Bobby Berk makes his debut on the ADA jury

10 June 2021

The American interior designer and star of the Netflix series “Queer Eye” is among this year’s jurors for the 2021 Archiproducts Design Awards

American interior designer Bobby Berk, known for his role as a design guru in ‘Queer Eye’, the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series, makes his debut on the 2021 Archiproducts Design Awards jury.

Now in its sixth year, the ADAs are a prestigious tribute to creativity, research and innovation.

2021 ADA Jury member Bobby Berk will judge this year’s submissions along with over fifty of the world’s most influential architecture firms, designers, creative directors, editors and photographers.

Bobby Berk on the ADA 2021 jury, the International Design Award launched by Achiproducts

In Queer Eye – the famous Netflix series whose task is to revolutionise the life of the protagonist in question, – Bobby is the design expert, co-starring with his four teammates (Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, Tan France and Jonathan Van Ness) each a ‘guru’ in their fields: life coaching, food and wine, fashion, hairstyle.

In Queer Eye as an interiors expert, Bobby Berk dispenses design advice, helping people transform their domestic spaces – especially the smallest and most challenging. In real life, Berk has been in the interior design business for more than ten years.

In addition to a Los Angeles-based interior design firm founded in 2015, with which he designs both residential and contract spaces, Bobby Berk is also a brand with an urban, vibrant soul that reflects the luxury of contemporary design.

While waiting to find out who the winners of the sixth edition of the international Archiproducts Awards will be, we asked jury member Bobby Berk about his expectations for this year’s candidates, as well as his vision of the future of design, a sector that is rapidly changing due in part to the global pandemic. Here’s what he told us.

What do you expect from the 2021 Archiproducts Design Awards nominations, and what features should the winning products have?
I am always so impressed with the talent that comes forward during the entry process. I hope to see lots of exciting ideas pushing the world of interiors and design forward, from new materials to sustainable practices to re-imagining how we interact with objects in our home. I want to see a fresh perspective and a focus not only on the inherent beauty of a piece of furniture or an interior but also how they make you feel and the emotional connections. Design is much more than just form, and designers today are accounting for that in such interesting ways.

What role do you think a Design Award should play today?
Design awards should focus on highlighting a diverse group of talent. For so long, the design industry has been closed off to many talented creators, and awards need to be used to really shine a spotlight and bring awareness to the many talented individuals that make up the diverse group of designers in the world. Providing that recognition can be a huge platform and open up so many doors.

How should contemporary design evolve to meet the needs of the community?
We live in a constantly changing world, so product design has to evolve with the times. We always need to look at how people live and how design can improve upon that. I believe we also have to focus on how technology can be an asset to design and how the two can work together to meet the demands of such a fast-paced world.

In the post-pandemic era, how can design define a ‘new normal’?
Design is at the forefront of how we live, so as we emerge from the pandemic, design will take the lead in dictating the direction of what ‘normal’ will become. I think we will see that in the way homes are designed, the materials we choose, and the products we own. All the items and spaces that shape our day-to-day lives will also be shaping how we move forward. This last year, people spent more time in their homes than they ever have before. That pushed us to rethink our spaces, how they make us feel and why design is so important in our lives.

How do you think the pandemic has affected design?
I think everyone (including myself) has taken a much closer look at how we actually use our homes and the objects in them. We are gravitating towards pieces that provide comfort and a sense of wellbeing. And not just physically, but also mentally. I think we’ll continue to see a focus on how furniture, products, and built environments can make us feel good from the inside out. And from a building standpoint, we’re rethinking how a home or office space should be laid out. Delineating spaces for different activities and moving away from totally open floor plans is where things are going.

Entries for the 2021 edition of the Archiproducts Design Awards are now open!

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Bobby Berk