Inspired with Alexa von Tobel
00:41:51 · Alexa von Tobel, Nate Berkus
[00:41:51] S1: Nate, but first of all, you just said something where you're like, I could have done the $150 book, but instead I did. You were a man of the people. You really... Actually, I just... It's like, Nate, should we have Nate Berkus run for president, everybody? [00:42:04] S0: Oh my god. No. Thanks. [00:42:05] S1: You've never been a snob. You pay it forward. You wanna welcome people into design. I just love that about you. Okay. I wanna talk about the future of design. So we are sitting a few years into an explosion of AI. You and I have had many tech talks about what's happening in AI. We're in a really unique moment where now these incredible computers, LLMs are just... They're able to do so much. They are able to copy so much. How do you think about the future of design? And I... I'd love just to get a sense of, like, what are you excited about and, like, what worries you?
00:42:41 · Nate Berkus
[00:42:41] S0: So again, that has not been linear for me. I was initially panicked that somebody could put in, show me a Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent interior, and here's the photo of my room, how do I do it myself? Obviously there's so many industries that are gonna be affected by AI and be rendered obsolete at some point. Consulting, all of that stuff is super scary to me. What I think AI is never going to be able to replace are the relationships that are built With families that we've done three, four, five homes for, where we know their inventory, we know what they loved, we know what sofa or mantle they stood in front of for every Christmas card, we know how to recreate that in an Aspen house or a Palm Beach house or whatever it is that we're doing because we are a family. We have a role that we play, but we are playing a role in that family and there's an intimacy around that that I don't think will be threatened. For math and for people who aren't looking to build relationships with a designer over the last twenty five years, that is a very different scenario. And I have to tell you, I'm really excited about it. I think everybody deserves to live well, and I was excited when Instagram became massive and design inspiration could be found and accessed by everybody. I was excited when Martha Stewart brought Living Well to the general public as the first pioneer in our industry. I think the more people talking about it, the more people that have access to it, the more people that see how design, good design can impact our lives and make us more productive, make us calmer, make us feel again like the best version of ourselves in these beautiful spaces, then bring it on. Am I worried that, you know, sure. Sometimes, you know, it takes a lot to assemble an interior, by the way. It's not just an image that you can copy and recreate. Even if that image has been tailored to you by AI with your top five designers and beautifully crafted visually, What size is it? What fabric is the right fabric that goes there? It be welted? Right. It I mean, there's 68,000 decisions and details that go into every renovation in every room. So, you know, I think the real designers are safe. I think the Instagram editors should probably be a little bit nervous.
00:45:52 · Nate Berkus, Alexa von Tobel
You know, the people that just kind of gather all these great images and have a beautiful homepage, but have never installed a room, never faced what it is to manage a project. But overall, I'm bring it on. Like, let's get everybody talking. [00:46:13] S1: I I like... I I love it. And actually, I... You kinda just painted a picture in my mind of we really can democratize. You know, design doesn't need to be reserved for the top 10%. Like, it should be something that everybody... And I know that you've always been about that, by the way. Have, like, your target line. I mean, I'd like... I have consumed so much of what you've created for people, But but I think you're right on that. Actually, one of the questions I I was gonna add. So, obviously, with ShopMy, a company I know you know well, the podcast, and I... You know, you've been involved with them. It... The future of cur... Curation is what's happening. I think there's an explosion of more products just in general. Right? You... When you and I were growing up, maybe there were 10 beverage products. Now there's 10,000. If we were gonna go buy something from a home store, there were maybe 50 big home stores, but now because of Etsy and... There's 50,000 decisions you could make. And I think curating through that is hard. And at its core, you're a curator. Just how do you think about the future of curation right now? Because at its core, you are effortless at, as as you said earlier. How do you think about curation and how that's evolving?
00:47:40 · Nate Berkus, Alexa von Tobel
[00:47:40] S0: I think it's fascinating in that listen, the challenge I have around curation, and I am part of ShopMy and I take that super seriously. I review every product that's going on my ShopMy page. It's literally all the things I use and wear and put on my face and my hair and when I find something I get excited to add it to ShopMy, an obscure Portuguese cotton company that make car coats that fit everybody that I wear almost every day, that goes on my shop my page. I still have a little bit of a reservation around me as a person in design and in home choosing to share what moisturizer I use. It still feels a little bit weird for me personally. My team is like, What are you talking about? Move on. So I do it, but I think what, I would prefer it to be a little bit more directive. I would prefer there to be a few more guardrails on it. I don't really care. Kim Kardashian is a brilliant businesswoman and an attorney and a really smart investor in many ways, and she knows vintage, and she's an auction junkie. I'd like to know that from her, but I don't know if I care what socks she's wearing. Yep, yep. Know? So Her [00:49:19] S1: could be guardrails, I like that. [00:49:20] S0: Yeah, that's what it feels like to me. I just, I don't know that ate a burrito on Instagram the other day because my team was like, go to this burrito place. And I was like, I'm only doing this because I really want a burrito.
00:49:20 · Nate Berkus, Alexa von Tobel
[00:49:20] S0: Yeah, that's what it feels like to me. I just, I don't know that ate a burrito on Instagram the other day because my team was like, go to this burrito place. And I was like, I'm only doing this because I really want a burrito. [00:49:34] S1: I'm like, I love that. I totally love that. And I was really giggling a little bit that your colleagues were like, Nate Nate, it's normal for people to share their their cream. [00:49:46] S0: Yeah. No. I mean, were like, just move on. And I I was like, okay. Alright. Okay. I believe you guys. [00:49:53] S1: Nate, one question I wanna ask before we move to kind of a quick fire round, and I have some questions I'm pumped to ask you. What if you step back? What do you think to date would be one of the biggest pinch me moments in your career? Because you've done... I mean, you are truly multi hyphenate. You've written books. You've had shows. You have lines. You have... You've decorated everything that matters. You've gotten every design award that exists. For you, what was a pinch me moment? [00:50:20] S0: They're all. I mean that sincerely. I still have them all the time. And I think when you stop having pinch me moments, you're just dialing it in. They are so love [00:50:33] S1: good Nate.
00:50:33 · Alexa von Tobel, Nate Berkus
[00:50:33] S1: good Nate. [00:50:33] S0: They are though. I mean, that is true. I you know, there's the big ones that we can talk about. Oprah grabbing my hand on my third show that I'd done and saying Nate Berkus, remember his name. I mean, I'll never forget that moment. But they're all pinch me moments. I was in Boston meeting with a company the other day and I met all their buyers and all their merchandisers and everybody that makes that company run and all the creatives there. And I was like, this is brilliant. I'm sitting at the front of a boardroom with a monitor behind me playing a thing my team made that I got to consult on and I'm sharing with this massive, massive retailer all of my views and ideas visually and explaining why, it's all a pinch me moment. And you know what else is a pinch me moment? Laying in bed next to my son and listening to him read out loud a book, a Roald Dahl that I loved in second grade. It's all good. [00:51:42] S1: You have an infectious zest for life at its core. You ooze passion and creativity, and you have a spring in your step, quite literally. [00:51:52] S0: It's fun. So do you. You know what, I think that's one of the things that connected us so many years ago. [00:51:58] S1: Nate, quick fire round. [00:52:00] S0: So I'm ready. [00:52:01] S1: What is your wildest on camera moment? [00:52:03] S0: Wow, woah. [00:52:04] S1: What was your weirdest wildest