Ellen's Design Challenge - General Discussion

[GaT]

Melissa really cut her own throat by saying she was basing her design on the little black dress by Chanel - not with all those embellishments on the piece. She should have labeled it a Parisian "bon-bon" or a furniture amuse-bouche

Yeah, as soon as she said "little black dress" I thought what? I must have missed it when she said it originally, but I thought she was designing based on the Chanel classic black & pink suit, & the embellishments were a take off on the buttons. When she said it was the black dress, I was completely confused.   

[Miracle Maxie]

The mute button got a workout last night. I could not listen to the guest judge because he was such a pretentious poser. He seemed to be more about showing off his fashion sense (and his Apple watch) than about offering any constructive criticism. It was as if he thought that any words he might utter were of intrinsic value, no matter if they actually meant anything or not. Designed vs styled? The hell? Maybe I'm just not qualified to understand his rarified verbiage.  (Wow - did he really annoy me this much? I guess so!)

 

Kind of sorry to see Melissa go, I thought from the start of the episode that it would be Kyle leaving. But at least it wasn't Vivian! I hope she and Myles are final two (Myles seems inevitable right now, but I would have said the same thing about Sef a couple weeks ago); actually, I hope Vivian makes final two and I don't much care who she's up against. I'm not crazy about any of the guys.

[RemoteControlFreak]

How can you design a piece that encapsulates a culture if you are not OF that culture? I'd think that the best you could do is interpret the known styles of the culture through your own design aesthetic. 

They were not asked to "encapsulate a culture."

 

This was Ellen's direction, quoted exactly:  

 

"Traveling is inspirational, right?  So I want this challenge to be exactly that. I want you to be inspired a country and by their design. [Cliff explains the process for selecting a suitcase].  You're going to make furniture based on that country."

 

After Ellen leaves, Cliff adds, "So your challenge is to create a piece of furniture inspired by your country's rich design history or its current trends."

 

So the directions were extremely vague and that was why this challenge failed.  What does "based on that country" mean?  How do you evaluate inspiration?

 

In addition, some countries, like Japan and Denmark,  have an understandable furniture history and reproducible aesthetic. Others, like Morocco and France, not so much. 

 

It's really hard, for example, to make furniture "based on" Morocco that doesn't seem mostly to be about decoration and styling, as opposed to design and construction.  

 

And also, Karim Rashid has a reputation for being a dick and he lived up to that in this episode.  For this challenge, the show would have been better served by bringing in an art historian or a design professor who has actual knowledge of the history of design in these countries, instead of a modern industrial designer with an ego too big for the room.

Edited February 10, 2016 by RemoteControlFreak

[backgroundnoise]

I didn't get the style vs. design argument, either.

I don't think the judges did either.  They criticized pieces for having obvious referential elements of a country, and then criticized them for not being more exact replicas.   "Too much typical Moroccan ornateness, but he didn't use Moroccan blue."   "Danish furniture doesn't have wood grain showing, and it's too big", etc., even though the nod to Denmark was there in the piece.

[leighdear]

I absolutely loved Vivian's table.  And as far as the rust treatment goes, a piece like that IMMEDIATELY has a substantial clear-coat go over the rust treated areas to stop the process.  If it didn't, those elements would literally begin to disintegrate and compromise the structure.   That clear coat also allows the piece to sit on any surface without marring or discoloring it.  I have some locally fabricated industrial steel pieces in my own home that have been acid-treated this way, and it's standard practice.

 

I agree that Sef's chair was too big, Melissa's desk was too frou-frou, Kyle's table had too many elements, Mile's entertainment center was too ordinary and the guest judge was an posturing and obnoxious crap weasel.  

 

Otherwise, great episode!  ;-) 

[FineWashables]

My interpretation of the "style" vs "design" critique is that when you decorate something that already exists, you're styling it, whereas designing involves producing something that hasn't exactly been seen yet.  Melissa's dressing table set is classic in shape and style to the point where there was nothing new there, however nicely it was decorated.  Kyle's Moroccan table looked like it could be in a stage production of "Aladdin" because again, more decoration than design.  Sef's giant chair looked exactly like every other quality office chair -- I didn't really get "armchair" out of it so much as "conference table chair."  Vivian's piece would have looked more like the style she was emulating if she had exaggerated the shape more, but if she did, it would have been ugly.  I'm so glad she wasn't aufed.  Miles's room divider was practical, therefore saleable.  

 

I had no idea that commercial viability was the chief  judging criteria.  I wonder if that's really what Ellen intends.

 

 

[DownTheShore]

They would probably do better to have the two full-time judges work as coaches, and then have a lineup of ten random people each week vote on which pieces they liked or would have in their homes, if they're going for commercial viability.

We don't really know what Ellen intends because we don't know what she considers "good design". Is it statement pieces? Is it something that works well with whatever is her decorating theme? Is it comfort? Is it something completely new and different?

We all know good design when we see it, but the "good" portion of that equation is totally subjective.

----

I agree that the guest judge was full of himself, but I still enjoyed watching him knock the starry-eyedness out of the contestants. It wasn't a nurturing experience for them and gave them a taste of the cut-throat level of their profession that they're all aspiring to.

[qtpye]

The guest judge was nasty.  I agree he had a point about styling in particular to Melissa's piece.  When she planned it, I was like, that is a basic vanity done in pretty Channel colors.

 

However, the other designer were following the brief, however unsuccessful their designs were.  I love to see Vivian wield, but have a feeling her pieces are not main stream enough for this show. 

 

Also, another failure in direction, are we going for traditional designs or modern designs from the cultures?  The furniture design aesthetic in the United States has changed considerably since 1776, going through many movements as society and technology changed.

 

I thought the designers were supposed to put their own spin on the culture they selected...so how could it not have been derivative?

 

The male judge was much too in awe of Karim Rashid.  The contestants on this show (season 1 and 2) seem to be very sincere and not fame whores.  The judges are very humorless and robotic.

 

Also, Wayfair lady was there when they were designing the pieces.  Why the heck did she not make comments about how brutalism is not the best choice for Italian design then?

Edited February 9, 2016 by qtpye

[RemoteControlFreak]

Also, another failure in direction, are we going for traditional designs or modern designs from the cultures?  The furniture design aesthetic in the United States has changed considerably since 1776, going through many movements as society and technology changed.

 

I thought the designers were supposed to put their own spin on the culture they selected...so how could it not have been derivative?

The directions were that it could be either "inspired by your country's rich design history or its current trends." 

 

And there was never a mention of "culture" at all, ever.

[AwesomO4000]

My interpretation of the "style" vs "design" critique is that when you decorate something that already exists, you're styling it, whereas designing involves producing something that hasn't exactly been seen yet. 

 

This is what I thought the judges were trying to say as well, but they weren't, in my opinion, exactly critiquing based on what they were saying, so for me it was confusing. For example, as backgroundnoise pointed out, one of the big critiques of Kyle's table was of the blueish color that he used for not being "Moroccan blue" enough which was a "style" choice. If style wasn't really as important as the "design" why should that even be a critique, especially since Kyle even explained that he specifically made a conscious choice because he thought that his color went better with the copper accents? So if the "design" was the main critique, what difference does it make if the color "style" is more whatever the judges referenced (rats, I forgot )? The grain critique of Sef's chair was a similar thing. How much grain shows, to me, would be more of a style aesthetic than have to do with the designing of it. Size maybe could be both (?), depending on how you look at it, because a smaller chair might have exactly the same kind of design but just be smaller.

 

Even the "little black dress" critique had to do more with style, since the critique was that Melissa's style was not exactly simple as a little black dress would be. But sometimes the idea of a little black dress is that the design is not overly complicated, so that the wearer can dress it up with their own embellishments (i.e. style) if they want. So theoretically, the frou frouness of her dressing table could still be "style" on a Little Black Dress "design." That wasn't what Melissa was saying about her styling, but if the argument really was "style" versus "design," then the incorrect styling interpretation of her table shouldn't have been as much of a consideration in the judging, in my opinion, as the design of the table.

 

All the point of this for me is that I don't think that the judges were really giving the designers helpful feedback per se in terms of what they wanted. What they should have said, in my opinion, was something along the lines of "In terms of style, your piece might reflect your country's inspiration, but in terms of design, you missed the mark." Bringing all of the style critiques into it complicated the message, for me... especially making it a part of the reason for Melissa's offing.

[RemoteControlFreak]

I absolutely loved Vivian's table.  

You mean her wine rack?  Me, too.

 

I think she shot herself in the foot a bit by saying it was in the Brutalist style. It was a little un-clunky to fit Brutalist.  But simply as a piece, it was the best.

 

Miles did the best job of showing reference to his country's design style, but he got an easy country. Japan has such a clear and identifiable furniture aesthetic, that it's easy to do this.  Sef with Denmark also had an easy draw. Unfortunately for him, the scale of his chair was off.

 

And Melissa and Kyle were saddled with countries that don't have clear furniture design aesthetics.  They are known more for style (like intricate Moroccan carving or gold embellishment from France) and the judges made it clear they didn't want that, though they were a little late with that instruction. Still, Melissa could have sold her piece a little better, instead of claiming that it was a take-off on the little black dress, which 1) it wasn't;  2) wouldn't impress the judges.

 

A better way to do this challenge would have been to provide the designers with one iconic furniture piece from each country and then asked them to use this an an inspiration for a new piece of some type that draws on the iconic style.

 

Or maybe have a selection of iconic US furniture pieces from different eras (Eames wire chair, Parsons table (arguably French not American but that's a different issue), picnic table, etc.) and ask the designers to create their own spin on this.

Edited February 10, 2016 by RemoteControlFreak

[carrps]

 

The male judge was much too in awe of Karim Rashid.  The contestants on this show (season 1 and 2) seem to be very sincere and not fame whores.  The judges are very humorless and robotic.

 

They both were too much in awe of Rashid. Whenever he said something, they just nodded their heads like a couple of parrots and agreed. Even if it contradicted something they just said.

 

Kyle is getting on my nerves. He seems humorless and borderline dickish. Team Vivian all the way. With Miles as a close second. 

[Mittengirl]

I wish they would go for more straightforward challenges, like the outdoor space one, rather than these last two, which seemed to me to be more open to interpretation. Do you match the china or complement it? Is it influenced by Morroco or does it copy Morrocan design?

Just give them clear directions. You are designing this _______ room for ___________. For instance, Vivian, design a chair that is for a small bedside area.. Sef, make a dresser for a college dorm room. Miles, make a desk for a small home office. Kyle, make a table that can be used indoors or outside.

It might be interesting to see them all make the same item. Have someone come in and play client. "I am a single fifty year old man with no kids and two big dogs. I have bad knees and am allergic to feathers and do not like leather. Build me a living room sofa." Then let each designer interview him one-on-one for ten minutes or so where they can ask whatever questions pop into their mind, but he cannot volunteer anything they don't ask. "Do you like to stretch out on the sofa?" "Are the dogs allowed on it?" "Are there colors you absolutely do not want to see?" Maybe Kyle is the only one to think to ask if the chair the client is currently sitting on is deep enough or tall enough. Maybe Sef doesn't ask just how big the big dogs are. Then let the challenge commence.

Or something like that.

[FineWashables]

 

Also, Wayfair lady was there when they were designing the pieces.  Why the heck did she not make comments about how brutalism is not the best choice for Italian design then?

Good point.  I'm guessing they expect the designers to be already familiar with the kind of furniture carried on the Wayfair site. When the commercials feature nothing but well-dressed people singing and dancing ecstatically about their furniture, it's probably wise to avoid concepts like "brutalism," "goth," or, say, "fascist era design."  Once again, the sponsor angle suggests that commercial viability plays a much bigger role than I think it should in a design competition.

Edited February 9, 2016 by FineWashables

[Feline Queen]

I thought Karim Rashid was a pompous ass - with no taste if his outfit is any indication. His comments weren't constructive, they were done in a way that said, "I'm the professional, you're the amateurs and don't you forget it." The contestants were a lot less enthusiastic saying goodbye to him after his brutal critiques. 

 

I thought Fong and Christiane waffled after Karim made his comments. It seemed as if they were catering to him by changing their minds about what they'd just said and agreeing with his slams.  

 

Sef's chair was very Danish modern even if the proportions were off. When I think of Italy, I think of classic design, so for me Vivian's piece completely missed the mark.  Miles' wall unit looked cheap. Like something you'd overpay for and then be sorry when it fell apart fairly quickly. Kyle's table got dinged because it wasn't the right shade of Morroccan blue - and yet they weren't supposed to be literal? Okay, that makes sense ... not.  Melissa's vanity table would be cute in a tween's room. I think it was Fong who tried to help her by saying it looked like the Chanel dress with the rough edges. Which is known as boucle.  

Edited February 9, 2016 by Feline Goddess

[GaT]

It might be interesting to see them all make the same item. Have someone come in and play client. "I am a single fifty year old man with no kids and two big dogs. I have bad knees and am allergic to feathers and do not like leather. Build me a living room sofa." Then let each designer interview him one-on-one for ten minutes or so where they can ask whatever questions pop into their mind, but he cannot volunteer anything they don't ask. "Do you like to stretch out on the sofa?" "Are the dogs allowed on it?" "Are there colors you absolutely do not want to see?" Maybe Kyle is the only one to think to ask if the chair the client is currently sitting on is deep enough or tall enough. Maybe Sef doesn't ask just how big the big dogs are. Then let the challenge commence.

This would be perfect. I can never understand how they're judging completely different pieces of furniture against each other. How do you decide if a table is better than an armoire or a desk? They should all be making the same type of furniture.

[Wings]

Putting aside the obnoxious crap weasel, thanks Leighdear, and the poorly defined parameters, Miles made a very beautiful piece and he deserved the win, clearly.  

 

Melissa, oh god Melissa.  You are adorable and talented and I think your forte is in kids furniture and whimsy.  That was an ugly piece of perhaps 50's retro French.  ???  

 

I don't like anything remotely Moroccan.  Even if brought to a modern translation I would skip it.  I have been there and it is a creepy country filled with creepy people.  shudder 

 

Sef's real name is probably Steve Elbert Falanga so he used his initials.   

 

I have nothing more to say other than I am looking forward to next week.  Onward.  

[mlp]

I don't pretend to know much about design or designers but I thought the guest judge was a self-involved pretentious creep.  He looked like Pee Wee Herman only less appealing.  It occurs to me that I could do some Googling and read up on why he's famous and, apparently, admired but I really don't care enough to bother.

 

I thought the winning divider they raved about looked like something you'd find on sale at Big Lots.  It looked tacky to me.  

 

During the Wayfair commercial that featured the winning table from last week, I looked for a sign that it was plugged in and saw no evidence of a cord anywhere on the round rug.

[Merneith]

I lost all respect for the guest judge when someone asked him, "how do you know if a design is successful?" and he replied, "If it sells a lot and makes the clients happy". An art piece is successful when the artist says it is - other people's opinions don't matter a bunch and the commercialization of the piece matters even less. (And if designers aren't artist - why do they even exist?) I'll accept that he's a successful salesman, but not an original artist.

 

As for the contestants - They never respected Melissa. They had her pegged as a children's designer, as if that's a lesser thing. But you know what, mister "I have a zillion pieces in production" guest judge - Melissa's "French" vanity would sell a billion. Easy.

 

And the little black dress - Coco Chanel was not a minimalist designer. In Coco's vision, the dress might be simple but it's used as a back drop for eighteen pounds of pearls and bangles and necklaces and hats and gloves and brooches and scarves. French style is busy and a little decorative - from Baroque, to Rocco, to Empire, to Second Empire, to Belle Epoque, to Fin de Siecle, to Art Nouveau, to Chanel, Dior and Hermes. If you ask for French design, you get something like Melissa gave up, with silver studs instead of gold leaf curlicues.

 

I think Vivan's wine table was the least impressive. Yeah, I know industrial is a thing but who really wants to give themselves tetnus from their wine rack? Sef needs to get a short person to sit on his furniture early in the design process. Otherwise, I liked his throne. Miles' cabinet was clever, but that acrylic is going to faded and cloudy next year. I like the turquoise in the Morrocan table. If he'd used cobalt, they'd have sniffed that it was just a replica. I liked the punched out bronze legs, a lot, not so much on all the other bronze, though.

[Madding crowd]

I hated the pompous guest judge. I also agree the other judges changed their minds after hearing his comments which didn't even make much sense. I liked the Moroccan table that poor man's Harry Potter made and thought the turquoise looked lovely. In general though, this challenge was not defined enough and as others have said, it is difficult to judge a wine bar against a vanity table against a room divider/bookcase.

 

Miles' piece did reference Japan but it looked like the pieces in IKEA. I thought the little pink and black vanity would be lovely for a young girl's room. Vivian's piece was too industrial and said nothing about Italy to me. I always think the judges love industrial on this show and you usually can't lose if you make it, but it isn't the specialty of all the designers. Sef's chair was OK but it looked like every other chair in Dania furniture to me. 

 

I would love it if they worked  for a room in a actual home and made the home owners a piece which would fit in with their existing furniture, yet give their rooms a spark. Too many of the pieces look off to me because they don't look like pieces anyone would really use. I have no problem with art as art sake, but it gets iffy when you have challenges with a mix of art pieces and usable furniture. 

Edited February 10, 2016 by Madding crowd

[DownTheShore]

While none of the designers annoy me this season, none of them have produced anything that has consistently interested me to the point where I wonder just what they're going to think of next.

I watch the show because I like design and I like watching the creative process, and because it's a nice change from thenever-ending home remodeling shows.

[Betelnut]

Chiming in to say that I also thought the guest judge was an idiot.  When asked what makes a successful design, he said, "People buy it and it wins awards."  He said a third thing but my mind was so blown by those self-serving answers that I can't remember it.  Yes, those are measures of success, but I'm pretty sure the question was more along the lines of "what makes good design?"  You know, functionality?

 

I love Vivian so I was glad when she wasn't eliminated.  I thought her piece looked appropriate to "Brutalism" after they showed the reference shots of Brutalistic architecture.  I'm not that knowledgeable about that movement though...

[carrps]

 Okay, that makes sense ... not.  Melissa's vanity table would be cute in a tween's room. I think it was Fong who tried to help her by saying it looked like the Chanel dress with the rough edges. Which is known as boucle.  

Bouclé is an nubby fabric. Cliff was talking about the Chanel suits where the edges of the pockets and edges of the lapels are fringed. As soon as he said that I got a mental image of exactly what he meant. And it did describe Melissa's dressing table.

 

Watched again with my sister last night, and I figured out why Kyle's piece seemed "wrong" to me. It was too small. It needed some height and heft to carry off the delicate embellishment. It looked a little too twee and dainty to reference the more monumental Moroccan scale.

[Shermie]

This show is so silly. The competition is vague and hard to measure, as others have said, when they're making completely different pieces. A lot of the furniture is fug and impractical, and the kind of overpriced industrial loft crap that people with more money than brains get suckered into buying because they want to be trendy. Or it's just weird and uncomfortable looking.

The blond judge is a mashup of Jennifer Lawrence and Carmindy from What Not To Wear.

[buttercupia]

As a huge fan of Brutalist architecture, I loved loved loved Vivian's wine rack. I think she could have gone more severe with it but as it was, it  was a great reference to that era in Italy but still appropriate to go in a home.  Well done her.  I agree with what everyone else said about the guest judge.  Poseur.

[auntjess]

Did I see it wrong, or did the wine rack have the bottles lying level?  In the few shots I saw, I didn't see how the corks would stay wet.

[camom]

I wish they had sent Sef home tonight.  That dresser was ugly.  And the fact that they used the drawers from the shop seemed wrong to me. 

[Maharincess]

I wish they had sent Sef home tonight. That dresser was ugly. And the fact that they used the drawers from the shop seemed wrong to me.

I agree. That thing was ugly. The blue part looked like wallpaper that was buckling. I didn't get it all all.

Plus using the drawers should be against the rules.

The desk was weird too, wouldn't you have to take everything off the top of the desk to use the biggest parts?

Edited February 16, 2016 by Maharincess

[biakbiak]

I can't believe it wasn't even referenced that he used the drawers particularly given the other issues with craftmanship. Plus, I don't understand using that blue in what you in vision as a "forever" piece.

[Mittengirl]

I thought Sef's dresser was flat out ugly. The front looked like laminate that had buckled due to moisture. The color was ugly and the design was nothing to write home about. It actually looks just like the dresser my mother has that is probably 50 years old. Well, except hers doesn't have the ditch carved in the top for holding pictures.

I wasn't that fond of Miles' desk either, but it was much better than the dresser. I guess some people would be able to keep their desktop clear, so that they could open the top. For them, it might be appealing.

Putting on my scandal/conspiracy hat for a minute - the judges asked Sef if he had made the drawer inserts himself, which seemed like an opening for him to confess to using the shop drawers. He very clearly confirmed that he had indeed made the -inserts-, but made no further mention. Could this be leading up to a dramatic confrontation next week? Hence the reason he was not booted this week, when he certainly should have been.

It certainly looks like someone, for reasons not clear to me, wants Sef to win this thing. IMO.

[biakbiak]

Putting on my scandal/conspiracy hat for a minute - the judges asked Sef if he had made the drawer inserts himself, which seemed like an opening for him to confess to using the shop drawers. He very clearly confirmed that he had indeed made the -inserts-, but made no further mention. Could this be leading up to a dramatic confrontation next week? Hence the reason he was not booted this week, when he certainly should have been.

I don't think so because he didn't lie, he did make the magnetic metal draw inserts that the judges loved -it was the only thing about the design I also liked and thought was fairly inovated, he didn't say he built the drawer boxes. I do also think since we have seen people repurpose older pieces before if what he did wasn't completely fine under the rules of the competition. I was just shocked that they didn't highlight the draw issue because of the past controversy but they did say the "issues" with craftmanship as in plural not just the door being not squared made me think that they did talk about it but didn't air it which I think was a mistake even in the end if they decided to keep him.

Edited February 16, 2016 by biakbiak

[GaT]

Putting on my scandal/conspiracy hat for a minute - the judges asked Sef if he had made the drawer inserts himself, which seemed like an opening for him to confess to using the shop drawers. He very clearly confirmed that he had indeed made the -inserts-, but made no further mention. Could this be leading up to a dramatic confrontation next week? Hence the reason he was not booted this week, when he certainly should have been.

It certainly looks like someone, for reasons not clear to me, wants Sef to win this thing. IMO.

I hope not, they can't have a scandal every season, but I don't see how the fact that he didn't make the drawers never came up. I thought he should have been sent home.

[Rhetorica]

I agree with everyone about Sef. In fact, I'm surprised that one of the other contestants didn't bring it up with only four left. Has anyone else noticed Sef doesn't smile with his eyes, only his mouth?

[carrps]

I rather hated Kyle's chair. The fabric was hiddy, and the design looked reminiscent of a lot of MCM "Danish Modern" armchairs. I could see it with a plaid couch in somebody's basement.

 

Loved Vivian's and I liked that she used pearlescent paint.

 

Miles's was kinda blah to me. And Sef. Oh, Sef, you special snowflake you.

[FineWashables]

The judges sent a really talented guy home early in this season's competition because he had only created one of what was supposed to be four (?) pieces that would flank a firepit.  Lots of judgement about how the goal of the competition is to design something that can be finished by deadline.  So, WTF with Sef?  And while maybe it's okay to raid the workshop for existing drawers, is it okay never to mention it during the judging process?  Again, firepit furniture guy got sent home for the same thing.

 

I'd be super pissed if I were Vivian or Kyle.  They were on top, and had every right to expect to knock someone off from the bottom.  What an empty victory for Vivian, whose table was absolutely beautiful.

[Madding crowd]

I couldn't believe Sef spent an entire day writing post-it notes and talking about his 'vision' with Chip. I also couldn't stand his pretentious idea of making an audio of getting ready in the morning and making it into a design on the dresser. Is anyone really going to buy a dresser and then stare at the design saying "I remember when I was doing xyz by looking at this dresser," On top of that, the borrowed drawers and door that wouldn't close, should have got him canned,

 

I loved all of the other pieces and it didn't bother me that Miles desk would have to remain free of table top stuff. Of course, if you had limited space and wanted to have some picture frames or other stuff around it could be a problem, but it was still a good idea. I liked Kyle's chair, and I don't think a judge's particular preference for upolstery color should be a factor. If someone were buying the chair they would pick their own fabric. 

 

Vivian's pieces are like works of art, but they leave me cold. I could see this table in a hotel lobby or fancy building, but it looked too big for a home. I could see her winning this, she has stunning art ideas.

[backgroundnoise]

Kyle's chair was too reminiscent of Bradley's slat bed for me to fully appreciate it.  

 

It must be okay with using anything in the room for your construction, but I found it a little too convenient that the drawers fit perfectly.

 

I like Vivian's the best, even with the white paint.  I would have preferred it with polished steel legs, myself.

 

Kyle seemed really pissed that no one got eliminated.  I'm okay with it because I am interested in what both Miles and Sef would create next. 

 

Is next week the finale?

[hilaryvm]

With Miles' desk, it looked like the whiteboard was underneath and then you folded it out and it stood up.  How would you write on it?  When it's closed, the white board is down, and when it's open, the white board part is on the other side of the desk from you.  That means you would have to lean over the desk in order to use the white board.  I could be wrong about how it worked, but that seemed completely impractical.

 

Kyle's chair was fine, but it didn't look particularly comfortable to me.

[jbrecken]

I think the producers want Kyle to go next, but his chair was better than some of the others' things so they made this week a non-elimination.

[roctavia]

The drawer thing really bothers me, too. That's not just using something reclaimed... While I don't know the specific rules about the work room, but that seems pretty damn shady to me, especially on a show that already has some scandal issues. I'd expect they would be paying closer attention to what is going on so it can be addressed. If Sef wins the season, I would consider this year another fail.... Hopefully they will bring it up next week and address the issues, cause using drawers that are already made in a building competition where time is a factor is wrong, IMO.

 

I thought the chair was interesting, though I didn't like the fabric choice. The coffee table was realy neat, definitely an art piece. The desk... eh.. it was okay, but I'm not one to have my desk clear enough to open all the foldy things. I thought that dresser was ugly with a capital UGH, even minus the cheating.... he should have been sent packing big time.

[mlp]

The whole episode seemed bizarre to me.  First, Sef, who has been competent all along, suddenly turns into a screwball who doesn't understand the passing of time.  Then the drawers from the workshop miraculously fit perfectly into the unfinished dresser so he makes the deadline.  Kyle's chair, while nice, didn't look "comfy" to me.  Vivian's coffee table was great but it looked like it was almost the size of a dining room table.  And Miles desk made no sense at all.  The proportions were strange and who, in this day and age, wouldn't put their computer on their desk?  Putting anything much on top would obviate using the white board which, as someone already noted, would be hard to reach.  And who writes giant notes to themselves on a whiteboard anyway?  These days, people use phone apps for that.

 

It seemed to me that they were all kept because it was planned that way and maybe even manipulated that way rather than because all the creations were wonderful.

[WildPlum]

Liked this week's judge, at least.

 

Pretty sure they did this "and no one goes home this week!" last season, too (just checked - yes, it was the 3rd episode, halfway through). They are down to 4 very competent furniture designers and want to keep that number apparently. According to the Wiki, there will be 9 episodes this year, although maybe the 9th is just the awards show episode. So if we'd lost one this week, that would be 3 designers on episode 7, 2 designers on episode 8 and .... one designer on episode 9?

 

How much of the Sef thing was producer-driven or at least producer-inspired I have no idea. We've seen flashes of this before, so maybe this week they just chose to show more of it for the "drama" - faux or otherwise. Loved Vivian's green room comment when Chip started babbling about what a pleasure it was to work with Sef (something along the lines of "Stop talking, Chip"). You can see a lot of frustration in the interactions between Sef and Chip. The producers also left in a quick disparaging comment from, I think, Matt, Vivian's carpenter, when they were raiding the workshop for drawers. I noticed one of the judges examining the dovetail joint on one of the drawers, not realizing they were looking at the workshop drawers.

 

Miles' table was okay, although I didn't like the pointed edges at all, nor did I care for the purpleheart and white. Also, an extra hour didn't seem to help him with the craftsmanship part - they showed some really rough edges. It was sort of not a table and not really a desk either, it didn't shine at either function.

 

Liked Kyle's min-century mod chair, although I have to agree with the judge that it needed a different fabric. It actually did look comfortable. Also note that Kyle and his carpenter were able to build a mock-up AND the real thing in the allotted time and the chair was just as complicated as Sef's dresser.

 

Normally I am a huge Vivian fan, but this week's coffee table was ... eh. It is always fun watching how hard she works, though, and how good she is at metal fab.

 

At this point we are:

Miles - 2 wins

Sef - 1 win

Vivianne - 1 win

Kyle - 0 wins.

[scootypuffjr]

As someone who.is watching the show for the first time this season, can somebody please give me a quick, Reader's Digest version of last year's scandal? Thank you in advance.

[Merneith]

It must be okay with using anything in the room for your construction, but I found it a little too convenient that the drawers fit perfectly.

 

No kidding. I've got fifty different drawers in this house. I couldn't just randomly start swapping them around and expect them to fit perfectly. Sef designed his dresser specifically to match the measurements on those drawers. What a cheat. He knew he was going to crib those drawers all along.

 

It's a dumb dresser, anyway. He spent a whole day thinking about dressers and solving all the problems with dressers and then he went and built - a bog standard dresser.

[WildPlum]

As someone who.is watching the show for the first time this season, can somebody please give me a quick, Reader's Digest version of last year's scandal? Thank you in advance.

 

Okay, the quick version: Tim won last year's challenge. After the shows, including the "awards" show, had been filmed, but before it was aired on TV, someone somewhere noticed that the winning piece was VERY similar to a piece that had been featured in a major design magazine. So Tim's "title" was taken away and given to the second place finisher, Katie, and an epilogue added to the show when it aired, explaining that Tim was disqualified.  Much noise ensued.

 

I read somewhere that Tim will be back on one of the shows this year (possibly as a judge) - we'll see how true that is.

[candall]

The judges sent a really talented guy home early in this season's competition because he had only created one of what was supposed to be four (?) pieces that would flank a firepit.

I'm pinging off your callback to that intricately composed, imaginative piece to say the judging this season has been so inconsistent, so incomprehensible, so entirely whacked on crack, as to render the whole show nearly impossible to enjoy.

 

I love furniture, too, Ellen.  I snuggled in for the first episode, where one bed was too "safe" but the next bed apparently wasn't safe enough because the design was not "restful."  The issue of reclining came up for one bed, but not for the one with a diagonal wire headboard of one side and zero on the other side.  The bed with negative space, where cats might slip in, was too high but the one-inch thick mattress on another went unremarked. The designer who was eliminated made a huge, hand-carved, statement piece/sculpture that was both striking and, to me, beautiful.  As her competitors pointed out, people would be calling her and begging for that bed.

 

When lying on the ground on a wooden pallet with one knee humped up was "surprisingly comfortable!"--I quit.  Now I just ff to the end to scan for creativity. 

 

I want to sentence the judges to placing that clunky cheap-looking "room divider" in their own homes and working at desks where the main feature is writing on a whiteboard, once they've cleared everything off the surface.

[needschocolate]

Well, Ellen told Miles to make a fun desk, she didn't say it had to be practical.  I can imagine sitting at the desk, side doors open to get at pencils and whatever.  My  laptop and papers carefully arranged on top of the desk, along with a something to drink.  Got my phone propped up in the back so I know what time it is, because it is somehow so much easier to keep reaching across the laptop and water glass and papers to turn on the phone to check the time than it is to just have the phone next to me.  And now I want to check my notes, which are on the whiteboard inside the desk, so I take of the laptop, the papers and the water glass.  Open up the top and smash my phone.

 

Every time I see Kyle, I think I have somehow switched channels to an episode of Full House where Uncle Jesse is pretending to be a nerd or is trying to look respectable for a job interview.  I liked Kyle's chair.  Looked comfy, also looked like something you could already find somewhere, but Ellen asked for comfy, not innovative.

 

I liked Vivian's table.  I like Vivian.  

 

 

No kidding. I've got fifty different drawers in this house. I couldn't just randomly start swapping them around and expect them to fit perfectly. Sef designed his dresser specifically to match the measurements on those drawers. What a cheat. He knew he was going to crib those drawers all along.

 

It's a dumb dresser, anyway. He spent a whole day thinking about dressers and solving all the problems with dressers and then he went and built - a bog standard dresser.

 

I can't even switch drawers on the same dresser - I have to label the back of the drawers to make sure they go back int he same places.  One of Sef's post-its must have said, "Use pre-made drawer boxes."

 

Everyone knows he used the pre-made ones, so it must not be illegal.  Besides, why would they even have pre-made ones in the shop , if it isn't okay to use them.  

 

I think they planned on this being a non-elimination from the start and were probably glad that they could find some positive things to say about Sef's dresser.  

[roctavia]

I can't even switch drawers on the same dresser - I have to label the back of the drawers to make sure they go back int he same places.  One of Sef's post-its must have said, "Use pre-made drawer boxes."

 

Everyone knows he used the pre-made ones, so it must not be illegal.  Besides, why would they even have pre-made ones in the shop , if it isn't okay to use them.  

 

I think they planned on this being a non-elimination from the start and were probably glad that they could find some positive things to say about Sef's dresser.  

 

But it's not like the premade drawers were just there to be drawers for the taking, they were drawers on a tool storage thing, they served a purpose in the shop to organize items... so I'm supposed to make a table, I think I'll just take the legs off the table saw and use those as a reclaimed piece..., or your work bench has neat legs, I'll just use those.  That's cool, right?

 

I don't care if it's not against the rules, it's shady as hell to the viewer and I would most definitely think of that as cheating. It definitely is another big knock against the integrity of the show if it's not addressed at some point. I can see it not being brought up at judging if it wasn't really known at that moment, but if it skates by I'm going to be really annoyed.

[needschocolate]

But it's not like the premade drawers were just there to be drawers for the taking, they were drawers on a tool storage thing, they served a purpose in the shop to organize items... so I'm supposed to make a table, I think I'll just take the legs off the table saw and use those as a reclaimed piece..., or your work bench has neat legs, I'll just use those.  That's cool, right?

 

I must have not been paying attention - I thought they got the drawers from a supply room, where they would have other stuff like hinges, handles, etc...

 

Taking the drawers out of a storage cabinet is not cool at all and should not have been allowed.  I stand corrected.  

[candall]

Maybe retroactively addressing a scandal will become the signature piece of this show!