Andy DehnartOn the finale of Top Design, Jonathan Adler’s eyebrows announced that Chicagoan Matt Lorenz won the competition. He gets $100,000 and a spread in Elle Decor, and we never have to hear Jonathan Adler say shit like, “judges, shall we motor?” again, at least not until next season.
Matt’s competitor, Carisa Perez-Fuentes, created a loft that featured a floor plan the judges liked better, and a bed in a pit in the middle of a raised bedroom area. Jonathan Adler said her design was “confident, beautiful, functional … and that bed was fierce.” He told Matt only, “your loft is sophisticated, and your daughter’s room is magical.” The judges criticized Matt’s space plan and said he was just a decorator.
But for some reason, he won anyway, leaving GLAAD award-winning Bravo with four straight white male winners in a row (Top Chef, Project Runway 3, Top Chef 2, and now Top Design).
Interestingly, Carisa went into the finale as the “villain,” although that was kind of a stretch for this show, which didn’t really sustain any kind of conflict. But the finale seemed to be edited to set Matt up for a loss; he constantly dissed Carisa, saying things such as, “If I lose to a student, and I am going to, like, rob a bank and go in Mexico and drink the rest of my life.” Charming.
The two finalists had two months to plan and five days to construct a loft in downtown L.A. for themselves. They had $12,500, plus $150,000 to “memo out” furniture from the PDC. They also had other sponsored supplies, such as $25,000 in GE Monogram appliances, and carpenters were told that they were competing for $10,000 from LendingTree.com.
At least we have the second season of Design Star coming soon.