For Top Design & Fans of Eddie Ross

From WWD.com Memo Pad: Eddie Ross, senior style editor at Martha Stewart Living, recent contestant on Bravo’s “Top Design,” and flea-market-chic blogger, is parting ways with Martha Stewart Omnimedia, WWD has learned. Ross confirmed the move, saying that he wanted to work on his own brand. He plans to expand on his blog at EddieRoss.com (which, in a crossing of the corporate aisle, was featured in last month’s Domino), launch an online store of tabletop antique accessories under $100 and continue offering flea-market tours in various cities. He and his partner are looking for houses in Rhinebeck, N.Y., to “focus and live a good life,” Ross said. He also hinted at a book project and possibly more television.

He said he was leaving of his own volition. “I adore Martha,” he said of his boss, who featured Ross and his blog on her show earlier this fall. “She’s been nothing but so supportive of me.”

Ross became a controversial figure on “Top Design,” where he butted heads with other contestants and with judge Jonathan Adler. (When Ross was eliminated in the ninth week, Adler did not mince words on his official Bravo blog: “Eddie Ross flaunts his overly high self-esteem, but he doesn’t realize how unappealing it is and, ultimately, how self-defeating it is.”) Of his portrayal on the show, Ross said, “It was the magic of an edit. Granted, some things did come out of my mouth.”