You can’t put a price on beauty

If you think the economy’s bad for your bottom line, just be grateful you’re not Martyn Lawrence-Bullard. The British-born designer to the stars was in Boston yesterday and told us everyone’s being a little tighter with money, even his multimillionaire clients. “The difference is, whereas before I would show them a $10,000 sofa, now their business manager will call and say they want to see the $5,000 option,’’ said Lawrence-Bullard. “That really hadn’t happened before.’’ OK, maybe he’s not hurting like the rest of us. The celebrated designer and star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Decorators’’ was in town for a talk at the Boston Design Center, and took a few minutes to chat about his A-list clients, including Elton John, Cher, Aaron Sorkin, Edward Norton, Vidal Sassoon, and Everett’s own Ellen Pompeo. “She’s such a design enthusiast,’’ he says. “When she’s not reading a script, she’s looking at a design magazine. I’m right now working with her on a very large, very grand villa in the Hollywood Hills, and she said to me, ‘I cannot believe I came from such humble beginnings in Boston and I’m going to live in this.’ ’’ But aren’t some celebs insufferable and impossible to work with? “The great thing for me is that I have a successful business, so when a client is interviewing me, I’m kind of interviewing them, too,’’ he says. “I’ll take a $500,000 job instead of a $5 million job if I feel the relationship is stronger. . . . I’m here to make beautiful space, not just money.’’