Designer Nate Berkus Talks Journey Inspiration—and Reveals the Restricted-edition Scotch He’ll Be Sipping Till It is Gone

As you seek for particular spirits to toast the vacation season and ring within the new yr, inside designer Nate Berkus has the inspiration you are on the lookout for.

Oban, a whisky distillery in a tiny Scotland seaside city of the identical title, launched its limited-edition Single Malt Scotch at a Los Angeles occasion hosted by the tastemaker earlier this yr, and the limited-edition bottles of Oban 15 Cask Power Sherry Cask End are nonetheless obtainable. Completed for greater than 4 years in Andalusian Oloroso and Palo Cortado Sherry casks, the style is paying homage to candy dried fruits, citrus, mixed with “Oban’s signature maritime salinity.”

Oban’s heritage and dedication to high quality match the appreciation Berkus has for craftsmanship and custom, inspiring the famous designer to have a good time each the whisky and the historic distillery, based in 1794.

“It’s such an attention-grabbing partnership as a result of it’s about heritage: small batch, well-crafted,” Berkus instructed Journey + Leisure. “Coming from an interiors perspective, the areas that I create are areas that I hope stand the take a look at of time and permit for the making of recollections as a household. Oban 15 Cask Power Sherry Cask End and the launch of this restricted version bottle feels in keeping with that. It’s a respect for historical past and heritage, for doing issues slowly and with care.”

We spoke to Berkus concerning the methods he is been impressed by each Oban and his travels.

T+L: How does your design philosophy relate to a 200-year outdated distillery in a tiny Scotland city?

NB: “I really like this query. I’ve spent the final 30 years looking down who makes the very best of all the things—whether or not it’s velvet made on looms in Venice from the 18th century, after which making that cloth into pillows for a New York Metropolis condominium to taking a look at auctions of outdated Scottish reduce glass or superbly woven textiles from South America. The concept of craft—whether or not it’s a basket from a flea market in Mexico or it’s an 18th-century single malt scotch whisky—they’re the identical for me. I’m all the time fascinated by the romantic notion of Oban—the city—and the truth that that is considered one of Europe’s oldest and smallest distilleries. I wish to assume the thoughtfulness I carry to crafting an inside comes near what the seven individuals who work on the distillery carry to crafting their product each day.”

T+L: How does journey affect your designs? Are there any elements of the world which have particular inspiration for you?

NB: “There are areas that present fixed inspiration for me—clearly Europe—due to the age, legacy, historical past, and structure. A part of my job is to take the sample of a marble flooring in a cathedral and switch it right into a quilt cowl. For me, journey has all the time been about understanding what’s actually consultant of a tradition.

In Scotland, single malt scotch whiskies from distilleries like Oban are the material of the city. It’s the business the place expert craftspeople can actually shine. In Peru, it’s hand-woven textiles and vegetable-dyed rugs. In Mexico, it’s pottery, textiles, and meals. I feel for a curious individual like myself, it’s virtually like I really feel a accountability to determine what’s made there—what the folks use, take pleasure in, and love. What are the objects, whether or not it’s furnishings, decorations, meals, or whisky, that carry folks collectively culturally.”

T+L: The place do you and your husband journey for pleasure?

NB: “We’re actually related to Portugal. We’re engaged on restoring an 18th-century farm proper now, and we’re so enthusiastic about it.”

Do you are taking your kids for household holidays? Any favourite locations?

NB: “Our children have traveled the world, they usually’re 10 and 7 years outdated. I feel it’s one of the stunning presents you can provide a baby—to expertise different cultures and to develop up listening to different languages.”