''Ellen's Next Great Designer'' is an American furniture design

reality competition Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

television series that aired from April 22 to May 20, 2021, on

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

. The six-episode season was announced in April 2021, as the latest furniture competition series executive produced by talk show host

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

. Previously, DeGeneres had executive produced two seasons of ''

Ellen's Design Challenge ''Ellen's Design Challenge'' is an American furniture design reality competition series that premiered on January 26, 2015, on HGTV. The six-episode first season was announced in April 2014, as the first cable television series executive produced ...

'' on

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

that aired in 2015 and 2016.

Background

The competition series featured seven promising furniture designers competing against one another in a series of weekly furniture design challenges and had just four short days to bring their piece of furniture from concept to production. Each designer worked out of their home studio and was assisted by a helper of their choice. Each time was designed in-house, but the designers were also able to with outside vendors, such as welders and CNC technicians, to bring their designs into reality. “I really want to know: Where is design heading? What are the exciting things that the most talented and creative people are thinking about that don’t exist yet?” DeGeneres told ''AD'' over email. “No other show is asking and answering these questions, so I’ve created one that does.” The judging panel featured award-winning furniture designer

Fernando Mastrangelo Fernando Mastrangelo (born 1978) is a New York-based artist best known for his collectible design, as well as his large scale sculptures and experiential installations. Mastrangelo is the founder oFernando Mastrangelo Studio (FM/S) Practice Mas ...

, renowned interior designer Bridgette Romanek, and actor and furniture enthusiast Scott Foley. DeGeneres also weighed in at times. The seven contestants included Christina Z. Antonio (Manhattan, NYC); Artless founder, Alejandro Artigas (Los Angeles, California); Slash Objects founder, Arielle Assouline-Lichten (Brooklyn, NYC); Vidivixi founder, Mark Grattan (New Hope, Pennsylvania/Mexico City, MX); Paul Rene Furniture founder, Paul Jeffrey (Phoenix, Arizona); Studio S II founder, Erica Sellers (Brooklyn, NYC); and Indo- founder, Urvi Sharma (Providence, Rhode Island). After a final head-to-head battle with Arielle Assouline-Lichten in a shared Los Angeles woodshop, Mark Grattan as named the winner of the series and awarded the $100,000 prize.

Episodes

Season 1 (2021)

Season 1 Elimination Table

: (WINNER) This designer won the competition due to another contestant's disqualification. : (RUNNER UP) This designer finished in second place. : (ELIM) The designer was eliminated from Ellen's Design Challenge. : No one was eliminated during this episode.

References

External links