Top Design » Season 1

Season 1

Season 1

Which interior is superior? High pressure and creative egos collide when wannabe interior designers vie for cash to start their own design firm.
 
“Top Design” offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative, competitive and client-driven interior design business. Popular designer and personality Todd Oldham hosts and is joined by renowned designer Jonathan Adler, as lead judge, and series judges Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor Magazine, and interior designer Kelly Wearstler.
 
A nationwide design search has resulted in a group of 12 of America’s hottest new interior designers, artists and architects, who will draw upon their creativity and expertise and compete to create the “Top Design.” The aspiring interior designers will vie for a US$100,000 grand prize, as well as a brand new SUV. The winner also will be rewarded with an editorial feature in Elle Decor Magazine, plus the chance to showcase their design skills at Dining By Design, NYC, a lavish affair where designers, celebrities, and the who's who of fashion convene for a night of style, drama, excitement, and spirited collaboration.
 
In each episode, host Oldham will reveal one challenge for the designers and send them off to sketch their rooms and shop for paints, furniture, fabrics and other supplies. Lead judge Adler will deliver the news of the chosen winner and loser with input from regular series judges Russell and Wearstler, as well as the surprise guest judges.

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Cast

Lead Judge
Lead Judge
Jonathan Adler

Jonathan Adler has been celebrated for the mod shapes, vibrant colors and organic eye-popping patterns that are the signature of his work today.
 
His business encompasses seven retail outlets in Soho and the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Los Angeles, East Hampton, Miami, San Francisco and Chicago; a thriving interior design business, responsible for the re-design of the Parker Palm Springs hotel in modernist style with a comfy residential feel; a burgeoning licensing business under the brand name Jonathan Adler Happy Home that’s expanding into bedding, bath accessories, stationary, dinnerware and table linens at accessible prices; and he continues to sell his wares to high-end boutiques around the world.
 
Jonathan’s “happy, handcrafter and luxe” designs for the home have become part of American pop-culture, appearing on the sets of the “Today Show,” “Sex and the City,” “Will & Grace” and “The Apprentice.” 
 
In November 2005, Jonathan launched his first book “My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living, which combines his wittiness and enthusiasm for creating happy homes everywhere with serious design.

Interior Designer/Judge
Interior Designer/Judge
Kelly Wearstler

Kelly Wearstler ranks among the design industry’s most influential new tastemakers. Acclaimed for trendsetting designs, Wearstler is the founder and principal of the award-winning Los Angeles-based firm Kelly Wearstler Interior Design. As the lead creative eye and lifestyle muse for the boutique Viceroy resorts in Southern California, Miami, South Beach, Anguilla and Mexico’s Riviera Maya, she has helped make the Viceroy name synonymous with polish, glamour and wit. In addition, she is leading the aesthetic vision for The Tides, a growing collection of vibrantly chic beach resorts in South Beach and the Caribbean.
 
Luxury design aficionados also recognize Wearstler for her creative transformation of the BG restaurant and lounge at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman; her celebrity and executive residential designs in Beverly Hills and Hollywood; and her books Domicilium Decoratus and Modern Glamour.

Editor in Chief, Elle Décor/Judge
Editor in Chief, Elle Décor/Judge
Margaret Russell

As editor-in-chief of Elle Decor Magazine, “Top Design” judge Margaret Russell has infused the magazine with a singular sense of sophistication, while helping to preserve its mission to inspire designers, architects and homeowners with the best in interior and product design. In July 2000, Russell was promoted to editor-in-chief of the magazine she helped found. Since then she has spearheaded an award-winning redesign of the publication -- one of 23 Elle Decor editions worldwide -- and shifted coverage to portray an increasingly diverse array of talents through images and articles that blend striking graphics with incisive, personality-driven text.