A FORMER Journal award winner has tripled her client base in the year since she started up her own business.

Rachel Taylor took the plunge to launch her own interior design enterprise called Demon Interiors in May last year after scooping the Best Showhome Interior Award at the 2008 Journal Homemaker Awards.

She formally worked in marketing with the Esh Group, which gave her a break in interior design with its Dunelm Homes company in Newton Aycliffe.

Since setting up her own business, she has secured clients ranging from major builders to private developers and works on private and commercial developments. The majority are based in the North East but she also works in Edinburgh, Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

Ms Taylor said: “I have so much respect for anyone that starts up a business on their own because it takes a lot of hard work and determination and it’s a risk.

“At the same time, it’s a real opportunity to make a living out of something that you love.”

She says one of the highlights so far has been meeting former Newcastle United manager, the late Sir Bobby Robson in a room she had designed in Sunderland’s red and white colours.

She said: “I’ll never forget his face when he saw the wallpaper on the stairwell. He laughed out loud and said ‘well that’s an interesting colour combination on the stairs . . . red and white, eh . . . did you know which football team I managed?’ ”