Tuesday, October 9th

The 3rd Annual Swatched Design Competition was held at the Stark Showroom in Syosset, New York.

I was honored to be asked to judge for the third year in a row along with fellow judges Stephen Fanuka, Cathy Hobbs, Ellen Miller, George Oliphant, David Santiago, Amy Sneider, and Chad Stark. Each celebrity judge had pre-selected their favorite charity to support with their donated services for the evening.  I chose ‘THE CENTER’ as my charity and in return, they received a $1500 donation in my name.  I used the name ‘ Grand Duke Rio Hamilton’ just so everyone knew it was an important donation.

Students assembled boards according to instructions given at the beginning of the evening. Each board represented a design concept for a specific room and was judged on how impactful, professional, and unique the design board was executed.

It was a tough competition with a variety of highly creative boards representing a range of interior styles. The winners of the evening were talented individuals whose boards were comprehensive and attractive.

First Place: Jeanine and Tom Price

Second Place: Jill Walder

Third Place: Jennifer Minsky

In addition to the design competition, there were wonderful raffle prizes and delicious themed cocktails. The cocktails were served in fancy cups that had cartoon-like images of the celebrity judges. Naturally, I had to try several different cocktails to see if all the cups were the same. The SWATCHED event was the perfect opportunity for the design community to come together to support amazing charities.

A total of $16,500 was raised for 11 charities!

A big thank you to the Diamond Sponsors of the evening, Sights ‘N’ Sounds, and Crestron. And thank you to Stark for hosting such a festive evening!