In this past Wednesday's episode (episode 8), called "Light It Up" the remaining 5 contestants had to design a room around an upscale chandelier from Swarovski! As the beautiful India Hicks introduced the challenge, I immediately recognized the stunning, $20,000 Swarovski Blossom Chandelier hanging there in the showroom, just glittering away. Anyway, the "Pop Design" challenge winner from that day, Eddie Ross, Senior Style Editor of Martha Stewart Living Magazine (and publisher of his own blog, EddieRoss.com) got to pick the order the designers chose their chandeliers. The order was as follows:
(Below) Eddie: Glitterbox by Georg Baldele (Photography: Top - Georg Baldele; Bottom - Bravo TV)
(Below) Andrea: Glitterbox Verticle by Georg Baldele (Photography: Top - Dezeen; Bottom - Bravo TV)
(Below) Nathan: Ice Branch by Tord Boontje (Photography: Top - Design Boom; Bottom - Bravo TV)
(Below) Ondine: Light Sock by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Photography: Top - Dezeen; Bottom - Bravo TV)
(Below) Preston: Sparkle Shady by Jamie Hayón (Photography: Top - Hayon Studio; Bottom - Bravo TV)
The end results were a mixed bag. For those of you who haven't seen the show, I won't spoil it, but needless to say some drama went down with contestant Andrea Schroeder, wife of actor Ricky Schroeder. Back to the stars of this episode...the beautiful lights. I knew Swarovski made lovely things, but I had no idea about some of these other light fixtures they designed. As part of the Swarovski Crystal Palace Collection, some of these chandeliers are destined to be timeless classics. Still others are just bizarre. Pricing is not available online but you can visit the Swarovski website for more information. Most of the collection will be available starting in January of 2009. Top Design Season 2 airs every Wednesday at 10:00 PM eastern, 9:00 PM central on Bravo. You can purchase past episodes on iTunes.
Lights out until next time!
9 comments:
I love this show! That being said, I was less than thrilled with the resulting rooms that the designers came up with on this challenge. Nathan has always been one of my favourite designers, and when he got one of my favourite lighting pieces, the Ice Branch, I was psyched... And then his room was crazy. (I was thrown by the large horse, not going to lie.) Well, that's Nathan for you... (Also loved the Light Sock!)
Yes! I too love Nathan and was a bit confused by his design. I do like the wall he painted, based on the shadow cast by the Ice Branch. I think my favorite room was Preston's. I think he's getting unnecessarily ripped on by the other boys on the show. He's talented.
My favorite light was the box one that Eddie had, but I hated that he took one look at the Martha Stewart store and threw his whole 'modern dining' idea out the window. That light clearly didn't do well in Eddie's traditional granny world. It's a sad day when you make a $40,000 chandelier look like crap.
On another note, I LOVED Preston's orange chairs in the black and white room.
Yeah, I loved the Glitterbox too...though I think I liked Andrea's Vertical Glitterbox better. I usually LOVE Eddie's aesthetic but I really wish he stuck to his initial gut feeling and went more modern.
Commenting on mod mel's comment: I was kind of excited when Eddie kept talking about doing a modern dining room... And then knew that flew out the door when he saw the Martha Stewart showroom... Ugh.
Overall, agreed, Preston's room was the coolest. Black, white and orange have a hard time going wrongly in my book.
I just adore Kelly Wearstler. She's pretty harsh on the designers a lot of the time, but she looks fabulous!
Yes, Kelly Wearstler is fabulous. She is harsh, but not as harsh as Margaret Russell. At least it's all constructive!
Hiya! I don't watch the show so I appreciate you posting the photos of the rooms so I can check them out. Reminds me of Trading Spaces show which I love but don't get to catch very often.
The rooms are a little crazy for me but I absolutely love the green Vertical Glitterbox in Andrea's. Even the room is ok as I like the big mirror. What would prompt a designer to use a horse in a room??
The Light Sock is very elegant and could see myself having a couple of those my bedroom. :-)
Mary
Thanks for checking out my blog, Mary! I love Top Design and if there's a season 3, I recommend checking it out! I agree...the vertical glitterbox is stunning. Too bad that's the room that Andrea went home. At least it was by choice and not because of her design.
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