storytelling interior
Jimmy Guo
Jimmy Guo is the fashion profile who became a food creative and chef. A big leap for many – but for him, it was simply a matter of exchanging one creative expression for another. Here, style, cooking and interior design meet in a personal universe where everything works in harmony.
TEXT: Therese Ahlström STYLING: Linda Ring PHOTO: Linda Alfvengren
storytelling interior
Jimmy Guo
Jimmy Guo is the fashion profile who became a food creative and chef. A big leap for many – but for him, it was simply a matter of exchanging one creative expression for another. Here, style, cooking and interior design meet in a personal universe where everything works in harmony.
TEXT: Therese Ahlström
STYLING: Linda Ring
PHOTO: Linda Alfvengren
It is hard not to be immediately captivated by Jimmy Guo’s infectious laughter and genuinely positive presence. To most people, he is best known as the chef and food creative on the programme Sveriges Mästerkock, where he won viewers’ hearts with his charming personality and deep love of Chinese cuisine.
But Jimmy’s career did not begin in the kitchen – it started with something entirely different. Behind the curtain in the bedroom hangs rail after rail of tailored blazers, colourful shirts and the occasional sentimental treasure, such as the burgundy coat signed by British designer John Galliano.
– He is one of my greatest fashion idols. It was during one of his shows that I first realised how deeply moving aesthetic expression can be, says Jimmy, continuing:
– Wanting to work in fashion was very much of its time when I was growing up. I think many in my generation became interested through popular culture, like the TV series we watched. And of course, it felt like an exciting world, far removed from 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, and it’s hard to get in, but I was lucky. An editor from King magazine came into the shop, and we immediately had a lot to talk about. He told me they were looking for someone to write articles. I became that person.
STARTED COOKING IN LONDON
After a few years in the fashion industry, Jimmy moved to London, where he freelanced from a room he rented from an acquaintance. It was there, more precisely in the apartment’s kitchen, that his interest in cooking truly took off.
– In London, I had access to a proper kitchen for the first time, and I began to understand how things were actually done. And as always when I become interested in something – I consume 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 London kitchen, he began sharing unpretentious cooking videos on social media, praised both by former colleagues in the fashion world and by new followers. What was meant to be three months in London became three years, before he eventually moved back to Sweden during the pandemic in 2020. He learned that a major fashion company was looking for a copywriter and, being who he is, recommended himself – and got the job.
Meanwhile, his passion for cooking continued to grow stronger, leading him to apply for Sveriges Mästerkock in 2022.
– I had thought about it for a long time. It’s a programme that has always moved 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 about having very high expectations of myself. That’s something I’ve worked on a lot in recent years – reducing the pressure to perform. Now I feel that I don’t always have to give 110 percent in everything I do.
It was a major realisation that came fairly late in life. After finishing as runner-up in Sveriges Mästerkock, Jimmy Guo released his first cookbook Mitt kinesiska skafferi, guiding readers through Chinese food culture with practical tips and insights into Asian cuisine, aiming to lower the threshold for cooking it at home. He has also published the book Curry: Guide to the World’s Most Delicious Dish and, since 2024, hosts Matpodden together with chef Siri Barje.
“When the bedroom was wallpapered with Mars Sand from Boråstapeter, the final piece fell into place.”
“I’ve always loved wallpaper, and can’t imagine a home without patterned walls.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF HARMONY
For Jimmy, the step from fashion to food was never particularly long – nor was the step to interior design.
– For me, they’re simply different ways of expressing myself, but with the same common thread. It’s creative and identity-forming. It’s important that everything I do brings joy to life, whether it’s the environment I’m in, the clothes I wear or the food I eat. I simply want to do what I can to make life as wonderful as possible.
In the kitchen of his apartment in Södermalm, Stockholm, jar upon jar of spices from the Asian flavour world are stacked high, while in the living room cosy textiles share space with books and personal interior details, almost all second-hand finds. During spring and summer, he also spends much of his time at his allotment garden and grows plants, flowers and herbs on his small balcony.
– This is the first time I’ve decorated entirely on my own and chosen exactly what I want. In previous places I’ve lived, I always had a sense that it was temporary, but when I found this apartment, I felt for the first time that I wanted to create my own home.
Jimmy describes his 44-square-metre apartment as a place that reflects his many interests.
– There are so many books, lots of porcelain and small quirky objects I’ve found while travelling. One of the most meaningful things I own is a Chinese urn that my mum and I found second-hand. It’s definitely not an easy-to-clean home, but it shows who I am – and I do love my things!
Beyond being personal, it is important that his home feels harmonious and grounded, which is why the living room walls are painted in an earthy tone. When the bedroom was wallpapered with Mars Sand from Boråstapeter, the final piece fell into place.
– I love decorating with materials and shades inspired by nature, because you never tire of them. The Mars Sand wallpaper is perfect for my bedroom, which I want to feel calm and harmonious. The texture makes the walls more alive than if I had simply painted them. I also like harmonising the interior colour palette with the building’s façade, and the wallpaper’s warm terracotta tone perfectly matches the typical 1920s façades outside my bedroom window.
About Jimmy Guo
Profession: Chef, food creative and cookbook author.
Lives: In an apartment in Södermalm, Stockholm.
Current: The book Around the World in 50 Curries: India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Japan, and Beyond, to be published in 2026.
Instagram: @jimmyguo.