February 14, 2007
Being a guest judge on "Top Design" was really fun to do. I had such a good time doing it. Last year, I had done my own reality show in England, “Design Wars,” so I really felt for the contestants under so much pressure. On our show, we had only one month to makeover a house. I was representing the UK against five different countries. The UK did not win; the Indians won. There are more Indians doing nothing at 5 o’clock in the afternoon than Italians or Scandinavians. I was neck and neck with them, but the Indians won. It was a telephone-voting thing; we all lived in trailers. It was very “Big Brother.”
But back to “Top Design,” when I first came on the scene I arrived at the beach. I’ll admit that at first I was thinking: ‘Oh, uhm...What are they all doing?’ But then I found out they could only shop at one store, and they were working with people they didn’t know -- and everyone’s got different personalities and perspectives -- they were working under extremely difficult circumstances. It’s hard when you have very very different tastes. If all of a sudden you’ve got someone who can’t see eye to eye and you have to get something done on a deadline, it’s difficult. But, given that, they did quite a fantastic job.
The fact that they got anything done was a miracle.
For Kathryn Ireland's bio, click here.
Comments
Nick wrote:
The fact that Elizabeth was sent home over color -- while her innovate design with both interior and exterior spaces was ignored -- shows how capricious design really is. That team nailed it. "Cramped"? Come on. You guys harped on color as if it could somehow shade you from the sun -- or made up for a (hello fellow midwesterners!) Minnesota rec room with throws. Really bad call. It makes the show much less interesting now that such a strong and easy-to-work-with designer has been eliminated.
posted on February 15, 2007 at 1:05 AM
Laura K wrote:
Do you mean Simon Cowell?
EDITOR'S NOTE: OUR MISTAKE, NOT MS. IRELAND'S. APOLOGIES.
posted on February 15, 2007 at 10:56 AM
Donna wrote:
Bad call on Episode 3 - it would have been much better judgment to send home Carisa or Ryan. Now the show is much less interesting being brought down to the level of who is the best among weakest, less likable designers left. I think some of the judges need to be sent home.
posted on February 15, 2007 at 4:17 PM
ms. place wrote:
Wasn't "team player" part of the criteria for aufing or latering a designer? Elizabeth was the consummate team player. Ryan and Carisa were not.
As for the supposed non Miami Beach colors, spare me. Yes, the overall impression of Miami Art Deco buildings is one of pastels and bleached colors. But believe me, Key Lime green and Eggplant can be found there. You judges might have disagreed with the color choice, but that Miami Beach cabana was cohesive from top to bottom and inside and out.
The St. Tropez cabana, except for Goil's amazing soaring canopy, was excrutiatingly awful and discordant. It was as if the furniture was chosen for a different interior. Terrible interior. Horrible, actually. And surrounded by those ridiculous candles that Ryan bought to fill up space, AS IF they would stay lit near an ocean breeze. Puhlease!
Very poor call. What were you judges thinking?
posted on February 16, 2007 at 9:49 PM
meliblu wrote:
Loved the Team Tahiti cabana except for the lack of roof and thought that they shouldn't have won based upon the lack of roof. Was that really a conscious decision on their part not to put on a roof or did they just say that because they didn't have time and didn't want the judges to think the project was incomplete? Didn't understand why the judges were so fixated on the colors of the Miami cabana and I, too, thought Miami should have won because the indoor/outdoor concept was a good one plus I loved the remark one of them made about the louvred diagonals on how it gave some privacy but yet also allowed them to see outside. Since this was supposed to be a teamwork challenge, I thought that Ryan and Clarisa should have been the two last considered for being out most heavily especially as Clarisa also made poor color choices and Ryan did such a bad job shopping. Many of the blog posters in various of the Top Design blogs agree with you on the constructive criticism point and so do I. The judges don't give enough constructive criticism. I don't watch American Idol partly because Simone Cowell is such a jerk.
posted on March 12, 2007 at 5:03 AM