The Grand Designs Home & Garden Show is back – and it is brought to you by DStv. The show, in its third year will take place in Johannesburg this weekend at the Coca-Cola Dome.

At this year’s show, audiences will get the chance to interact with some of the country’s best design experts. They’ll also enjoy a number of useful shows and areas like the Living Spaces area, as well as the Chefs and Grand Theatres. You can stick your green fingers into some new gardening techniques and enjoy some of the latest gadgets for your house of the future. It’s all there and as interior designer Colin O’Mara Davis says it’s accessible and simple for everyone to enjoy.

“Design needs to be democratic. It needs to be suitable to everyone and it needs to be something that everyone can tap into and apply to their own way of living,” he said, adding: “For visitors it’s a real opportunity to engage with good design and what it is and how not to be scared of it.”

One of the highlights at this year’s show will be a feature house. The inspiration for each room within the house is provided by some of SA’s most loved celebrities including Mark Pilgrim, Bailey Schneider and All Access Mzansi’s Bridget Masinga. O’Mara Davis says he wanted to do something different with this project, “We went in a very roundabout way of dissecting and analyzing their personalities. So instead of asking, “ah what does your ideal room look like”, I would ask what music they’re listening to or how they would describe their fashion sense.”

The personalities might have a vague idea of what to expect, but the great reveal will be as much a surprise to them as it will be for the audiences who visit the show this weekend. “I know their likes dislikes and tastes but nobody really knows what to expect,” he said. “I thought it might be fun to keep them as much in the dark as the audience.”

The show not only has a number of product related resources, but also a lot of interesting people to engage with too, something Colin says is a major draw card. “I think if nothing else, if you don’t even care about pretty pictures. Come to see people who are really inspired by what they are doing and through this hopefully in turn inspire others when it comes to their own approach to design.”

Visit the Grand Designs Live expo at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg from the 25- 27 May and for more information visit www.granddesignslive.co.za