Jimmy Guo

But Jimmy’s career didn’t begin with cooking – it began with something entirely different. Behind the curtain in the bedroom hangs rail after rail of well-tailored blazers, colourful shirts and the occasional sentimental gem, like the burgundy coat signed by the British designer John Galliano.

“He is one of my greatest fashion idols. It was during one of his shows that I first realised aesthetic expression can be deeply moving,” says Jimmy, before continuing:

“Wanting to work in fashion was very much in the spirit of the times when I was growing up. I think many people in my generation became interested in it through popular culture, like the TV series we watched. It also felt like such an exciting world, far beyond my own reality in Södertälje.

Through a relative, Jimmy got a job in a perfume shop and met – as if by fate – the right person at the right time.
“The fashion industry can be incredibly closed-off and difficult to break into, but I was lucky. An editor who worked for King magazine came in, and we immediately had so much to talk about. He told me they were looking for someone to write articles for them. I became that person.”

After a few years in the fashion industry, Jimmy moved to London, where he was able to freelance from a room he rented from an acquaintance. It was here, or more specifically in the apartment’s kitchen, that his interest in cooking really took off.
– In London, I had access to a proper kitchen for the first time, and I started learning how to actually cook. And it became like it always does when I’m interested in something – I absorb an enormous amount of information and learn everything I can. When it comes to cooking, it’s about understanding the chemistry and how flavours work.

From the kitchen in London, he began posting unpretentious cooking videos on social media, something that was praised both by former colleagues in the fashion industry and by new followers. What was supposed to be three months in London turned into three years, before he finally moved back to Sweden during the pandemic in 2020. He learned that a major fashion company was looking for a copywriter and, being the kind of person Jimmy is, he recommended himself – and got the job.

But in the background, his passion for cooking kept growing stronger, which led him to apply for Sweden’s MasterChef in 2022.
– I had been thinking about it for a long time; it’s a programme that has always affected me deeply. There was never any doubt that I would make it.

It sounds like you have strong self-confidence at your core?
– I think it’s more that I place very high demands on myself. That’s something I’ve worked on a lot in recent years, lowering the pressure to perform. Now I feel that I don’t always have to give 110 per cent in everything I do.

It was a major insight that came fairly late in life. Since finishing as runner-up in Sweden’s MasterChef, Jimmy Guo has released his first cookbook, Mitt kinesiska skafferi, in which he guides readers through China’s food culture with practical tips and information about Asian food, with the aim of making it easier to cook at home. He has also published the book Curry: guide till världens godaste and, since 2024, has been hosting Matpodden together with chef Siri Barje.

For Jimmy, the step from fashion to food was never particularly far, nor was the step to interior design.
– To me, they are simply different ways of expressing myself, but with the same common thread. It is creative and it shapes identity. To me, it is important that everything I do brings joy to life, whether it is about the environment I spend time in, the clothes I wear or the food I eat. Quite simply, I want to do what I can to make life as wonderful as possible.

In the kitchen of his apartment on Södermalm in Stockholm, jar upon jar of spices from the world of Asian flavours are stacked high, and in the living room, cosy textiles sit alongside books and personal interior details, almost all found second-hand. During spring and summer, he also spends a great deal of time at his allotment and grows plants, flowers and herbs on his small balcony.

– This is the first time I have decorated entirely on my own and chosen exactly what I want. In previous places where I have lived, I have always felt that it was temporary, but when I found this apartment, for the first time I felt that I wanted to create a home of my own.

Jimmy describes his 44-square-metre apartment as a place that reflects his various interests.
– There are lots of books here, plenty of crockery and small quirky things that I have found on my travels. One of the most meaningful things I own is a Chinese urn that my mother and I found second-hand. It is definitely not an easy home to keep clean, but it shows who I am, and I do love my things!

Besides being personal, it is important that the home feels harmonious and grounded, which is why the walls in the living room are in an earthy shade. And when the bedroom was wallpapered with Mars Sand from Boråstapeter, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.
– I like decorating with materials and shades from nature, because it is something you never tire of. The Mars Sand wallpaper is a perfect fit for my bedroom, which I want to feel calm and harmonious. The texture of the wallpaper makes the walls feel more alive than if I had simply painted them. I also like to harmonise the colour palette of the interior with the building’s façade, and the wallpaper’s warm terracotta tone is a perfect match for the typical 1920s façades outside my bedroom window.