

Lucy Symons: There's not going to be around that long. But no, it's crazy. Like you are designing your house for yourself. Yeah, and I think it's so different to what we do, whereas obviously we're designing for other people and we have to take into account so many different people's perspectives. Of course, it's all about what the client wants and what their members want and their staff. It's so separated from what you'd want to do at home. Yeah, It takes like a lot of practice to get used, to celebrate, to separate, like what I would do at home with what I have to design at work. They're so different things that I do at work look nothing like my house.

Richard O'Gorman: I find that really hard as well because obviously now I do like murals for other clients. And yeah, I'm very much like, This is my aesthetic. You want my aesthetic.

Lucy Symons: But that's why people come to you because they're like, That's what you do. They pick you for your aesthetic. So in terms of your aesthetic, so how would you describe your style?

Richard O'Gorman: Um, I would describe it as, I have no idea. I, I people definitely colour there. Yeah, people always describe it as colour blocking, but I for me, that's when you're like painting one wall, one colour and one a different wall.

Lucy Symons: And zoning an area. I would say colour blocking is to zone a space.

Richard O'Gorman: Exactly. Whereas mine is more like shape led, it's more like maximalism with a focus on like graphic geometric shapes.

Lucy Symons: So do you draw out a tool before you start? Do you like plan it? What's your process?

Richard O'Gorman: It depends on what I'm doing. If I'm doing like a one like localised mural, I'll kind of draw it out and try and vibe it first. But in the case of like my dining room and my new guest bedroom, I kind of had a core idea and painted that and then just allowed the shapes and colours to kind of inform me where they're going to go for the rest of. It's very like Pocahontas colours of the wind.

Lucy Symons: And the shape of the space as well. Yeah, you just kind of led by the room..

Richard O'Gorman: And then you kind of like, oh, it feels like it could do with like a squiggle here. And you do the squiggle and then you're like, Oh, maybe a circle here. And it's a really nice, like, organic way to decorate.

Lucy Symons: It's not that structured.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, I hate structure, structure and.

Lucy Symons: Roles. Get him out. How did you ever have an office job?

Richard O'Gorman: It was a struggle.

Lucy Symons: Well, no before. So do you follow any trends like interior trends? Do you keep up with any of that or do you completely try and block it out of your mind?

Richard O'Gorman: I think, again, it's the same thing as decorating your house for other people, for future buyers, like trends by their very nature come and go, whereas I'm doing what I want to do for me, so I'm just trying to ignore it, I.

Lucy Symons: Think, Well, I personally, I'm not sure everyone else would they. I try and ignore all the trends as well because I think we're designing spaces like some of our clients will take a space for 20 years. Yeah, so they might refresh it every ten years, but you're designing a space that can't really be in a trend.

Richard O'Gorman: You want it to be.

Lucy Symons: Timeless. It's gone. It'll go. And also I think they come up with the trends. So every year they'll release like this is the interior design trend for the workspace this year And you think we did that five years ago. So I'm not really sure how they gauge it. Whether they're basing it off what everyone's doing but it's so client.

Richard O'Gorman: Led who's setting these standards of what the trends are going to be. Do what.

Lucy Symons: You want. I have no idea. There's no there's no one.

Richard O'Gorman: To hunt down and then hunt down the bug. He's got like an Indiana Jones.

Lucy Symons: Did you find it? But it might be out there. I'm not sure. Old tomb. If not, maybe you should write one. A new rule.

Richard O'Gorman: Book. An anti rule book.

Lucy Symons: An anti rule book. Oh, anti rule book. So in terms of your so obviously your process, you're really led by the space. Is there any rules you stand by where it's like I wouldn't do that in my spaces. Any shapes you avoid?

Richard O'Gorman: I avoid squares. The reason that I paint in curves and arches primarily is because if I try and it's really hard to explain, but, like, if. If you imagine the relationship between the shapes on the wall and the energy that flows between them, that if you have a square, it has like sharp edges. So it kind [00:10:00] of the energy gets like caught or doesn't have like flow. Whereas with curves it has like a movement. Even, even if it's not like physically moving your mind eye is like kind of flowing around rather than.

Lucy Symons: Just stopping there, like going down. No squares. So do you think you design murals dependent on each space itself? So if it was a your dining room, is that a different set of shapes than you'd use in your guest bedroom or do you just.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, absolutely different. I really like especially with mural clients like across I've done them up and down the UK now I try to look at the surrounding area and like things that like inform like the local area and then use that to inspire the shapes and colours of the mural.

Lucy Symons: Just abstract it out..

Richard O'Gorman: Like in I painted one in this little town in called Wombourne in Derby. And it's a children's play centre. And as I was driving in to view it for the first time, there's this like weird little maypole sculpture, love that. And I was like, That's cute. I'm going to use that. I'm going to use that. So it has like, so the mural now has like these like three ribbon lines that go all the way up the mural. And I love that.

Lucy Symons: Do you have to pitch your ideas very often or do you find that I mean, now you're just like, Hi, by the way, you all know me now, so I'm coming in to do my thing. Yeah, but do you find that you have to kind of pitch the ideas? Like, would you tell them that story of the mural afterwards or do you is that more just.

Richard O'Gorman: It depends. Most of my clients now, I'm quite lucky that they're kind of like Do whatever. But there are clients where they're like, they need very specific. There was one client and like, I drew out a thing and I'm not very good at drawing. I can paint, but I can't draw. So I was like, it's kind of like this, but like this little but not.

Lucy Symons: This at all.

Richard O'Gorman: And they were like, we really don't understand like, what you're trying to do, but we trust that what you're going to do is going to be right. Trust me. And they it was. You're a professional.

Lucy Symons: So do you have anything you go off in terms of the colours, meaning anything in the space? Like do you. Obviously there's loads of colour theory about what different colours mean and how they make people feel. I think largely it's like accepted red read a bit of an angry colour for example, but I don't think people follow it as closely anymore. People don't really think about it day to day when they're in a space, and unless you really know how those colours make you feel, people don't pay attention to them. No, this is a really like lovely calming space and there's loads of pops of colour, but you're not sat here thinking how does that specific colour make me feel?

Richard O'Gorman: But then it's with this space particularly, it's a whole vibe. The whole vibe feels correct, Correct?

Lucy Symons: So your aim is really your murals to just fit the space they're in? It doesn't really matter what colours you go for, they just have to fit.

Richard O'Gorman: It depends. Like I just painted a mural for a mental health school in Coventry and I've, I've always there's always so much meaning into what I paint and what colours I use. But this one felt particularly important. Like these, these kids are like very mentally like and unwell and like there's like some of them are like attempting suicide and stuff. So I was like very conscious that the shapes and the colours had to be both calming and energising as a, as a learning space because some of them, like they feel so overwhelmed that they don't want to go into the school space on a daily basis. And I wanted to create an environment that made them feel like they were energised and inspired to come in and learn and feel calm.

Lucy Symons: And safe and.

Richard O'Gorman: Safe, but also happy. So I really like that was a real focus. And that's where the brand colours came in because a lot of their colours are like calming, like calming blue, calming yellow and then like a joyful pink. So it was like lots.

Lucy Symons: Of them are bright, but they almost do like a more pastel version of their really bright colours. Yeah, you could actually pair them all together.

Richard O'Gorman: Oh, honestly, I've like mixed pretty much all of them together and I confirm they all vibe.

Lucy Symons: We're going to use every colour.

Richard O'Gorman: Can I have them all, please?

Lucy Symons: I love that. So let's touch back on your house. Of course. So what is your favourite room in your house like? We have to live through it.

Richard O'Gorman: Oh, it used to be the dining room. Yeah, because after the orange and blue I then did like a full mural vibe. I spent five weeks painting it in the like, January lockdown 21, I think. But I was just like, I'm alone.

Lucy Symons: We're in lockdown with your tiny, tiny paintbrush. By that.

Richard O'Gorman: Point, I upgraded to a slightly bigger.

Lucy Symons: I can order some online.

Richard O'Gorman: I can go for a bigger one. Now. And I in my head it was supposed to be minimal and I went into it. I would.

Lucy Symons: Not describe it as minimal as.

Richard O'Gorman: Well. Sometimes I describe myself as a mini maximalism. Yeah, like because I try to like focus. I tried to be chic and considered, but also it's very maximalist.

Lucy Symons: And I think with maximalism, obviously you've got every colour, every shade and really like bold, like every piece is bold and stands out. There's not as much synergy. If you were going to be a mini max.

Richard O'Gorman: Exactly. So I was like, I tried to be very minimal and then I was painting for five weeks and then I kind of stepped back as it was like nearing the end. And I was like, Oh, this is not minimal at all.

Lucy Symons: So now what I need to do is go the whole hog and redo my table, my chairs. Well, you got to lean.

Richard O'Gorman: In to these things.

Lucy Symons: And because you then completely did the whole dining space as well, you didn't just leave at the mural you went for.

Richard O'Gorman: Everything. Everything. And you know what's really wild as well? I bought this sideboard before I moved in that was, like, completely black. And. And then when once I'd done the dining room, I painted it bright blue and then did like, all these different colours on it. And on the drawers there was like a relief on the middle drawer of two hatches and like I bought it before House Homeware was even a thing. It's so weird, isn't it? Like it came to you?

Lucy Symons: It found me, didn't found me.

Richard O'Gorman: And it broke my mum's car in the process. Just chipped a few things off.

Lucy Symons: But you got it home, so that's still drives. So what is your favourite room now?

Richard O'Gorman: If it was the dining room. Yeah, it was the dining room. And now since I've redone the guest room. Yeah, the guest room is now my, like, my space. I like space. Have coffee in there every morning. And, like, it's nice because it's like it feels like a living room. It has a pull out sofa bed. So I, like, just sit there, have like coffee and breakfast up there and you can like see all the trees and stuff and you can't hear the doorbell going. So it's just, it's just my private space.

Lucy Symons: What does your room look like? My room like that one might be hiding from the ground.

Richard O'Gorman: No, it's on the ground. Yeah, but it's actually kind of like a plot twist because it's dark green floor to ceiling. It's very dark. It's very calming. And it's a really nice, like, um, like change of pace from the rest of the house because the rest of the house is very like energetic and vibrant, whereas this is very.

Lucy Symons: Get your energy back.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, like moody, calm, sultry, mysterious as bedrooms should be.

Lucy Symons: But not the gas bedroom.

Richard O'Gorman: Not the guest bedroom. No, They can stay awake.

Lucy Symons: I love that. And so has has your process from obviously when you started your account to now, has anything changed your perception of colour in a space? Like has your thoughts and feelings changed towards colour or are you just now getting to express?

Richard O'Gorman: It's definitely changed because like before I moved into my house, I'd never really painted before. Yeah, so like everything is new, so I'm learning so quickly and when I paint, I painted my bathroom and it has a bright yellow ceiling and I kind of just did that like on a whim, like, oh, a yellow ceiling would be nice. And then as I walked out of my bedroom one morning, the sunlight was hitting the ceiling and, like, just bouncing this, like, golden yellow light all the way through the upstairs hallway. And I was like, right, this is this is the thing. Like, that's when I first realised that colour has like, like colour theory has,

Lucy Symons: Does have some.

Richard O'Gorman: Ground.

Lucy Symons: It's valid. It's not just something that somebody made up.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, totally. Although nobody rule book, nobody can really agree on what it means.

Lucy Symons: No, no. And I still think it's quite perceptive. Like totally. Each person is going to prefer something completely different. Yeah, I think that's what's hard about our job. Trying to make sure that every client is happy with the end product when there's so many different people and so many different feelings towards colours. Some people just hate certain colours just because.

Richard O'Gorman: Do you hate any colours?

Lucy Symons: Do I hate any colour? I was that classic groovy chick lilac bedroom child. I feel like I try and steer clear now. I know I've made some shocking home decisions. No, no one needs to know what all my rooms used to look like. I probably wouldn't be allowed to be a designer anymore. I think it's funny, isn't it? When you look back, even when I was about 15, my parents said You can redesign your bedroom. And I thought, This is my time to shine. And they let me choose anything. And I had a whole mural of the Seychelles, a photo. It was horrific across my whole wall. I need to see this. But I'm a messy person. So it looked like a tsunami all the time and I never realised how stressful I found my whole room like I used to. It was almost the opposite of your room. I used to come home and sit in it and think, this is really cool. But actually it was just so stressful because there's too much going on. Yeah, right in my tsunami. And then now I look back, which is hilarious because now my room is really quite plain. It's all about the accessories and like finishes and textures and patterns, but it's quite minimal. And I think because of what we do with work, we come home from work and we're around so many different clients and colours and shapes and patterns when I come home. But like you, I just want to sit in my room, have a little calm moment.

Richard O'Gorman: Do you sit in your room and relax?

Lucy Symons: Oh, I love my room.

Richard O'Gorman: Oh, nice.

Lucy Symons: Love that. Love my room. I'm blessed with ceilings like these. Oh, stunning. It's a nice space. When can we go? Yeah, when can we go after this?

Speaker2: Let's go.

Lucy Symons: And. But So I'm probably going to stay clear of Lilac for the rest of my life.

Richard O'Gorman: But I love lilac.

Lucy Symons: I think it can be used. Yeah, love it.

Richard O'Gorman: It's a beautiful colour. It's really. There's so much energy in it.

Lucy Symons: I think it's a [00:20:00] colour of the year this year. By Hugh.

Richard O'Gorman: No, Pantone is magenta. It's magenta. Which is why I'm wearing this.

Lucy Symons: Because you are on trend.

Richard O'Gorman: Got to represent a trend in me, not on walls.

Lucy Symons: I'm just here to represent.

Richard O'Gorman: You know, I just am the moment.

Lucy Symons: But apart from that, that's probably it. Do you hate any colour, or do you just love them all?

Richard O'Gorman: I hate grey. Oh, yeah? Just. It just feels like a non-event.

Lucy Symons: It's just like a space filler. A lot of our clients hate grey. Yeah, And I think for a while it was really challenging because especially in the office market, every carpet was grey. Of course, you didn't really have a choice. The pattern could be amazing and beautiful. It could look like water, but everything was grey. And I think when it's carpet tiles as well, I just look at it and.

Richard O'Gorman: I feel like it's not inspiring.

Lucy Symons: No.

Richard O'Gorman: You can't look at a grey wall and be like, Oh my gosh, I can't wait to.

Lucy Symons: That's a beautiful grey wall.

Richard O'Gorman: Was going to run home and paint a mural right now.

Lucy Symons: Everything's going to be grey and white. No, you absolutely cannot. So I think something that would be fun to touch on is interior design masters. Mm hmm. Tell us a bit about your experience.

Richard O'Gorman: Oh, no. Season three. I forgot what season.

Lucy Symons: I was on. So what made you want to apply?

Richard O'Gorman: Um, well, this is some inside info. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't actually apply. Oh, and they. They found me. They approached me, and they just, like, reached out and DMS one day and they were like, Hi, we think you'd be perfect for the show. You like.

Lucy Symons: I think this is fake.

Richard O'Gorman: Block. And I was like, Are you sure? And they were like, Yeah, we really like. And the weird thing is my gut was like, You're not right for the show. Yeah, but my friends are like, This is such a good opportunity. Like, definitely a good opportunity. They've asked you to be on the show. You have to do it. And I'm really glad I did it. But I wasn't right for the show. Yeah, it's just different.

Lucy Symons: I think it's like it gave you a platform of just people that just like, Oh, okay.

Richard O'Gorman: And it's really nice. So we are like a dysfunctional family, but we are a family. The ten of us from.

Lucy Symons: The viewer kept in contacts as.

Richard O'Gorman: Well. Almost everyone was like, Yeah, but most of us, like, we still hang out and we like go out for drinks and stuff and we are like. Like nobody can ever take away that. The journey that we went on. It's a shared.

Lucy Symons: Experience that you have.

Richard O'Gorman: Forever. It was so stressful. Was it? I've never been more sweaty in my life.

Lucy Symons: Was your favourite challenge?

Richard O'Gorman: Well, I did one, yeah, because they booted me off, but it was just really nice, like to be surrounded by other people who love and care about design that much. Like, Yeah, even though all of our aesthetics are so different, we you have such a common ground in like, a love of our design space.

Lucy Symons: Yeah, I think it's such an interesting program because it's so different from what we do. I think like commercial interiors is such a different process because it's not just driven by like one client and one person's home or one person's vision. It's driven by a business's perception of what they think they need. And obviously, much as I would absolutely love to sit and sometimes I think, Oh, I could make that myself, I definitely can't sit and do that. There's none of that in the commercial side of it. It's so different. It's all programmed and planned and everything's like drawn out and given to people who really, really know what they're doing and building because it's for commercial use. It's such a different side of it to watch. Of course, that kind of program.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, yeah, everything's DIY, everything's DIY, Everything's spray painted hot, glued.

Lucy Symons: It's like, guys, it looks really good on TV.

Speaker2: Don't touch it.

Lucy Symons: So was there anything that came out of that apart from your little dysfunctional family? Was there anything that came out of the show that you thought, Oh, someone's seen me on here and now I've got this opportunity? Like, is it given you?

Richard O'Gorman: I'm not sure in terms of work. It really has, but it has. I do get spotted in the street now, so famous, which is quite fun.

Lucy Symons: I mean, you dress so individually.

Richard O'Gorman: I'm not surprised. So under the radar, I just want to hide away little wallflower.

Lucy Symons: I bet there's not a black piece of clothing in your wardrobe.

Richard O'Gorman: Do you know what they used to be? I used to wear all black, but, um, now I've started wearing more colour in the last, like, few years, and the. Again, again, like, the effect on my mood is. And, like, amazing. So, like, I only wear colour now. I love that. I'm wearing your personality. I've actually recently found a man. Oh. But he only wears, like, grey and blue.

Lucy Symons: You're like, I'm going to change this.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, well, he's already decided that he wants to paint his bedroom green. Love that. Working on him. But he matching bedrooms. He told this guy one of his friends about us, and he was like the guy. The flamboyant guy with the colourful house. And he was like, Yeah, why? And he was like, Your house is great. How is that going to work?

Lucy Symons: We're going to change it. Yeah, we're.

Richard O'Gorman: Going to paint it all.

Lucy Symons: There's a project. That's exactly how the full project. Yeah, it's down to the wardrobe murals begin. I love that. It is interesting because we work with loads of different mural artists and everybody that we work with dresses like the murals. So yeah, you have to with. We had an artist come to one of our London sites called Molly Mural in Bristol. I love her.

Richard O'Gorman: Really fun, love her.

Lucy Symons: Looks like one of her murals, which is amazing. And she's just started like printing her own murals onto clothing. So now she's literally dressing in her murals as well. She turns up on site like right there she is.

Richard O'Gorman: She's amazing. I love her work. Yeah, she's so cool.

Lucy Symons: I love that. Are you looking for. We're going to work together soon.

Richard O'Gorman: We are going to work together in real life.

Lucy Symons: I can't wait. In Brighton? It's going to be really fun. I love Brighton. It is. Oh, so do I love it. It's going to be a really fun project. Yeah, it is. It's also massive. The mural you've got there, how big? It's really. Which is like, what did I remind me. Yeah I think we've got about it's like nine metres long and then there's another one that's like 3 or 4. But the ceilings, the ceilings are quite high. They're probably not that far off in here. That's going to be really fun. I can't wait. So that'll probably be a bit of a different one where we've got a bit more of a set brief in terms of the colours we can use. Yeah, I think the way obviously we work, everything else is signed off, the flooring signed off, the T points are signed off part of the design. So we've got a concept and then it'll just be with you to go to the space, see how you feel about it. Then just go wild.

Richard O'Gorman: It's like I that's my favourite thing is like walking into the space for the first time because I can draw a million things out, but as soon as I'm in the space it's like, Oh, that's where it's going.

Lucy Symons: Yeah, you can actually see it. Do you would you get to site do you think, and then take a load of pictures and draw straight on top of them or would you rather sit in the space for a while? What's your process?

Richard O'Gorman: Um, yeah, I think walk in like just you can do it from photos, but it's you do get a different vibe when you're actually in the space. And especially like Brighton is such an inspiring space like place. I want to just sit in Brighton and just let it. Let it all flow all over me.

Lucy Symons: There are so many different murals as well. All around. If you're like walking around the city. Exactly. But I think the reason that we went for your work is almost just juxtaposed that. So we've got it's kind of it's completely different where we've got a lot of grungy graffiti vibes and I think this building is not like that at all. And the clients not like that at all. So they wanted something a little bit different. Yeah, I think your work just completely fits the kind of overall vision that they're going for. See, look again. We came to. You didn't even need to do a call out looking for your license. Um, so that's going to be really fun. I can't wait. So what other projects are you up to at the moment?

Richard O'Gorman: Um, so I currently have been asked to. Well, I've just finalised a design for Soho House. Oh, exciting. We're having a I'm part of the Birmingham committee. Which is very exciting. And I've designed a photobooth wrap and postcard for a dinner that's next week. Annoyingly, I'm double booked and I'm doing a talk on the same night. I'm so busy, but I'm literally I've asked the talk if I can go first in the in the evening. So I'm going to finish the talk in Manchester, jump straight on the train home and just get there so I can get there.

Lucy Symons: Get my poster all up and down the country.

Richard O'Gorman: Oh, you know, she's busy. She's, um. And then I'm doing a mural next week for a big brand. I'm using their new paint range that they're bringing out. And that's top secret. Top secret secret. So, yeah, by the.

Lucy Symons: Time this comes out, we'll know what it is.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, there's lots of, like, fun things which I which is what I love most about my job because everything, every day is different. Yesterday I was hosting an award ceremony. How was.

Lucy Symons: Your awards?

Richard O'Gorman: Really good. Although I had to, like, restrain myself on the wine. So. Do you want to know the wine was the worst part of awards? I've got to read out awards.

Lucy Symons: You can keep.

Richard O'Gorman: Going. Don't give.

Lucy Symons: Me more. They just keep filling you up as well. To the table. So what is the project that you're most looking forward to in the next year or so? How how far in advance have you got things booked or do you find things just come to you as and when?

Richard O'Gorman: Now? Yeah, totally. Kind of. It goes in such weird ebbs and flows, like in January, like nothing came in for it like two weeks and I was like, It's over, It's done.

Speaker2: My time is past, it's done.

Richard O'Gorman: I'll have to get a normal office job again. But then it just kind of like ramped up by February. So yeah, it's the latest one is actually yours because we're doing May, right?

Lucy Symons: Sometime in.

Richard O'Gorman: May. But um.

Lucy Symons: Love that. Exciting. So you're quite you find it quite relaxed now. You just kind of wait for stuff to come to you. Is there ever things that you see in your like, I'm going to apply to do that or get in contact with these people?

Richard O'Gorman: There was one that said, I'm from Coventry originally and Coventry City Council did a call out for. Artist Paint the Ring Road and which is a hideous part of Coventry's architecture. If you know it, it's horrible.

Lucy Symons: Maybe I'm lucky enough to not.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, you are lucky enough to not. So loads of people from Coventry were like rich. This is the moment. And I was like, I really like, I really kind of manifested it, but they went in a different direction and that's their mistake.

Lucy Symons: Otherwise we might not have had you exactly ready to do art. Yeah, love that. So what are you working on right now?

Richard O'Gorman: Uh, right now. The project for next week for the. The brand. We've just had the paint colours through, so I'm just working on the designs for that. And yeah, I've kind of taken a relaxed couple of weeks because my grandma sadly passed away last week. Um, but so the focus is her funeral, but she is an icon and she would slap me if I told her I was taking a week off.

Speaker2: Stop being lazy. Stop [00:30:00] being so lazy. Stop using me as an excuse.

Richard O'Gorman: Like I won't accept this. So. Back to the wheel.

Lucy Symons: I love that. I'm just going to pause for a minute. Sorry. Just got to the end of my lesson. I'm just pausing for one second. Yeah, it's all right.

Speaker2: Pretty good.

Speaker4: Pretty good. Most of what we need. Oh, cool. It's all fascinating.

Speaker2: So I was. Yes. I'm not going to lie. I was on your Instagram trying to find which room you were talking about. Did you find it? Back room?

Speaker4: If you just pause for a second, wrap up if you want to say thanks for coming on.

Speaker2: Sure. Yeah, It was really good.

Lucy Symons: Good. Wrap it.

Speaker2: Look that. Wait second. Hang on. It was. Yeah, yeah, we.

Lucy Symons: Did all the work.

Speaker2: So is it.

Lucy Symons: I don't know how long your podcast are, Toby, but less than two one.

Speaker2: Four hours possible.

Lucy Symons: And indeed is doing them.

Richard O'Gorman: What battery percentage are we on. That's the important thing.

Speaker2: 5959 So efficient. Yeah love that I've got here. And I was so.

Richard O'Gorman: Confused because I got here and I was like, I know this guy. I was like.

Speaker2: Are we met? Oh I'll share with.

Richard O'Gorman: Yeah, Yeah, it is.

Speaker2:

Lucy Symons: How's Alan in real life?

Richard O'Gorman: He's so great. There was some weird moments, though. This isn't for.

Speaker2: Paul. We had to do.

Richard O'Gorman: A we had to do a few shoots, reshoots of his, like, comedic things, which was a bit weird because then you're like, How do I do? I, like, respond like I have. I've seen it for the first time. Or

Speaker2: Like those jokes more than once.

Richard O'Gorman: He was like, I'm going to come back out and do it again. It's like, Do you want me to respond the same? So the joke was in the same direction, or do you want me to do you want me to change it up? But then you're not going to go in the same direction? It was weird, but he's lovely. Like when I came back for the final, he was like outside having lunch and I walked through the door and he dropped his lunch and came running over and was like, Oh, I've missed you. And I was like, That's really nice.

Speaker2: Oh my God.

Lucy Symons: I'm so glad He's a nice in real life. Yeah, He fills me with joy.

Speaker2: Yeah, he's really nice.

Lucy Symons: That fills me with joy. I've been obsessed. He's got this program on BBC, which is my mum was like, You have to watch this. The one with Amanda Holden. Have you watched it? No.

Richard O'Gorman: I don't have a TV.

Lucy Symons: But why don't we talk about television? It's not on any of his pictures. I know. I did have one more thing to ask you, so I might ask you one more thing. Okay. Um, so.

Speaker2: We're still rolling.

Lucy Symons: You want me to ask if you want to wrap up? You could be like.

Speaker6: So where can people find out more about you?

Lucy Symons: Yeah, that was last on my list.

Richard O'Gorman: Homo.

Speaker2: How's homo?

Lucy Symons: I'll wait till everyone sits down.

Speaker2: Starts eating biscuits.

Lucy Symons: I was trying so hard not to move. I was like, I don't want to move. I'm so thirsty. But I was like, I can't drink too much. I know.

Speaker2: I didn't want to be like.

Lucy Symons: Every five minutes as well.

Speaker2: Asmr Yes.

Lucy Symons: Today that's all we're doing.

Richard O'Gorman: My podcast. I'm here for that.

Lucy Symons: Should I ask my. Sorry, I was just waiting. I have one more. I have a couple more things to ask and then an outro.

Speaker2: Probably just wait for a few seconds of silence and then go whenever you're ready. Okay. We can't do that. We can't do that. Silence.

Lucy Symons: Um, so I was going to ask you, where do you do all of your work? Do you have a studio? Do you work from home? In your guest room? Where's your main base? Yeah, I.

Richard O'Gorman: Work from home pretty much exclusively, and I love it. I think my neighbours get quite confused because I'm a at home all the time. All the time.

Speaker2: So suspicious.

Richard O'Gorman: And then I'm like, just through the walls they hear like, Hi, I'm. How's Homer?

Lucy Symons: All of your videos? What's going.

Speaker2: On? What is happening?

Lucy Symons: Do they all know? Do they love it?

Richard O'Gorman: Well, do you know what? I have one neighbour on one side. Nobody lives there. It's just an empty house. I must kill you.

Lucy Symons: Paint inside.

Richard O'Gorman: It's actually really sad. When I moved in, there was a gay couple that lived there. Yeah, and then they moved out, like day two of lockdown. Yeah, but they left their dog.

Speaker2: In.

Richard O'Gorman: The house. And then they were coming. Then randomly, this old woman started coming by every day to like, feed and walk the dog. But then we'd leave it. So I just had like, a dog neighbour. I'd have broken.

Lucy Symons: And I was like, I was broken in.

Richard O'Gorman: And one day I was like, I was like, I'm going to ask and be like, Can I please take your dog? Like, because I'm alone. You're alone. Like, we can be together. But then she let it out into the garden and was like, I could see it from my back window. And it was this beast of a dog.

Lucy Symons: And I'm so glad I never offered.

Speaker2: I'm not going to ask now.

Lucy Symons: I'm glad I didn't even offer to walk it.

Speaker2: Now it's too big.

Richard O'Gorman: But then he has now moved on to a different place.

Lucy Symons: So have you seen anyone else's houses? Are they if you've been into anyone else's on your street.

Richard O'Gorman: And then there is a.

Lucy Symons: Lockdown for two and a.

Richard O'Gorman: Half years. Exactly. And there's a new couple on the on my other side and they are so nice. They've just moved in and they're really like. They. Well, my pipe burst while I was away in Mexico in December and they hopped over the fence to fix it. So I love them and just so busy, you know, travelling.

Speaker2: I love that.

Lucy Symons: Just different on the street. So where can people go to find out more about you?

Richard O'Gorman: You can head straight to Instagram and type in house Homo. Love that little plug. And that's it. That's where you.

Speaker2: Can find me. That's who you are.

Lucy Symons: Well, it's been lovely to chat.

Richard O'Gorman: It's been so lovely. It's been so nice to meet you in person.

Speaker2: In person.

Richard O'Gorman: Can we cuddle now?

Speaker2: Hello? We're done.

Lucy Symons: Good. Um.

Speaker2: Stunning. Nice one. All right.

Speaker4: Cut.

Speaker2: Lovely. Smashed it. Lovely. Well done.

Speaker6: Oh, my God. I'm going to tell detail on Comfy. So.

Speaker2: Yeah, that.

Speaker4: Was just a bit of feedback.

Speaker2: Genuine look on your face of the Airbnb.

Speaker4: I'll come. Chairs.

Interaction's Thrivalism

Interaction meets House Homo

Richard O'Gorman in conversation with Lucy Symons

Interaction's Thrivalism

Interaction meets House Homo

Richard O'Gorman in conversation with Lucy Symons

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