00:00:06
George Clark, welcome to my podcast. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. >> You literally like just walked in and we
00:00:11
just sat down. You had a couple of canceled Ubers, so you've been um walking here in the awkward humidity.
00:00:17
>> That's why I'm looking a bit hot and sweaty with slightly greasy looking hair
00:00:20
today and so apologies for that. So, how are you? What brings you to NZ? >> Um I'm filming a new series actually.
00:00:26
It's um it's a kind of co-commission uh between Sky Orin and Channel 4. So
00:00:31
Channel 4's they're my bosses in the UK basically. Um and I'm doing about a
00:00:36
whole series about Homes in the Wilds. George Clark's Homes in the Wilds. You
00:00:40
probably noticed that when you look online, every single program's got my name in front of us just in case people
00:00:45
forget who I am. >> There are there is actually Well, now I've got the list here. So there's um
00:00:50
Oh, >> you're not going to go through them all, are you? There's all
00:00:52
>> George You've only got an hour. Sorry. George Clark's Amazing Spaces. I think
00:00:56
that's the one that most people in New Zealand probably associate with you. >> Yeah, I think it's probably the biggest
00:01:02
globally really in >> fairness. Uh there's also Build a New Life in the Country, The Home Show, The
00:01:07
Restoration Man. Oh, that's a big one here as well. Restoration Man. Um Old House, New Home.
00:01:12
>> Yeah. >> Ugly House to Lovely House. >> Yeah. >> Is that the lot or
00:01:15
>> There's a few more, but there really go there. Yeah, there's definitely more.
00:01:19
Flipping fast was a series that I made. Yeah, we can go on and on, but I won't.
00:01:23
>> Yeah. Amazing. So, um, yeah. How's New Zealand been? You've been I follow you
00:01:27
on Instagram. So, you've been here for a while. I've been here for a month. Uh,
00:01:30
over a month, actually. It's been great. So, we've actually just finished
00:01:33
yesterday the New Zealand leg of the series. So, I'm doing four episodes in New Zealand, two episodes in Australia.
00:01:40
So, I head off on Monday um to Australia. But New Zealand's great. I mean, I've been many times before. I
00:01:46
love it. You know, great people, beautiful landscapes, and um yeah, great houses. Thankfully, that's why I'm here
00:01:53
to see homes in the wild. So, we've been the the the premise of this series is is
00:01:58
not just about wild homes, but um homes on islands, kind of island living, off-grid, predominantly off-rid living.
00:02:04
So, yeah, I've been at Great Barrier. I came back from Malra Sounds yesterday. I
00:02:08
was in Rakino. Uh I was in Caro. Um not carow as people call it here. How do you pronounce it?
00:02:16
How do you >> I don't know what island you're talking about. Do you know?
00:02:19
>> Was it Kawwo? K A W A U. >> I don't know how to spell it. Anyway,
00:02:24
>> I can't even speak English properly. I'm trying to get around the New Zealand
00:02:27
pronunciations of stuff. Never mind, spell it. No, car wash. It's not too far
00:02:31
from here. But um yeah, I think a lot of K say carow, which is not the right pronunciation.
00:02:36
>> Do you do you get recognized in New Zealand quite a bit? Have you been recognized when you've been out and
00:02:40
about? >> Yeah, just a bit. A lot. Yeah, know a lot actually. I think the shows Well,
00:02:44
you probably know about them. I think the shows do really well. Um Amazing Spaces, as you mentioned, is the biggest
00:02:49
brand really. I think it's it's such a unique program. I mean, I'm making
00:02:54
season 14 of that at the minute. It's been going since 2012. Um, and it's funny actually because if
00:03:01
you think, you know, I'm a trained architect and, you know, I've done all
00:03:04
this kind of very serious education for many, many years. And, uh, and yeah, Amazing Spaces is about kind of caravans
00:03:11
and camper vans and tree houses and quirky, quite unusual, bizarre builds. Really quite eccentric. It's quite an
00:03:18
eccentric series which is what I love about it. Um, >> but yeah, I get recognized quite a lot
00:03:22
here. It's great. I mean, everyone's lovely. Everyone's so adorable. I mean,
00:03:25
you know, everyone's super positive about the programs and you all love your
00:03:29
houses and your DIY, you know, obsessed as the Brits are about property really. So, um,
00:03:35
>> no, it's good fun. It's great. >> What do people say when they come up to
00:03:38
you? >> That's quite a good question. The reason why I'm laughing so loudly is, and I I
00:03:45
don't mean to offend anybody, I'll just get that caveat out there beforehand,
00:03:49
right? The phrase for some reason that New Zealanders say to me as soon as the I think I think I'm going to get some
00:03:57
some excuses in just in case I do offend somebody. I think because you you're
00:04:01
you're such a beautiful remote country, you're a million miles away from
00:04:04
anywhere, which is what makes it amazing. You know, you've kind of got everything that you need here. You've
00:04:09
got everything. You know, you've got great wine country, beautiful walks, outdoor sports, great restaurants. You
00:04:15
know, you've got you do everything. You produce so much of your own stuff. But I
00:04:18
think everyone's quite surprised that people come here cuz it's so far away.
00:04:21
So the phrase is, "Hi, George. How long are you here?" Right now, I thought it was like people
00:04:29
trying to get rid of me. It's like, is he here for a week? Is he going to get
00:04:31
lost? Is he going to stay for a month? You know, do we have to call immigration? And and honestly, the
00:04:36
phrase is, "Hey, George, how long are you here?" And I think it's in in
00:04:41
fairness, I think it's like a sense of pride because you're chuffed to bits
00:04:43
that people have traveled so far to come because you are quite remote. Um, and I
00:04:48
think people are genuinely intrigued. Why have you come? Why are you here? How long are you here? Um, and I kind of it
00:04:53
makes me laugh because I'll say, "Does it make any difference whether I'm here
00:04:56
for two nights or two weeks?" And they go, "Nah, no, really. Stay as long as
00:04:59
you want, mate." But that is the number one question that honestly it's even
00:05:03
even what are you doing here comes after that. It's a time thing. By the way,
00:05:07
that is the most um English thing ever that you thought people might be offended by that. That's another thing
00:05:13
about most New Zealanders aren't easily offended. You'd have I thought you were
00:05:16
about to say something really shock. >> No, no, no, no. I got to say anything
00:05:19
shocking about New Zealanders. It's >> I'm genuinely the most positive people.
00:05:23
Really welcoming people. People bend over backwards. >> What is your favorite place in the NZ?
00:05:28
Ooh, that's too difficult. I think uh I mean I love the Coramandal, beautiful coastline. I I would Malra
00:05:37
Sounds right up there. I'd never been before until um Monday, Monday, Tuesday
00:05:42
this week I flew out and I left there yesterday and I even did a piece of the camera saying it's one of the most
00:05:47
beautiful places I've been to in my life. It's just so beautiful with all
00:05:51
the lakes and the mountains and I know the weather can be pretty kind of turbulent in that part of the world, but
00:05:57
>> you got Queenstown. I mean, the list can go on and on. I've traveled around New
00:06:00
Zealand a lot. I came here the first time in >> 2016, I think, for Amazing Spaces. Um,
00:06:06
and I've been back many times since. I've got family here. My my uncle >> Your uncle and auntie um you read about
00:06:11
this. Where where are they? >> They're in Hamilton, >> right? Um they've got a little batch in
00:06:15
in F tour and um I stay at the batch quite a lot and yeah it was it was brilliant for me actually. So my my
00:06:22
without boring people for too long um my you know I'm from the northeast of England from a place called Sunderland
00:06:28
which is about 8 10 milesi away from Newcastle and um my uncle he was a soccer player and he was playing for
00:06:36
Newcastle back in the day. this is in the early 80s and he got picked up by a a soccer scout to come to New Zealand
00:06:42
and he immigrated here. I think he was like 19 or something. He was really young. Um and he was my hero my uncle
00:06:48
Stewart. He still is. He's he's there in Hamilton. And uh when he left I mean he
00:06:52
couldn't have got any further away from from Sunderland, you know what I mean?
00:06:55
It's God knows how many miles to get to to Dun Eden which is where we landed.
00:07:00
And so when I was growing up, when I was a very young teenager, I was like 12, 13, 14, New Zealand was like the dream
00:07:07
place for our family. Whenever he sent kind of newspaper cutings of him playing soccer and he'd send postcards and he'd
00:07:13
take photographs, get them printed and send them back to England. And we we just looked at New Zealand think that
00:07:17
was absolute paradise. And it and it kind of is. Is such a long way to come though, isn't
00:07:22
it? It is. How long you here? Yeah, that's why we ask. Um I I put on Instagram that you were coming here and
00:07:28
there's heaps of questions. Um mainly architecture based um uh we'll get to
00:07:33
them but yeah first of all like um when it comes to New Zealand like architecture design and style. What are
00:07:37
we doing right and what are we doing wrong? >> Um you're very good uh with ecological
00:07:42
design. You're very good at building houses that blended with nature which I'm a massive fan of. I think it's one
00:07:46
of the reasons why I love your architecture here so much. You know I'm obviously into sustainable design and
00:07:51
buildings that work in harmony with the landscape rather than fight against it. And I'm really really impressed by some
00:07:57
of the houses. I mean, some of them blend in with the surroundings really, really beautifully. I've seen some
00:08:02
fantastic pieces of architecture in the last few weeks. >> So, I'd put that right up there. Um,
00:08:08
what do you do badly? Don't worry, not much really. Just avoid building in too
00:08:13
much plastic. I would say I've seen a lot of plastic >> on It's one of the It's the same in in
00:08:18
England. You know, you some of the kind of mass built suburban stuff can sometimes not look great because it's
00:08:25
just rolled out on a big scale or like McMansions, do you mean or >> or just like preab just just just boring
00:08:32
if you know what I mean? I just don't like middle of the road boring stuff. I
00:08:36
think do I think there's no excuse for bad design, right? Like genuinely, I think there's no So people say, "Oh, we
00:08:41
didn't have the budget." It's like, you know what I mean? I worked on some
00:08:44
really lowbudget projects >> in my architectural practice back in the day and we never built anything bad.
00:08:49
>> You know what I mean? So I think I think sometimes like lazy design produces poor
00:08:54
quality buildings. I don't think it's just about budget. Obviously budgets can
00:08:58
be a challenge. I get that. But >> yeah, just I just don't like boring. I
00:09:01
just don't like middle of the road stuff. I don't think there's much of an
00:09:03
excuse for it. >> Yeah. And not that I want to [ __ ] on my own back door step, but I'm guessing
00:09:08
like cuz you're you're the architecture guy, so whoever's like driving you
00:09:12
around is is isn't going to take you to, you know, the rather pedestrian areas
00:09:17
like >> but but I've driven myself around a lot. I mean, I've driven, you know, I've I've
00:09:22
literally hired cars and driven all over New Zealand, mainly the North Island. Um
00:09:26
I tried to drive all the way from Oakland um down to Queenstown and realized just how big your country was
00:09:32
and that I was losing a lot of time. So I end up driving from Oakland to Wellington. You're Palmerston North,
00:09:38
aren't you? >> Yeah, I went through Palmer. >> How did How did you know that?
00:09:40
>> Check you out. >> There is that Palmer North is not an amazing >> I went through Palmer North. I stopped.
00:09:47
I had some Thai food in Palmston North when I was on my little road trip. I remember.
00:09:50
>> How was the food poisoning? >> It was good, actually. Yeah. Yeah. It
00:09:52
took me months to get over it. No, I'm joking. >> Um and then I got to Wellington. I was
00:09:57
like, I'm going to have to take a flight to Queenstown. This country is way bigger than I thought.
00:10:01
>> I've driven around all sorts of areas in New Zealand. It's not like I've had a
00:10:04
driver just taking me around the posh bits. >> Yeah. Oh, well, I stalked to you on
00:10:08
Instagram. You've done well for yourself here. You had an Aston Martin for a
00:10:11
while. You had a Polestar electric car for a while. >> Do you know I get everyone's so generous
00:10:15
in using I got given a pair of socks this morning >> from where? >> I thought that was adorable.
00:10:20
>> What's the context? >> I went in and I went in and bought these
00:10:22
trainers. Can I put this on? >> Yeah, of course. These are Reebok. I actually post I normally don't post
00:10:26
about these like that, but these are a classic pair of Reebok trainers. And I've never bought Reebok since I was 16.
00:10:31
And the the guys in the shop were like absolutely brilliant. And I bought them and I walked out and uh I was texting
00:10:37
someone back in the UK as I walked back towards Queen Street. And I must have been there for about 10 minutes and then
00:10:42
the guy just came running out the shop and said, "My boss wanted you to have
00:10:46
these socks. Your response was amazing. It's just so random." But then so yeah then then
00:10:53
coming back to your point um I drove a very ecological um uh polestar um which I drove around on camera a lot as well
00:11:01
which was really beautiful and then I went off that car had to go back um for lots of boring reasons and then um uh
00:11:08
Gilt trap uh gave me a Aston Martin DB12. I'm a big Aston Martin fan. It was
00:11:13
my dream dream car when I was a kid. you know, James Bond, British built, beautiful design. Um, yeah, kind of
00:11:20
classic piece of design. Uh, I'm not really into kind of cars that are too showy, you know, like Lamborghinis and
00:11:27
Ferraris and all that sort of stuff, but the Aston Martin for me was always a dream from Bond films when I was a kid.
00:11:32
I bought my first one secondhand, by the way. I didn't go out and buy a new one.
00:11:36
I bought a secondhand one years ago. >> He's a man of the people. >> No, no, not even that. It was just like,
00:11:42
it's cuz I'm too tight. I'm from the northeast of England. and I just didn't
00:11:44
want to pay all the VAT. Um, so now I got a DB9 back in the day and realized it was completely impractical when I had
00:11:50
kids and um got rid of it. So yeah, I had this at the Martin DB12 which I will genuinely say was the best car I've ever
00:11:57
driven in my life. It was beautiful. And to take it to Wahiki, >> I mean, bit over the top, you know,
00:12:02
people kind of saw me on the ferry and probably thought I was a right dick. >> Um, and that was without the car. No,
00:12:08
I'm joking. >> It's It's interesting though. So you you get to the point where you know I don't
00:12:13
know like you you're f you became famous quite quite old like 30-ish I guess.
00:12:18
>> Yeah. Yeah. That was it took me seven years to train as an architect. I didn't
00:12:22
get out university until I was 24 25 cuz 30 old 30 years being >> old. Well not not like I'm I'm old as
00:12:30
[ __ ] I'm 52 but it's not like not like boy band. >> I'm only two years behind you. I'm not
00:12:34
that far. No, no. I mean, yeah. Genuinely, I started university at 18 and you don't it took um it's seven
00:12:40
years of architectural studies and I took an extra year when I was working in Hong Kong for a while. So,
00:12:45
>> you know, I was kind of 25 26 when I finished all my studies and then started
00:12:50
in TV when I was 29. >> Yeah. Okay. So, well, let's talk about your journey and a bit of the
00:12:55
background. So, um I believe um your granddad, he introduced you to architecture uh with with books.
00:13:01
>> Yeah. Yeah. He bought me. So my granddad was a builder. They both were, right? Uh
00:13:05
both my granddads. Yeah. But my mom's dad um Edward, he was he was a builder.
00:13:11
He he put his hands to anything really. He worked on a farm when he was younger,
00:13:14
when he was very very young cuz he had to kind of provide for the family. And he ended up becoming a a troll and a
00:13:19
fisherman in the later in his later parts of his years. And um but yeah, he was a builder. And when he was he used
00:13:25
to take me to building sites, he used to push muk around. He would build all sorts of stuff. And um it bought me the
00:13:31
glossery of architectural terms when I was 11 12 years old. And I I knew at 12 I used to draw a lot and sketch a lot.
00:13:37
My granddad was a builder. I spent time on building sites. So I knew I wanted to
00:13:41
be in building somehow. But I love to draw. My dad was a bit of a kind of amida cartoonist. He used to love
00:13:47
drawing and doing cartoons and sketches. I used to draw with him. So I think that
00:13:52
combination of my granddad being a builder and and my dad sketching and drawing, I was I was probably always
00:13:57
destined to become an architect. And my granddad knew that. So he would buy books for me to encourage me into it
00:14:02
even more. And um I love it cuz it's a way of life for me. It's not a job.
00:14:05
>> Yeah. >> You know, I love it. >> And then um you had a careers adviser
00:14:09
that sort of scoffed at the idea when >> God you have done your research, haven't
00:14:12
you? >> Why was that? Cuz you were you were no good at maths. >> I was [ __ ] at maths. I still am. I'm
00:14:16
terrible at it. Am I allowed to swear on your >> Oh, yeah. Of course. Good. Good. [ __ ]
00:14:20
[ __ ] [ __ ] And uh I was I was It wasn't just that I was bad at maths. I hated
00:14:26
it. I really couldn't stand it. And it's interesting everyone cuz how can you
00:14:29
become an architect if you don't do maths? I mean we're not structural engineers. We've got engineers who do
00:14:33
all the calculations and the complex stuff. Obviously we need to do measurement and scale and size. But I
00:14:38
could see that you know if you ask me like the size of this room I could have a half decent guess at it.
00:14:43
>> Um and the height of the room. So anything I could see and measure that's
00:14:47
that was easy maths for me. I could do areas and volumes and things like that. Um, but when it came to like algebra and
00:14:54
equations, it was just numbers on a piece of paper that couldn't work out. And I went to see this careers advisor
00:15:00
and he said, um, >> you know, if you want to be an architect, you need to do maths,
00:15:03
English, and something else at A level, which is like 16 to 18 year old in the UK.
00:15:08
>> I just said, forget it. Um, and he really pissed me off a lot. I was like
00:15:13
furious. And we we have a we used to have like an old telephone directory in the UK called the Yellow Pages. And I
00:15:18
got the yellow pages out after that meeting with him when I was 15. And I wrote to every architect in Sunland and
00:15:24
Newcastle. Yeah. Within like 10, 12 miles of my mom's house and just said, "Will you give me a job?" And this
00:15:29
brilliant architect um bless him, passed away just last summer, David Johnson, um
00:15:34
he gave me a job when I was 16. So if I saw that careers adviser, I'd actually
00:15:37
shake their hand because they annoyed me so much that I wrote those letters and then got this amazing job. It's to work
00:15:44
in an architect practice when you're 16 when you've wanted to do it since you
00:15:47
were 11 or 12. It was like the stuff of dreams, you know. So I said, "Gave you
00:15:51
the fuel." >> Yeah. I mean, that careers officer made me really angry and that's why I applied
00:15:55
for those jobs. And then I didn't do my A levels, which then meant because I'd
00:15:58
been in practice for a couple of years before I went to university, I was in quite a good position because I'd been
00:16:03
in an office and learned from architects and designers and technicians. So >> it was great. And and you know, to leave
00:16:08
school on a Friday where I >> Yeah. I liked the subjects that like everybody I liked the subjects I liked
00:16:14
at school you know art played a lot of football design English and history I really enjoyed I didn't really enjoy the
00:16:21
maths and the kind of detailed science stuff so to leave school on a Friday and start working in an architect's practice
00:16:27
on a Monday and get paid I was on £40 a week >> back in the day it was like oh I would
00:16:34
have done I would have done it for nothing. Yeah, >> I left it back then. God, imagine what
00:16:38
you would have done back then for a free pair of socks. >> Now you can afford what I do today for a
00:16:44
free pair of socks. I'm still the tight northerner from Sunland. I mean, now you
00:16:47
can afford them. And it's like, yeah, have the socks. Have the socks. Where Where do you live? Are you Notting Hill?
00:16:52
>> I am. I'm in West London. Yeah, I'm in West I've been in West London for 28
00:16:56
years. I left I left the Northeast. I went to university at Newcastle when I was 18 till I was 21 and then I worked
00:17:02
in Newcastle for a year because you had to do a year in architecture and then um
00:17:07
and then I went down to London, worked for another practice in London, worked for them in Hong Kong for a bit and then
00:17:12
went to University College London for another couple of years to do my masters. But yeah, and and then um
00:17:17
you're employed as an architect. Are you immediately sort of good? >> I don't know about that.
00:17:24
>> That's a that's a great question. >> Are you immediately good? Do do you
00:17:28
remember like I mean you >> like are you the mold sort of architecture or something?
00:17:31
>> No like you remember your first house. >> I think it it varies with people. You
00:17:37
can see people who have who have got a natural instinct for it. I think you know when when I was at university there
00:17:42
was like 72 students I think in my first year probably only like 20 25 of them actually went on to become architects.
00:17:50
It's a great course architecture because it it's it's like a kind of broad arts
00:17:55
design course and it's it kind of teaches you to see the world. You know, you're looking at how people live and
00:18:00
you're looking at architecture in the built environment and you're looking at
00:18:03
historic towns and modern buildings. So, it makes you more observational, I would
00:18:07
say. >> And so, I've got a lot of mates who ended up being architectural
00:18:10
photographers or became writers or architectural journalists or went into TV. You know, some people went into film
00:18:16
and became directors. Um, so it's a kind of it's a broadbased kind of creative course. Um, but I just
00:18:24
always wanted to be an architect and obviously by I think being in practice between 16 and 18, I already kind of got
00:18:30
the book, you know what I mean? But are you naturally good at it? I don't I remember when I was at university, one
00:18:35
of my tutors saying, you know, George can draw and and which I could because of my dad's. Um, and I kind of just had
00:18:43
a natural instinct for being able to plan spaces and plan buildings. And I think even at like 17, 18, if someone
00:18:49
showed me a plan of their house, I'd probably spot even without really knowing them or how they lived, just
00:18:54
spot some of the the issues that might be a problem or spaces that might feel a bit wasted and weren't being maximized.
00:19:00
And quite quickly I could I mean, when I'm when I'm on TV, it's interesting.
00:19:04
Like people think it's all rehearsed when I sketch and draw. It's not. We do
00:19:07
it there. And like sometimes someone will just show me a plan and I'll have walked around their house with them for
00:19:12
for 10 15 minutes and then we'll sit down and I'll go right okay from just
00:19:16
meeting you and getting a feel for how you live and looking at the plan and the layout. There's things that I've spotted
00:19:21
which I think are are a problem no matter how you live >> but then seeing how you and your family
00:19:26
relate to each other. >> I could see how I could make these spaces work. And and the generally is
00:19:31
there's kind of like three or four different options. I'll be like right
00:19:33
option one you could do this option two you could do that. Option three. And then I kind of work with them on that
00:19:39
design to get it to get it right for them. But it's all instinctive. >> Yeah. So it was an instinct thing and
00:19:43
now I suppose it's like muscle memory because you've just been doing it for
00:19:46
such a long time. >> Yeah. I mean I was on the ferry coming back from Wiki the other day and um a
00:19:52
guy came up to me and he was like, "I hope you don't mind. Can I show you the
00:19:55
plans of my house?" He did genuinely. And uh and he said, "Look, this is the
00:19:59
house and I'm doing this big extension on there and you know what would you change?" I said, "Well, you know, you
00:20:04
could do that, you could do that, you could do that." And I was like, "Do you,
00:20:07
you know, do you do you need a formal dining room?" He's like, "Well, I don't
00:20:10
really live like that." I'm like, "Well, why have you got one on your plan?" You
00:20:12
know what I mean? So, that's automatically a waste of space. And then by the end of it, um, he was like, you
00:20:17
know, you've helped me out and went off and changed these plans, which is very
00:20:20
sweet. I get a buzz from that. It doesn't bother. >> Yeah. Yeah. I was going to ask it's
00:20:23
that's very gracious of you. Uh, yeah. Are you ever like, "Hey, not not right
00:20:28
now. Now's not a good time." >> No. >> No. Oh, good for you. But, you know, I
00:20:33
mean, if I'm really honest, if I'm sitting with my kids having dinner and
00:20:37
someone really imposed, I'd be like, "It's my family time with my kids, you
00:20:40
know." But I I don't even really say that. I'll be like, "Look, I'll
00:20:44
handshake and say, do you want a picture?" And you want me to sign something? I'll do that. And that takes
00:20:47
me It's only 30 seconds of my time. >> Yeah. But rolling out rolling out the
00:20:50
planes. >> I mean, rolling out the plans. They did that in a restaurant when my kids were
00:20:54
probably at that point saying no. Um, but in in fairness to I mean, I could even tell he you know, he wanted to come
00:21:01
over. He used to lovely guy. Um, and he waited until I was on my own. >> Yeah.
00:21:04
>> Did Did he actually have a roll or were they they pictures on his phone? You can
00:21:08
imagine rolling rolling it out sorting people shelter on the corner. >> It's too windy on the way ferry to do
00:21:13
that. You can't roll out the plants. >> But also like formal dining room like
00:21:17
who is he? King Charles like not quite up there. I think it's Yeah, people do people have unusual things
00:21:25
sometimes especially when it's an existing house. There's there's sometimes I was going to
00:21:30
say leftovers of the previous life of the house and they sometimes think, "Oh,
00:21:33
well, it's always been there and I shouldn't really change that too much
00:21:35
and let's just do the extension. That's the new bit." But I think even when you
00:21:39
extend your house, you've got to rethink the entire master plan of the house from
00:21:42
the front door. >> Yeah. >> I mean, he even changed his front door position after the chat that I had with
00:21:46
him. I was like, "I actually think your door's in the wrong place." And he was
00:21:49
like, "Craigy, that's a big move." And I, well, look at the layout. And so,
00:21:53
yeah, I don't mind doing it. It's all part of the fun. You know how pissed off
00:21:56
as architect's going to be. I sort of free advice. I did say to him I'm going to send him an invoice at the
00:22:02
end. So, no, I was joking. Um, yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. Cool. >> 10 minutes. Cool. No worries. We've done
00:22:12
all right. Have we How long have we gone for? >> Has it really? Okay. Cool. No worries.
00:22:18
Um, some of the clients you've worked for, I don't know if you can talk about
00:22:21
this, but I read about this online. Uh, Jamie Oliver, you designed his house. Uh, I didn't redesign his house.
00:22:27
Actually, I redid his restaurant back in the day. >> Oh, the restaurant, right?
00:22:30
>> Yeah. 15. So, it was done for TV and it went out and then he wanted it was it
00:22:34
was the day it was before Jamie kind of launched his Italian restaurants really.
00:22:38
He wanted to make him more Italian. So, I did that. He's a good mate. We share a
00:22:41
birthday. We text each other once in a while. He's a good lad. >> Unreal. So, does he like request you to
00:22:45
do it or he asked you to do it? >> It came through some It was It was before I was on TV.
00:22:50
>> It was way before I was on TV. Um, Jamie wouldn't have had a clue who I was. It
00:22:54
was a it was a project manager who was working for Jamie and said this guy might be able to help us. So yeah,
00:22:59
that's when I met Jamie and he's become a good mate. I mean I'm not I'm not
00:23:02
super close to it, but we text each other once in a while and wish each other a happy birthday on the 27th of
00:23:07
May cuz we share our birthday together. >> Oh, actually well it's easy to remember,
00:23:10
isn't it? >> It is. He's 50 this year. >> Um there was an internet rumor I read about
00:23:17
you um which I found >> I want to talk about internet rumors because there's so much [ __ ] on
00:23:22
there. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Well, well, this one this one is [ __ ] And you had to come out and um to say it was
00:23:28
[ __ ] >> The muscular destrophy one. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. An internet rumor.
00:23:31
>> I'm not even going to I'm not even going to give that the time of day, Dom. It's
00:23:35
unbelievably honestly the the stuff that's made up is and and you know, I think with the
00:23:41
public the public must go, well, I can't all be made up. I mean, there's got to
00:23:44
be some truth and of course there is. Um, but the v it's unbelievable the vast
00:23:49
I would I would even say the majority of stuff that's written about I mean I
00:23:54
can't speak for anybody else but that's written about me it's just it's I mean
00:23:57
genuinely it's made up and it's there might be a tiny seed of truth in there
00:24:02
like a tiny tiny tiny little seed and then before you know it it's just spun
00:24:06
into something completely different. It's >> it's I mean I find it quite kind of um I
00:24:11
mean personally I don't care personally I just I just I don't give a [ __ ] Um,
00:24:16
it doesn't bother me. It just comes with the territory. Unfortunately nowadays,
00:24:19
it's part of the job. Um, and I'm pretty thick skinned. It's, you know, if I make
00:24:23
a mistake with something, I'll hold my hands up and make a mistake. But, um,
00:24:27
the the amount of stuff that's made, I mean, for someone who must be very well
00:24:31
known, you know, I'm a TV. I'm an architect and I make a bit of telly. >> Um, and you know, for me, it is
00:24:37
genuinely a kind of it's a it's a job, it's a passion, and it's a love. But um
00:24:41
you know I'm a without getting the violins out. I'm a working class life
00:24:45
from the northeast. Me you go and you earn your money. You do your job and you pay your bills and you know put fear on
00:24:49
the table and look after my kids and and um for for a super A-lister. Oh my god it must be it must be torture for them
00:24:57
because >> the stuff that is made up. I mean that's what you're talking about is one example
00:25:02
of many many many many things. >> Many many things. >> But that's um I mean if if if Yeah. I
00:25:07
mean the the paparazzi and tabloid culture in the UK seems like quite troublesome still but um yeah saying
00:25:13
you're in a relationship with someone is one thing but you saying you've got like
00:25:16
a serious illness is another thing altogether like >> it's because it was like they took 2
00:25:20
plus two and came out with 164 it was just mad and um you know the only thing as I say personally I don't care I mean
00:25:28
I literally don't care I for me I take genuinely I take it all with a pinch of
00:25:32
salt >> um it's people can write whatever they want I know what the truth is And if
00:25:37
they want to just write something, they'll write it anyway. Yeah. They don't care what I say. And quite often
00:25:41
they'll come and say, "Oh, we want we're going to give you a right to reply." And
00:25:44
I just don't bother cuz I'm just like, "You're going to write it anyway. You're
00:25:47
going to spin another direction." But what upset me about that is that my daughter read that headline
00:25:52
>> um because a friend of hers had spotted it on on the internet when she was at
00:25:56
school. >> And so my my daughter genuinely thought I was ill and she thought I was not
00:26:01
telling her to protect her from it. And that's like that crosses a big line for
00:26:06
me. That's like >> I even go as far to say as like that's unforgivable and it has a
00:26:12
>> a detrimental effect on my kids even if it's just for 2 minutes. And but I had
00:26:15
to really speak to her and tell her like I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm not
00:26:18
ill. >> And um yeah, that that's what was more upsetting for me when it hurts other
00:26:24
people. >> I'd be seething about that and there's nothing you can actually do. Hey, I've
00:26:29
got some Instagram questions. You're on a you I'm feel like I'm rushing through
00:26:32
this cuz you're on a >> lif um I mentioned on Instagram you were you were coming and um yeah the questions
00:26:38
are all very sort of um architect architectural based please tell me George is here doing a New Zealand
00:26:44
episode or series of amazing spaces. >> Uh so it's not amazing spaces um it's
00:26:48
it's George Clark's Homes in the Wild brand new series brand spanking new
00:26:52
series. >> What's one architectural trend that he wishes would disappear forever?
00:26:56
>> Um it's quite a good one. Um, I don't know if it's an architectural
00:27:02
trend because it's not very architectural. But I was talking to my soundman yesterday saying, um, shower
00:27:08
curtains. You know, when people have shower, you don't really have them here,
00:27:10
to be honest. I think it's more of a British thing. You know, the Brits kind
00:27:13
of buy these like cheap fabric shower curtains. Oh, no. We've got them here as
00:27:17
well. And it's just the most bizarre invention I've ever come across in my
00:27:20
life cuz like you stand in the shower and you turn it on and then the air pressure changes between inside and
00:27:25
outside because of the heat and the moisture and then it like sticks to you. So, you try to have a shower in the
00:27:28
morning, you wrestle under this kind of sheet of I don't know, $20 plastic. Um,
00:27:34
and then people step out and there's like carpets on the floor in their bathrooms. Bathroom. I've seen some
00:27:38
horrendous bathrooms in my time. I mean, it's anything if if people get things
00:27:42
wrong more than anything when it comes to finishes as bathrooms. Why would you have a carpet on the floor in the
00:27:47
bathroom? >> I feel like that was um maybe an 80s thing or a 70s thing. >> Still people Yeah, it's still around.
00:27:52
Yeah. >> Does seem luxurious though, right? >> Just to keep your feet warm. It feels it
00:27:57
feels like it feels like people maybe like lotto winners or like poor people that are thinking what would a rich
00:28:01
person do right now? >> Oh, I don't know. I'm not going to get into that. Rich and poor people got
00:28:06
carpets in their butt. I've just offended everyone with carpet. No. Uh with sustainability being such a big
00:28:12
issue, what are some easy ways homeowners can make their homes more eco-friendly?
00:28:16
>> Uh I mean insulation is the big one. It's easy. Insulation is pretty
00:28:20
straightforward to be honest. As much as you can insulate. It's it's like um it's
00:28:24
like you buying a a winter jacket, you know? you might to keep yourself warm and wipe yourself up. Preserve some
00:28:29
energy. So insulation is really good. Um uh airsource heat pumps, that's a big
00:28:35
one. I mean in the UK we've got a lot of gas boilers and people kind of still
00:28:38
burning a lot of gas and irrespective of gas issues in the world. It just seems bonkers for us to be burning things all
00:28:45
the time. So um so we need to kind of have a a clean and green electrified system really. So
00:28:52
>> um that would be one of my tips as well, but insulation is the easy one. Um, this
00:28:55
this one might be just too broad to answer, but um, best advice for first home uh, firsttime home renovators.
00:29:02
>> That's a tricky one because it depends where it is. Yeah. Depends whether
00:29:05
that's in New Zealand or the UK and who's listening. Um, uh, you know, the
00:29:11
the best advice for that is basically cuz it's your first home, I would say invest in it for you. And I know that
00:29:16
might sound like a little bit of a cliche, but I I generally see that when people take on a property and then
00:29:23
>> and do what they want to do and how they want to live and make it feel more
00:29:26
homely, it tends to add monetary value as well because it becomes quite a beautiful thing.
00:29:30
>> So if you ever wanted to sell it to then buy your second home, people will walk
00:29:33
in and go, do you know what? This just feels like a nice home. >> I always say that the best architects
00:29:37
should just you don't have to be a kind of architectural analyst to check out a
00:29:42
good building. you kind of walk against it and go, "This feels nice." >> You know, this feels good. This feels
00:29:46
homely. This feels like a beautiful space. And okay, you could then analyze it and go, "Why is that? Is it because
00:29:51
of the light or the proportions or the high ceiling or whatever it might be?"
00:29:54
But >> generally, it's that like instant feeling when you walk in. And I think if
00:29:58
you're a firsttime buyer and you start doing work on your house, just make it
00:30:02
beautiful. Really, just make it very home. >> Um, someone wants to know, "What is your
00:30:07
biggest design pet hate?" >> Oh, shower curtains. We've kind of half
00:30:12
done it, but I mean bad design. I mean, I I know that sounds really generic. I genuinely think there is no excuse for
00:30:18
crap design. >> I really don't. I I as say when I was started my practice many many many years
00:30:23
ago and I was designing very affordable. >> You know, there were normally um
00:30:28
refurbishment projects in London, you know, small apartments and small spaces cuz that's where I lived. Yeah. Some of
00:30:34
the budgets we had were absolutely tiny, but we still did lovely work. It took a
00:30:37
bit more time, took a bit more effort, but um >> a bit more thought. Well, it's kind of
00:30:41
that's thought and it's sitting there sketching with a pen. The expensive
00:30:45
stuff for the client is when they have to build it and, you know, buy the materials and pay for trades. For me to
00:30:50
sit and sketch and draw >> doesn't take a lot of time. Do you know what I mean?
00:30:55
>> Yeah, I I do. When you're when you're working on a problem like that, when you
00:30:58
go home, are you able to switch off or are you constantly sort of just worring over in the back of your mind?
00:31:03
>> First off, a lot. I mean, I'm I'm pretty good at switching off, he says. So I
00:31:08
just feel like I've lied to myself there. Um, no. Like if I if I if I go away for a holiday to go, right, okay, I
00:31:17
am just not going to do work. Like quite often I remember last year I just turned
00:31:21
my phone off completely for a week. Like I literally just didn't respond. I said
00:31:25
to everyone, don't even bother emailing me. If there's a problem, just deal with
00:31:28
it. Um because when you've run your own businesses and you're you know what I
00:31:33
mean? You you never really you can't ever really fully fully switch off. It's
00:31:37
always in the back of your mind. Um it's it's not like kind of, you know, I
00:31:42
suppose being an employee, you could just say, "Right, I'm on holiday next
00:31:46
week." And even then, you probably don't switch off from if you really like your
00:31:48
job. But >> yeah, I remember just turning my phone off for a whole week last year and it
00:31:52
was amazing. It was great. I'd recommend it. I mean, I mean, seriously, like just
00:31:57
because >> is there anything so bad that somebody else can't really fix it? I mean, but
00:32:03
you know what I mean? It's not It's not terrible, is it? you know, if someone
00:32:06
really needs to get hold of you for for an emergency, they would do it. Um, so yeah, that's I think for your own your
00:32:13
own kind of health and wellbeing, turn your phone off on >> and you get to the end of that time and
00:32:17
you think your phone's going to blow up with all these messages and all these
00:32:19
fires that you have to put out, but it's never the case, is it? >> I don't know if it's just cuz I'm a bit
00:32:23
older and I've, you know, I've had my own businesses since I was 25, since I
00:32:28
graduated. >> You just realize that things get sorted out. Do >> you know what I mean? things.
00:32:34
>> Yeah, life carries on >> because a lot of times people go, "Oh,
00:32:37
you know, we've got this massive deadline and it's a big problem and if we don't meet it, the world's going to
00:32:41
end." And you go, "Not really." >> And quite often it's like self-imposed
00:32:45
deadlines. You know what I mean? You might have a client who just goes, "It's
00:32:47
got to be done by that week." And you go, "Well, does it really >> really?"
00:32:50
>> Yeah, I think you're I think you're right. I think that's the perspective of
00:32:53
age. >> Uh no, as as in you learned it, you learn that nothing is that big a deal.
00:32:57
Nothing actually matters all that much. >> Yeah, that's one of the benefits of
00:33:00
getting older. How would you describe the architectural style of New Zealand compared to other parts of the world?
00:33:06
>> I've kind of done that as well really when when we were having no chat before
00:33:09
and I think you're very good at um ecological design. You're very good at
00:33:13
um >> I I've can't say too much about them but I've filmed some pretty incredible
00:33:19
pieces of architecture in New Zealand in the last four weeks >> and and some of them have been quite
00:33:24
expensive buildings and others have been very very affordable buildings like self-built projects that were done you
00:33:29
know a few years ago. Outstanding really. I mean, some of it has been because I'm doing homes in the wilds.
00:33:35
There's a lot of homes that have been off-grid anyway. >> And some buildings that were built in
00:33:40
the 70s and 80s that were very very off-grid on an island back in the day. >> I just think you've got this this
00:33:46
amazing connection with landscape and nature here. You know, it's you've got
00:33:50
such a beautiful country. I was I was flying back from Mr. last night and I just looked out the window and I was
00:33:56
just thinking this this place is just green, you know, green, green, green, green, green, beautifully green.
00:34:02
>> And I think your architects are very good. They've got a really good touch
00:34:05
and I think they um they see the importance of designing something blend in with nature.
00:34:11
>> Yeah. Do you know of any um local architects or designers that you admire?
00:34:14
>> Yeah, Ken Crossen. >> Oh yeah, he's got an office just around
00:34:18
the corner. Um he's yeah he's done some beautiful um homes that have won home of
00:34:22
the year and stuff. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um uh a guy called Peter I think I don't know if it's Bossley or
00:34:28
Bossley. I only met him this week. Um Peter is just a fantastic man. Wonderful architect. I checked out his stuff
00:34:34
online obviously before I filmed it and then I saw one of his houses with him this week and it blew my mind.
00:34:39
>> So you you've got some great artists. But Ken Ken's a good mate. I filmed with
00:34:42
Ken for Amazing Spaces back in I think it was 2016 I came out if I remember. might have been 17 and I filmed with
00:34:49
Ken. He's become a really good friend. We had dinner last night in Ponson. >> Amazing. When I I saw on Instagram you
00:34:54
hanging out with El Brown as well. Was it >> Oh, Laval. >> Was that a TV thing or was it just
00:35:00
socially? >> When I when I first when I first came out to New Zealand, that's why I keep I
00:35:04
keep saying 201617. Everyone was so welcoming when I came out for the first time. I made so many good mates, really
00:35:11
really good mates that I'm still close to. And I think it was the TV exec producer who I worked with when I was
00:35:18
out here. Um because I did some amazing spaces and then I did some work for Mer 10
00:35:24
>> um and the production company who did the Mer 10 work took me out for dinner
00:35:28
and just said um we'll go to Al Brown's place and I went to to had dinner with
00:35:33
Al Brown and he's been a really good mate ever since. He's a wonderful man.
00:35:36
I'm a big fan of his. >> He's a good dude. >> Oh, he's a good guy. Uh from Instagram
00:35:41
New Zealand. Are we wrapping up? >> Wrapping up. >> Okay. >> All right. I just realized how Look how
00:35:46
greasy my hair is from running here. >> Look at Look at that. You look great.
00:35:51
Got out in P. Look at the state of that. You look great. >> Literally like what? Everyone's going to
00:35:55
be gone. Look at that grease ball. >> You look You look great. Um George Clark, it's been short and sweet, but
00:36:00
it's been wonderful. I really enjoy much, mate. Really appreciate it. Thanks
00:36:03
very much. Cheers. Thanks very much.