Sarasota's Own Design Star

Sarasota rolls out the red carpet for HGTV design star Jason Champion.

By Carol Tisch

The reality is, Sarasota’s got talent. It started with Syesha Mercado, the 2005 Booker High grad who in 2008 finished third on American Idol, reportedly the nation’s most-watched television show. (http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/Articles/Sarasota-Magazine/2008/09/This-Idol-Gives-Back.asp?ht=). Sarasota went all-out to show its support: Cheering crowds gathered at Mattison’s City Grill and in the Booker VPA auditorium every Tuesday night to show support.

Local foodies next gathered on Thursday nights to root for Chef Danny on the FOX TV network’s hit reality cooking show, Hell’s Kitchen. Danny Veltri (the 23-year-old sous chef at a New Smyrna Beach restaurant got his culinary training at the Sarasota County Technical Institute) beat out all competitors in Season 5 for a coveted position as chef under Stephen Kalt at Italian restaurant Fornelletto at the Borgata in Atlanta City—which comes with a $250,000 salary.

And this Sunday night, July 19, Sarasota is celebrating local design talent Jason Champion with a red carpet season premiere party at Burns Court Cinemas. As one of 10 finalists who will compete in the fourth season of HGTV‘s hit series, HGTV Design Star, Jason has a chance of winning his own design show on the home and garden TV network.

With stakes this important, Sarasota Magazine, the Sarasota Film Society, and 5One6Burns restaurant decided to throw a red carpet party for Jason. There’s a pre-screening dinner starting at 6 p.m. (sold out), and an after-party meet and greet at 11 p.m. “Everyone gets to walk on that red carpet at 9—this night is for all my friends and family,” says Jason, whose family members are arriving en masse from Mississippi, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh.

Originally scheduled for screening in one theater at Burns Court, the show will air from 10 to 11 p.m. in all theaters with capacity of 350 seats—all expected to be filled. The show’s finalists have all enjoyed successful design careers and range in experience from interior designers and home stagers to architects and artists. Their mission is to dazzle the new judging panel of interior design luminaries featuring Genevieve Gorder (Dear Genevieve), Candice Olson (Divine Design) and returning judge Vern Yip (Deserving Design). Yip took Sarasota by storm earlier this year, when he spoke to 600 locals at the unveiling of two homes at Savannah Preserve he decorated from soup to nuts for $15,000 apiece. (http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/Articles/Sarasota-Magazine/2009/06/Big-Deal.asp?ht=)

Jason, who owns his own outdoor furniture company and design firm, won’t tell us who wins the show. But he did say they the judges won’t find a design aesthetic in the group that’s as Sarasota-based as his. “My design style is a mix of Ringling Brothers and mid-century modern. It’s a funky circus groove,” he quips. We hear you Jason. Groove on!

Posted: 7/15/2009 2:48:56 PM | 0 comments

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