Interior designer, author, film producer, world traveler, and newlywed—so far, Nate Berkus has had a very busy 2014. Thankfully, he knows how to unwind in the Hamptons with good friends, like his favorite host, Marjorie Gubelmann.
T-shirt, SCP ($42). Scoop Beach, 51 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, 329-6800. Sherbet yellow pants, Burberry Brit ($250). Americana Manhasset, 2060 Northern Blvd., 516-365-2050. Sunglasses and shoes, Nate’s own
With a new fabric collection launching this month, a recently announced collaboration with LG Studio, even his second film producing project in the works, Nate Berkus has a lot on his plate. And that’s on top of his already heavy workload creating his eponymous home collection for Target, hosting NBC’s American Dream Builders, and helming his nearly 20-year-old interior design firm, Nate Berkus & Associates, which crafts high-end living spaces everywhere from New York City to Palm Beach. “We spend a lot of time getting to know the people we’re working with so we can create something that doesn’t look like a Nate Berkus interior—there really is no such thing,” says the designer, who married his partner, Jeremiah Brent, at a glamorous ceremony at the New York Public Library this past May. “It looks like the interior of the people who live there.”
Come the summer months, Berkus always manages to secure some downtime in the Hamptons, shopping Southampton’s Main Street, enjoying lunch at Sant Ambroeus, or a spin class at SoulCycle, and visiting friends such as Vie Luxe founder and CEO Marjorie Gubelmann.
Designer Nate Berkus does everything with style, including unwinding in the Hamptons.
MARJORIE GUBELMANN: You recently got married. Will we be seeing more of you and Jeremiah in the Hamptons?
NATE BERKUS: Definitely. You’re the perfect hostess because the way you entertain is exactly how I would entertain if I had a home in the Hamptons. People can come and go. No one shows up unannounced—which I think is incredibly rude and inappropriate—but when you are invited, you’re all in. Everybody hangs out, lunches right by the pool, helps out. We come back from a weekend at your home feeling completely restored.
MG: That’s one of the beautiful things about the Hamptons—the more the merrier. I use a lot of the collection you did for Target at my Southampton house—the towels, bowls, and tabletop; they’re perfect out here. Do you think of people in resorts like this when you’re coming up with your designs?
NB: Thanks, Marge. I’m inspired by everywhere I go, and I spend a lot of time in the Hamptons in the summer. It definitely factors in. When you don’t have your own home in the Hamptons, one of the things that is a constant source of anxiety and stress is getting a great host gift. When somebody invites you to their home, and they already went to Trader Joe’s in Centre Island and got you the barbecue materials, and you’re being swanned around like we are when staying at Chez Gubelmann, what do you bring? Pull things from my collection, like a stack of new beach towels—be generous, they’re not that expensive and come in a million designs.
Striped sweatshirt, A.P.C. Tenet, 91 Main St., Southampton, 377-3981. Pants, sunglasses, watch, belt, and shoes, Nate’s own.
MG: What other projects or collaborations are you working on?
NB: The Nate Berkus fabric collection is sold at Calico Corners; there are lots of solids but also beautiful block prints, linens, and heavy cottons. There are more than 50 fabrics in that collection. Another line with Jo-Ann fabric will launch this month, which is exciting because the fabrics are geared toward people who are making things on their own. That is fun for me to see. I get all of these posts on Instagram (@NateBerkus) of people who are using my fabrics in ways I wouldn’t have thought of. I remember a woman who took two of my runners from Target and made a stair runner; that was genius, because I just installed a stair runner in my home and probably paid 70 times what she paid.
MG: That’s so nice that you reach out to them and let them know that you saw it and you liked it.
NB: I love that feedback. I’m also working as an artistic adviser for LG Studio on a new collection of kitchen appliances. We are in the middle of a new campaign called My Signature Kitchen, which dovetails with my own philosophy about design, because your kitchen is more important than what countertops you pick, what backsplash tile you choose, and what color your cabinets are. It’s really where you create 80 percent of the memories in your home.
Shirt, SCP ($148). Scoop Beach, 51 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, 329-6800. Pants, watch, belt, and shoes, Nate’s own.
MG: A lot of people don’t know this about you, but you have had some very big successes with films. You produced The Help, which won an Oscar.
NB: The Help was my first venture into filmmaking. It was really a great moment, because it wasn’t just a bunch of big businesses coming together to create something we thought was going to be a commercial success. [Author] Kathryn Stockett grew up with my friends [director] Tate Taylor and [producer] Brunson Green in Birmingham, Alabama. They came to me early on, when the book was in galley form, and asked if I would invest in the film, help introduce them to the correct people, and serve as an executive producer. It was such a great experience because it did end up being an enormous artistic and commercial success. But it was also a group of friends like in the Little Engine That Could; we figured out how to do something we thought would be important. I’m really proud of that.
MG: You don’t brag, which is so sweet, but I think it’s time to brag and talk about your second film.
NB: It’s based on an internationally acclaimed book written by Conor Grennan called Little Princes. It’s the story of a typical guy from Connecticut who decides to travel around the world. Part of his travels takes him to Kathmandu, where he volunteers for a week at an orphanage. What he discovers, in his week which then turns into a month which then turns into years, is that these boys aren’t orphans—they’re trafficked children. They’ve been taken from a remote region in Nepal that’s accessible only four months out of the year because of the weather. They’ve been taken from their families, sold, and ended up at this children’s home. Conor goes after the traffickers with tremendous success, but also is able to reunite many of the children with their families. Through the course of his work there he falls in love via e-mail correspondence with this woman who had volunteered in Zambia and Vietnam and was going to volunteer at an orphanage in India. She’s now his wife and they have two children. It’s an incredible story of one man’s journey not only to find purpose, but also his own identity. It is set against this incredible, exotic, beautiful land where many of us have never been.
Student’s sailor top ($250) and Franck English trousers ($250), A.P.C. Tenet, 91 Main St., Southampton, 377-3981. Watch, Nate’s own.
MG: I’m personally looking forward to it because I had the pleasure of meeting Conor and his wife with you and hearing their experience. I am proud of you for getting behind it because it’s very special. What do you love to do in the Hamptons and what does the Hamptons mean to you?
NB: My favorite thing to do in the Hamptons is swim with your son on the pool toy of the year, which does change every summer. Last year it was a swan; this year, what is that thing anyway, a cupcake?
MG: A teacup…
NB: A teacup, okay. But for me, I think the Hamptons really is more about staying home and going to great dinners, picking a few parties that seem really fun, being invited to people’s homes for barbecues, and having our poolside lunches, and just really relaxing.
Light blue button-down, Hartford ($208). Scoop Beach, 51 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, 329-6800. Watch, Nate’s own.
MG: When you go to Southampton, you have a few places you like to pop into. What are you favorite stores?
NB: The new Club Monaco store that carries its home collection is one of the best shops on Main Street right now; I love the environment that was created. I like The Perfect Purse for presents because it’s got such an enormous inventory of vintage stuff, which I’m obsessed with. It’s usually my stop before I go see my family in Northern California. And I love Hollis Reh & Shariff—she’s a phenomenal jeweler in Southampton. She’s got an incredible collection of signed pieces, but she’s also very realistic in terms of pricing, and she knows her stuff.
MG: Tell me a little about your design philosophy.
NB: My philosophy has always been that your home should tell your story, and the way you do that is through the choices you make and the things you surround yourself with, whether it’s somebody who has an amazing collection of porcelain from their grandmother but wants to live with it in a different, fresh environment, or people who are starting out and literally have nothing. My youngest client, Cyrus Raein, otherwise known as Marjorie’s son, had a very strong hand in his bedroom in the city. It pushed my limits [laughs].