Behind the Scenes with HGTV Design Star Judge Candice Olson
Editor’s note: In this second of two posts, Olson shares her thoughts about Design Star and offers advice to aspiring interior designers.
This summer, HGTV’s Design Star began its fifth season. Twelve creative professionals compete in fast–paced design challenges for the opportunity to host and design for a new series on HGTV. Acclaimed interior designers Genevieve Gorder, Candice Olson, and Vern Yip do the judging.
Candice attributes the show’s success to several factors, including the challenges, the array of talent, great design, and—of course—the drama.
She’s amazed by what the contestants accomplish in the challenges with so little time or resources. “We’re really getting them to flex their design muscles,” she says. “It’s more about what inspires you. How does it manifest itself in the design?”
She admits that the judges had a very difficult time selecting the winner. It was such a close competition that they had to leave the set for a few hours to determine who would receive the grand prize.
“It’s a reality show, but in this case something happens after the filming is over,” she adds. “There’s no other show where you win the opportunity to host your own show. That’s a huge prize. The winner is catapulted to something that took me 15 years to achieve.”
Her advice for aspiring interior designers who crave success?
“Don’t expect to graduate and be successful without a whole lot of work behind you. It’s a business. Get out there and market yourself or run and grow your business. You need to understand the business side of it, otherwise it’s just a hobby.”
Photos via hgtv.com
With any creative/artistic career, you’ve got to spend at least as much time marketing yourself as you do actually creating stuff. That’s one reason why so many talented people prefer to keep a hobby as just that. If you’re fortunate and know the right professionals, you can outsource the marketing to someone who is really good at it. But you still have to understand how the marketplace works and who your customer demographic includes if you want to be successful. Sure, sometimes people get catapulted to fame through a lucky break on a TV show, but that still doesn’t ensure success if you don’t have the business sense to take advantage of the opportunity.
Daisy McCarty
http://www.sandiegocubicles.com/