Craig Masson: Hastings' Own Interior Design Master

Words by Mel Elliott

Photos by Euan Baker

Craig Masson almost ‘broke the internet’ with his fake bamboo and he gave the dogs at Battersea a pop-art inspired room that was fit for a King Charles Spaniel, but it was his pub in Edinburgh that had Interior Design Masters on BBC1 sending him back to us in Hastings. Most definitely their loss, our gain I say!

Craig lives with his husband, Jason and their cat Fifi in a quiet, secluded part of town near St Helen’s Wood. A place where you can hear birdsong from birds other than seagulls.”We don’t get them here” he tells me “although during the pandemic all the seagulls came up here because there was no food on the seafront. We literally had twelve of them on our roof, squawking and as soon as everything opened back up they went back down into town.” 

Craig’s home is just that… a home. I can tell immediately that it is well lived in, loved in and not at all pretentious, It is exactly what you’d expect from a man who can pull off purple shorts and braces with such aplomb: full to the brim with character, personality and colour.

Nearly everything here has been bought from shops in Hastings and St Leonards

In his final challenge on Interior Design Masters, Craig defended what he liked to call “intentional clutter”, and quite rightly so. In Craig’s home there is something to behold everywhere you turn. There‘s porcelain fruit embellishing the garden, intriguing and slightly creepy sculptures in glass domes (created by Craig himself), piles of books and so many prints and patterns and paintings and my personal favourite, 3 poodle masks adorning the kitchen wall. “Nearly everything here has been bought from shops in Hastings and St Leonards” he says proudly, pointing at a little felt mouse from Shop House Hastings, and a mosaic skull by artist, Susan Elliott “...and this was an old fur coat and I know we obviously don’t wear fur any more but it’s still there, so I picked it all apart and turned it into two little rugs” he says. 

As I entered his bedroom, I recognised it immediately (no stop that you filthy lot). “Oooh! This was on the telly!” I squealed. “Yes, George Clarke: Old House, New Home” he assured me. I remembered it well. Craig and Jason  knocked two rooms into one and got rid of the pesky ceiling to create a dramatic and large, high vaulted room with a partitioned off bathroom/dressing room, AKA the bedroom of dreams. 

“It was good because even though we paid for the work doing, we got some of the stuff for free” he tells me of his George Clarke experience while pointing out the beautiful bath and the expensive looking wallpaper. 

”We’d only just bought the house and we hadn’t moved in as the rest of it was like a bombsite. They put this beautiful bath in and these amazing taps but there was actually no running water!” he laughed.

”Oooh I see you have a teasmaid” I said, pointing at the bedside table.

”They are quite fun and I used it for a bit but then I realised that I’m not so lazy that I can’t walk to the kitchen”, Craig laughed.

The kitchen is large, and bright (after some knocking down of walls) with basic Ikea units that Craig has wrapped in a deep teal colour. A large island is made using Ikea units combined with an antique dresser and the whole room looks warm, comfortable and inviting with vintage crockery, vases and artwork of some sort wherever you look. You can imagine the wine being poured, the chatting, the clinking of glasses and laughter as food is generously spooned out to many friends and family in here.

We ventured outside where the garden slopes down into woodland and at the top of the slope, they have had a studio patch-worked together using reclaimed Crittall window frames. “We wanted it to look like it was built at the same time as the house” he tells me, “this is where I come to do my arty things”.

Craig studied printmaking at Chelsea Art School, had a stint at prop making and then went into retail. These days he works two days per week in London.

So back to Interior Design Masters, “what was Alan Carr like?” I asked him.

”Alan is a sweetheart. He literally does not turn it on for the camera. He’s like “LALALALALA!” and then they go “action” and he’s like “LALALALALA!” He does not change. You can hear him squawking in and out of the lunch queue. He’s very funny and so friendly and warm. A really lovely man.”

Overall, Craig very much enjoyed his experience on Interior Design Masters but if any of you fancy applying for the next series, be warned, the schedule is gruelling!

I feel like I belong here now. I know some people don't like people knowing their business but I feel great comfort in seeing people I know when I'm walking around. It's a really comforting thing as you're getting older, to feel like you belong.

“They give you a van and a credit card and you have a week. The elimination happens on a Friday morning so then you have that weekend to think about the next project. Sunday night, the money drops, then you have that week and the next weekend to run around buying stuff and designing. You put everything in your van and then on Monday you jump in your van and head to where the project is, whether it's the Lake District or Edinburgh or wherever. You have to be onsite midday on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are filmed in real time, Thursday is judging day by Michelle and whoever and then Friday is the elimination in Brighton. The whole process takes four full months if you’re in every episode. I was very fortunate but many can’t do it and John, who is a teacher, had to work at the same time as doing all this! Briony had young kids as well. Out of everyone there I probably had it the easiest and I was exhausted.”

Personally, I feel Craig was a little hard done by on the show. His first time “on Michelle’s dreaded sofa” was episode 5, at Twickenham in which contestants had to design a rugby hospitality suite. Craig felt that this was his best work on the show, creating a sophisticated and glamourous mid-century Madmen inspired room with hints of Rothko, a beautifully tiled bar and with rugby ball shaped mirrors. I mean, the rugby is just outside, why would you want it splattered all over the room as well!? It wasn’t sporty enough for Michelle but Craig still managed to go on to the semi final in Edinburgh where he was sadly sent home.

“You looked so gutted when you were eliminated” I told him.

”It was quite hard to watch you know” he admitted. “But god that was tough. This whole lawn was simply covered in furniture and lampshades!”

We’re all getting together in Brighton next week to watch the final” he told me, cheering up a bit.

So what’s next for Craig following the show?

”I don’t know what will come of it if anything” he tells me.

I've been grafting my entire life and feel that my experience is my asset now, so eally that's what I want to use. I'm not really mad about rolling around on the floor painting stripes anymore, my knees aren't up t it!

Craig turns sixty this year and feels he has a wealth of experience and knowledge. “I’ve been grafting my entire life and feel that my experience is my asset now, so really that’s what I want to use. I’m not really mad about rolling around on the floor painting stripes anymore, my knees aren’t up to it! Personally, I feel that Craig should get himself into that gorgeous studio of his and get making!

There is no doubting that Craig loves where he lives. “I feel like I belong here now. I know some people don’t like people knowing your business but I feel great comfort in seeing people I know when I’m walking around. It's a really comforting thing as you’re getting older to feel like you belong.”

Something I have learned looking around Craig’s beautiful home and listening to him talk passionately about interior design, is that good interior design takes time. Interior design is about much more than having a budget and throwing some matching things together: it’s about experience, memories, friends and personality, it’s about day trips and holidays. It’s about comfort, belonging and practicality but mostly it’s about giving yourself somewhere that you love and that you’re proud to put your feet up in. 

If you haven’t watched already, catch Craig on series 6 of Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr and Michelle Ogundehin on BBCiPlayer and follow Craig on Instagram to learn how to make that all-important fake bamboo amongst other stuff @craigmasondesigns