Interior Design Masters 2026: Yorkshire contestant Jonni Knight on his bold debut, mid-century style and life after dance
At just four years old, Jonni Knight told his mum he wanted to start dance lessons. It was an early sign of the creative instinct that would shape his career and eventually lead him to the new series of Interior Design Masters, which begins next week.
“I’ve always done dance my whole life and I’ve always been creative. I loved putting outfits together and redesigning bedrooms at home,” he says.
Speaking to Property Post over Zoom, the 30-year-old Yorkshire-born contestant is relaxed and chatty as he recalls his experience on the show, which begins its seventh series on Tuesday on BBC One. “That first episode in particular was just such a fun week,” he says.
Jonni, who grew up in Beverley, East Yorkshire, currently runs a performing arts school for children and spent years working in musical theatre. However, interior design has always been central to his life.
“It was me, my mum, my dad and my older brother,” he says of his upbringing. “We lived in Beverley until I was 18.” His mother, a textiles teacher, filled their home with making and experimentation. “She’d come home and just move everything around because she fancied a change. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, it feels like a new space’, even just moving furniture.”
That early exposure left a lasting impression. So did the freedom to make his own design decisions. “We moved when I was eight or nine and I decided I wanted a lime green bedroom,” he says.
“I don’t know how I slept in it – it was glow-in-the-dark bright. But I loved the fact it was mine, that I’d chosen it.”
Jonni began ballet lessons at four, later moving to London to train professionally and going on to work in musical theatre. “I worked in the industry for maybe seven or eight years,” he says. “I loved it, but I sort of fell out of love with it a bit.”
The turning point came during the pandemic, when he and his husband bought their first flat. “We moved in with nothing apart from a mattress,” he says. “It was completely white, a blank canvas. And I was like, ‘Right, what do we do?’”
He started by introducing colour. “I put colour on every wall straight away – dark teal in one room, navy in the hallway. I just wanted it to feel like a home.” Over time, as furniture was added and the space evolved, so did his understanding of his own design instincts. “That was my first proper go at putting my stamp on something,” he says.
His style, he says, always returns to mid-century design. “I love the clean lines, the natural materials, the simplicity. But I like to put a twist on it – a bold print or a pop of colour.”
Practicality plays a big role too. “I always say I’ve got champagne taste on a tap-water budget,” he says. “I want the expensive look, but I’ll figure out how to do it myself.” Taught to sew by his mother, he regularly makes soft furnishings, reupholsters furniture and sources materials from scrap stores. “I love being resourceful. It’s about thinking, ‘How can I make this work?’”
He has applied that thinking to projects for friends and family, learning how to balance his own preferences with those of others. “My sister-in-law’s dining room was probably the biggest challenge,” he says. “She likes cooler tones, whereas I’m more into warmer, mid-century styles. We really had to meet in the middle.” The end result, he says, exceeded expectations. “She loves it. It wasn’t what she initially imagined, but it works.”
Interior Design Masters, hosted by Alan Carr, where aspiring designers transform a new space each week in a bid to win a life-changing contract, had been on Jonni’s radar for years.
“Every year I’d say, ‘I should apply,’ and then I wouldn’t,” he says. “Last year I saw the deadline was the next day and thought, ‘Right, just do it.’” He submitted his application hours before it closed. “The next day I got a call. It felt like everything had just lined up.”
Filming for Series 7 took place last summer, with tight deadlines and constant pressure. “You get about a week for each brief,” he says. “You’re finding products, sticking to a budget and trying to bring your idea to life. There are moments where you think, ‘I can’t do this.’”
For Jonni, managing time was key. “I knew I could get carried away making everything,” he says. “But you have to be realistic. If something’s quick, I’ll make it. If not, I’ll buy it.”
The first episode sees contestants design colourful beach huts on the Dorset coast in their signature styles, under the watchful eye of head judge Michelle Ogundehin and guest judge, interior designer Jonathan Adler, who decide who progresses to the next round and who goes home.
Jonni describes the whole Interior Design Masters experience as deeply rewarding. “I did it to prove to myself that I’m a creative person,” he says. “I’ve always expressed that through dance, and this felt like a new chapter.”
Back in Watford, Jonni continues to run his performing arts school while developing his interiors work. He is in the process of launching his own design studio, Jonni Knight Design. “I’m just excited to see where it goes,” he says.
Watch Interior Design Masters on Tuesdays at 8pm on BBC One from April 21.