We’re just not good at going into a room and saying how lovely we are – unless we’re David Walliams. So actually, not hiding your light under a bushel is a really important lesson. It’s something that they really don’t have in their own market. It’s thought to be witty, clever – even democratic. Actually, one of the things that I learned in Asia was that anything that is branded ‘British’ is considered to be extraordinarily desirable. We were born with a 'Hugh Grant attitude' that means we’re always stuttering and stumbling about what makes us special. Have the confidence to express what your brand is all about They like to buy something that reflects who I am, something that’s a little bit naughty, a little bit ‘punky’. If I’ve done something that’s a bit quiet in order to be commercial, I’ve found that people are not very interested. There have been plenty of companies out there that felt that if they made me a little more ‘beige’, I’d sell better – and I have proved the reverse. With a personality-based brand, you have to be stalwart about defending who you are. This is the most important lesson I have learned on this journey. Be true to yourself With a personality-based brand, you have to be stalwart about defending who you are Recently we’ve seen how successful some British brands, like Paul Smith, Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, have become around the world, and we decided to launch a range of lingerie and our homewares products in the extraordinarily challenging markets of China and Mexico. Since then I’ve been running my design business, House of Laurence, with my wife Jackie. It is – unbelievably – 20 years since Changing Rooms (the BBC TV home-makeover programme) ended.
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