Popular design expert, New York Times best-selling author and regular contributor to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” since 2002, Nate Berkus recently launched his own show. The Nate Berkus Show will explore a broad range of lifestyle subjects providing take-away information and inspiration that will make a real difference in viewers’ daily lives.
In a recent interview, Nate Berkus talks about his start on Oprah and the launch of his own show.
Nate Berkus on his start on Oprah and why the time is right for his own show:
Nate Berkus: Well I – first of all for me what happens more often than not and what feels right to me more often than not is when things happen organically. And my participation as a contributor to the Oprah show happened because I met a producer by chance at an art gallery and we started talking and that led to me doing a makeover and it resonated for Oprah and for the audience and for me.
So I was not in a rush to do this. I wanted to do this really in a way that felt like the right way for me because I was very happy with my role on the Oprah show. And I think that the timing is great right now because there’s always been so much interest in people’s homes and always been so much interest in living well but I’ve had years to prepare for this.
Nate Berkus on designing the set:
Nate Berkus: Yeah. I – the set is actually – was designed by me with collaboration with a set designer named (Jeff Hall) who’s done lots of different TV shows. But we had a deal that he would do everything that made it function and then we would sit down together and I would be able to do my thing and pick every finish and all the furniture and all the fixturing and everything like that.
I wanted the set to feel like somebody was walking into my home everyday and it was – so it’s very fresh. It’s not like a fake home set with a staircase that leads to nowhere and books no one’s read. But it’s a mix of vintage and new things. It’s going to change up periodically as I become interested in different things that are happening the world of design. But it’s a – it’s definitely different than anything that’s out there.
Nate’s Decision to film in New York City and not Chicago
Nate Berkus: The truth is it just made sense business-wise for me right now. Studio – from everything from studio space to where my staff, where all the resumes’ were coming in from the staff that I needed to hire.
And ultimately, Oprah is in her 25th year and I’m launching a daily syndicated show. Oprah has one control room over there on Carpenter Street so I didn’t want to be the guy that said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah just give me another ten minutes I’ll be out of here for you.”
What he has learned from Oprah Winfrey
Nate Berkus: I learned to always speak my truth, I learned to remain authentic and I learned to listen before I speak.
The format of The Nate Berkus Show
Nate Berkus: The format – well first of all what we’re doing is we’re letting the stories of the people that we find lead us to different contributors on the show and expanding out different segments and things like that. So ultimately the show is really about living well and that involves a great deal of design of which there’s several signature segments.
My instant design studio which has become a part of the show which is 3D gaming technology that allows me to basically have that decorator moment where you walk into a space and you know every detail that you would change instantly – to be able to do that with a touch of my finger on a computer program that was designed exclusively for me.
To a segment that we have called Nate’s Crate where we have this crate that can be – that can end up anywhere at any time with anything in it. An example of that would be we – it might end up on the doorstep of three different viewers in three different cities across the country and contain materials inside that create a challenge for them. Or it could contain that one thing that’s going to change that person’s story and be the catalyst to help that person move forward. So you can only imagine how much fun and how creative we can get with that.
We also have something called Curbside Pickup which I love where we – wherever I go, wherever I am at the shoot or I see something on the side of the road or send my friend Katie Lee the chef out to New Jersey to work with the garbage men to bring back vintage finds and antiques that people throw away. And we recondition them and at the end of the year we’re going to use them in different makeovers throughout the season and at the end of the year we’re going to produce a catalog with an auction and donate the proceeds to charity. So the format has some concrete signature segments that we plug in and we plug out but it’s also very – it’s a very compelling, exciting, energetic hour of TV that changes everyday.
Why design is so popular today:
Nate Berkus: I think it ties into a central issue that all of us would like to live a little bit better regardless of how much money we that actually have or how much time we have to devote to that. And I think that when we make changes in our spaces and are given the tools we need to elevate the way that we live it makes us feel better.
Nate’s backup plans if design didn’t work:
Nate Berkus: I’m actually, you know, I actually was – studied sociology in school so I’m fascinated with sociology. I also am really interested in jewelry. I think that there’s a – I love like learning about the different stones and the different ways that they’re combined and mounted and where everything comes from.
It’s sort of similar to how I apply myself to learning about furniture or decorative arts or things like that. It’s always the stories behind things and the origins behind things and how to combine them in ways that are striking and fresh.