John Gidding

John Gidding — Biography

In the United States, Turkish-American designer, architect and television personality John Gidding is known for home-makeover and landscape shows. He is best known as the designer on Curb Appeal: The Block, and he is back on HGTV today with that franchise's relaunch, Curb Appeal Xtreme.

Born in Istanbul to an American father and a Turkish mother, he went to the Leysin American School in Switzerland before moving to the United States. He graduated from Yale University in 1999 with a degree in architecture, then took a master's in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He started modeling in 2000 while a graduate student, walking runways for Armani, Gucci and Hugo Boss and later signing with Wilhelmina Models in New York. In 2004 and 2005 he was the face of Jhane Barnes, and he appeared on the covers of numerous romance novels. He began his design career as a designer at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates in New York and then founded his own firm, John Gidding Design.

His television debut came with Knock First; Designed to Sell then ran on HGTV from 2006 to 2011. In 2015 he was an expert judge on Home Free, and he joined the cast of the Trading Spaces reboot. Rumpus Magazine in 1999, The Improper Bostonian in 2002 and Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles in 2008 each named him in their lists of notable people.