Bobby Berk From ‘Queer Eye’ Reveals His Secret to Uncovering the Ultimate Design Style
How does Bobby Berk from Netflix’s Queer Eye always hit the mark when it comes to uncovering a person’s design style? Home design is seriously personal, but Berk always meets but exceeds his client’s expectations.
Berk told Showbiz Cheat Sheet he goes through a process to learn about his clients, especially the heroes featured on the show. He doesn’t want producers to give him more than the basic details about a client on the show because he finds getting to know them himself is the ideal pathway to design.
“I learned very quickly to ask about things like what their favorite movie is, their favorite show, their dream vacation,” he says. “Even their favorite article of clothing. And that’s how I get kind of get a window to their soul about what they want in their home. You can take, for example, the episode with Remy. He had inherited his grandmother’s home, perfect for grandma when she was there but not for a 27-year-old bachelor.”
“I never asked him about design. I asked him what his favorite show was, which was Mad Men,” Berk recalls. “What his favorite vacation was, which was Cuba. So I’m like, Those guys definitely like mid-century modern.’ Cuba is stuck in the ’50s. Mad Men is in the ’50s. So I did mid-century furniture with a Cuban flair. And he was like ‘How did you do this?’ But I said, ‘I asked you what you like from life.’”
Bobby Berk dishes about how much producers really tell them
Berk says he and the rest of the Fab Five insist on only getting the basic information about their heroes. They prefer to learn about their subject through their own exploration. The team is always seen driving to the new hero’s home while they review a basic profile.
Berk says he gets a little more information than the rest of the guys because he needs to know room and space dimensions. “But as far as other information, like about them, that is all the information we get,” he says. “There have been a few episodes in the past where they give us a little more information, but we actually didn’t like that.”
“After two episodes we were like, ‘You know what, actually, let’s go back to the way we did it before,” he recalls. “We don’t get any information except what our viewers hear. Because we found if we got more information before, we didn’t do as much digging ourselves. We didn’t ask as many questions in the beginning ourselves.”
“So we like to know really as little about the heroes as possible before we go in,” he continues. “Because we really want the conversation that we’re having with them is where we’re finding out what’s going on with them and the issues they have. We want it to be legit and we want it to be real. And we want our heroes to know we are legitimately learning about them and being inquisitive.
Berk reveals his favorite filming location so far
“I mean we’d love to film in Texas and when I say that I mean we’d love to finish season 6,” Berk laughs. He confirms that season 6 production is still on pause.
While he loved filming in Japan, Berk says he really enjoyed filming in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Here in the states was Kansas City,” he says. “Kansas City was really great. It’s not that every city we’ve filmed in hasn’t been really great, but Kansas City was super welcoming. Anything we need. The mayor created little videos that he sent to all of us. And the fact that there is really no traffic in Kansas City.”
He says design can be simple and fun
Berks shares that design style doesn’t have to be complex. He recently partnered with Oui by Yoplait’s Limited-Edition Heritage Collection to make it easy to add French-inspired touches to your home. He created a fun project you can do at home during quarantine and will host a tutorial on his Instagram on Bastille Day, July 14.
Crafters can learn how to a hanging planter using glass pots from Oui’s Heritage Collection. “There are three different designs on the jar that can hold the succulent planters,” he shares. “And it comes with a cool macrame rope hanger. It’s just a really great, fun series to give everyone something to do while we’re all stuck at home.”
