If you're a fan of heartfelt moments, friendship, and incredible design schemes, odds are you already know who Queer Eye's Bobby Berk is. If not, buckle in: You are truly in for a treat.
As the resident design guru on the hit Netflix series, Bobby spends a lot of time working with people on the show to help update their homes and infuse the places they live in with love and positive energy. Bobby has an eye for design that is beyond stellar, and he seems to really love his job to boot.
Bobby recently sat down with LittleThings for an interview that touches on a lot: what we can expect in the newest season of Queer Eye, tips for parents who want to let kids decorate their own rooms but don't know how to let go, and all about his new partnership with SunChips that focuses on emerging artists from around the United States.
When we kicked things off, Bobby was happy to chat about his current campaign with SunChips, called "Be Your Own Wave." As he explained, the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with emerging artists from around the US was too good to pass up.
"SunChips came to me with this opportunity to help find some amazing artists," he said. "Over the last two years, artists got really hit by COVID — there were no longer these amazing art walks and gallery openings. Artists haven't really had a way to get their art out there besides social media, so SunChips decided, 'Hey, let's help artists.'"
To that end, SunChips started an online art competition called Art Seen. Bobby explained how it works: "It's a great way to get their art … seen. We are picking our top five favorites and will award them with $10,000. They'll also be featured on SunChips' social media and will have amazing murals [featuring their work] made, and they'll get their art seen by 12 million people."
In short, SunChips and Bobby Berk are offering artists what could turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
As a designer, Bobby was especially captivated by the SunChips partnership because of how it highlights the individual talents of each artist. As he put it, "'Be Your Own Wave' is really about letting each artist shine. I was excited because I want to find artists that have a unique point of view — their art really tells a story about them, who they are, and things they've been through. I'm looking for people who can really tell a story with their art."
We also chatted with Bobby about a huge parenting topic: How do you let go and let your kids decorate their own bedrooms without doing it for them? Before we could get too far, Bobby jumped in, "You mean like how Tan [France] is definitely going to decorate Ismail's room for him? Tan has great taste, so it'll be fine."
Bobby also threw in a quick aside about costar Tan France: "It's funny because his home was actually in Architectural Digest. Everyone was like, 'Oh, did you have Bobby help you?' and he was like, 'No! I didn't! I can do this on my own, people."
As for letting kids decorate their own rooms, Bobby says it probably depends on the age of the kid in question but that parents should be relaxed. As he shared, "One of the things that inspired me as a child was decorating my room. At the age of 5, I found this really cool dinosaur poster and I ended up designing my entire room around that dinosaur poster. For me, it sparked this creativity that is now part of my life as an adult — it sparked an entire career."
If just that thought stresses you out, don't worry — Bobby was quick to add that it's OK to let kids decorate their rooms within reason. "Just like anything in life, you want to let children make their own decisions," he said, "guided and tailored by their parents."
Of course, Queer Eye had to come up — and Bobby was only too pleased to confirm that this upcoming season is the most emotional one yet. After I told him that costar Tan France admitted to crying in an upcoming episode of the show, Bobby recalled, "I know the exact moment Tan cried. He was standing right behind me and I remember hearing him sniffle. Tan's not the emotional one, and I remember turning back and asking, 'Are you OK?' and he's like 'No!'"
Bobby continued, "This is one of our most emotional seasons yet. The five of us, and the world, and our heroes, have been through so much in the last two years that it really got us back in touch with our emotions and got us back in touch with what's really important and what means the most to us: family, friends, and those connections. We had gotten a little burnt out doing six seasons in two-and-a-half years, and that time to recharge really did us some good. We came back feeling like it was the first season again — you can expect maybe our best season yet."
