Budiey
The most monumental design competition is almost at its end, with the season finale of The Apartment, Design Your Destiny airing this week. Throughout the series, nine teams of amateur designers have been trying to prove to the judges that they have the creativity, originality, taste, and passion to win the grand prize – a rent and mortgage free life, with a brand new luxury apartment thanks to Sime Darby Properties.
The contestants have faced tears, fears, tragedies, and triumphs, without sparing any design drama, as they entered combat to be crowned the winners of the biggest design show in the world. Each week the teams have had to design a different room of their apartment, those who succeeded moved on to the next round, and the team that failed to please the judges was eliminated. Week after week, designs became more innovative as the teams became fewer and after last week’s double eviction, team Adam and Adrian and team Pearlyn and Nara were sent home, and now it is down to team Sonya and Yvette and team Deankie and Tiara to fight with their paintbrushes and design-eye to be the ultimate winners of The Apartment Design Your Destiny.
#teamSonyaYvette – The Fashionistas
Yvette and Sonya “bumped into each other” in their shared apartment block in central Singapore; bonding over their love for fashion, it didn’t take long before these neighbors became friends. Yvette earned herself a bachelor in media and communications and has had a successful career as a television presenter (Fashion Basics, High Life), fashion journalist (Marie France Asia, Being Woman), as well as maintaining her fashion blog “Tanjong Bazaar”. Yvette has a unique, experimental fashion style: “I love to mix vintage pieces with the ultra modern and classic items against interesting textures. I like a splash of something unexpected and tend to avoid a cookie-cutter look head to toe”.
Model and actress, Sonya, started modeling at the early age of 16 and has been successful in the field of fashion, having also started a fashion line called Glow Maternity – maternity clothing for young and stylish moms. On her personal style: “I am very picky with what I wear. I would describe my style as chic, feminine, and sexy. But beyond this, style is how you carry yourself”.
Yvette and Sonya were early favourites of the competition, winning two of the first three challenges on series three of The Apartment. Even judge Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen said he “felt almost physically sick” because he hadn’t thought of designing in the same way that they have. The girls are keeping their fingers crossed that they can translate their knowledge and love of fashion into the competitive and ever-changing world of interior design.
#teamDeankieTiara – The Resident Filipino Team
Friends since they attended the same art school, bonding over their love of design, fashion, and everything about the arts, Deankie and Tiara are the Filipino representatives in The Apartment. Deankie initially planned to enter the competition with his Aunt but after she couldn’t make it, he asked Tiara and rightfully hasn’t had a single regret since! Having battled with revealing his sexuality to his friends and family, losing a father, and facing the imminent threat of repossession of his family home, Deankie has been through many hardships – but you wouldn’t be able to tell from his cheerful personality. A self-confessed antagonist of monotony, Deankie loves “matching random accents”. Tiara would describe her design style as “modern and sophisticated”, preferring neutral colours with a pop of bright colours to spice things up. However, they both agreed that neon colours would never enter either of their bedrooms.
With no money and both unemployed, Deankie and Tiara entered the competition with a sense of urgency – literally designing to keep a roof over their heads. Despite both only being 23 and with no real experience beyond art school, they have not failed to humbly impress the judges week after week. Whilst never winning a weekly challenge, they have never found themselves in the bottom two, and instead have been “flying under the radar”. It has become very apparent that the underdogs, Deankie and Tiara, have an unbreakable design chemistry, which they are hoping will allow them to successfully represent the Filipino creativity and take out the title of the winners of season three of The Apartment.
In the final episode the two teams are given the most strenuous task to date: to design a new apartment from scratch in 72 hours; that is, what the contestants have done in nine weeks, they will have to do in three days! Each team will have to condense what they’ve learnt though-out their Apartment journey and apply it to their new homes in an innovative way – a fresh house for fresh ideas. As well as host Jamie Durie and design guru Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, the contestants are introduced to an unexpected, new guest judge and toughest critic: the public.
Will the Filipino underdogs, Deankie and Tiara, use their innate ability to renovate to out-style their opponents? Or will the fashionistas, Sonya and Yvette, walk the runway to their dream home? Needless to say, this finale will make design history…may the best team win!
TUNE IN THIS SUNDAY ON STARWOLRD 9.40pm (8.40 BKK/JKT)
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Catch up on The Apartment TV Show HERE
Audition for The Apartment Season 4 HERE
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