Interior design entrepreneur and ‘queen of taupe’, new dragon Kelly Elaine Hoppen has an estimated net worth reported to be £50 million.
The Irish-Jewish daughter of a fashion tycoon, 54-year-old Kelly Hoppen is one of the newest additions to BBC’s Dragon’s Den series, joining in 2013.
Find out how Hoppen made millions in the interior design industry.
Hoppen began dabbling in interior design as a teenager and embarked on a famous career with the designing of a friend’s kitchen at the age of 16. The following year she crafted a bachelor pad for the star of the 1970s cop show The Professionals, Martin Shaw. Her design ventures for other celebrities encompass work for David and Victoria Beckham, Elton John and Madonna. The grapevine has it that she even designed for the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William.
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Hoppen founded Kelly Hoppen Interiors in 1975 and has since progressed to designing not only homes and offices, but also jets and yachts for the global elite. She proudly claims that the least she has charged a client is £300,000. Very recently, she collaborated with Pearl Motor Yachts and designed a LUX* Belle Mare hotel resort in Mauritius.
A penchant for neutral colours such as beige and taupe has resulted in her being crowned with the sobriquet ‘queen of taupe’. The celebrated designer even uses her beloved hues to match her freckled skin tone and skeins of strawberry blonde hair.
Riding on the success of her 1997 book, East Meets West, Hoppen published seven more design books. Her good friend Victoria Beckham wrote the foreword for her book Kelly Hoppen Interiors, published in 2011. Her latest book, Kelly Hoppen Design Masterclass, was published in 2013.
In 2011, the former girlfriend of ex-Arsenal and England defender Sol Campbell ran her own TV show called Superior Interiors on Channel Five, to help people refurbish their homes.
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In 1996, her work ethics won her the ‘Oscar’ of the design industry: the Andrew Martin Interior Designer of the Year award. Her design world boasts 50 projects across international borders and has resulted in her being bestowed with the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Hoppen made front page news when she won a two and a half year long phone hacking case and was awarded £60,000 in damages by The News of the World. The red top newspaper had allegedly hacked her phone during the time she was married to Sienna Miller’s father.
An ambassador for the Prince’s Trust since 2012, last year she was also made an ambassador for UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) GREAT Campaign, which was created to endorse the UK to foreigners.
This designer with the Medusa-like curls has been fiercely proud of having established her multi-million turnover business devoid of loans or mortgages as she “comes from a wealthy background”.
The BBC stated that her passion and efforts in building a worldwide brand despite two recessions had worked in her favour for a position on the Dragon panel.
The Daily Mirror reports Hoppen’s earnings in the last two years as just £160,000, with last year’s profit margin filed with Companies House as £104,000. According to a spokesperson however, Hoppen’s full worth has not been released as she is ‘primarily a sole proprietor’. Her Notting Hill residence is worth a reported £6 million.
