Lauren Gold &
Sasha Adler
Design Directors,Nate Berkus Associates
While the company’s famous namesake is wrapping his TV show this May, Chicago-based design firm Nate Berkus Associates is held down by two creative-brained beauties: Lauren Gold and Sasha Adler. Both women, now the co-design directors, began as interns at NBA; Lauren came from a family of antique dealers and Sasha worked in fashion in New York before Lauren made her fall in love with the firm. Now they spend their ultra-busy days shopping for vintage pieces, designing custom furniture, and preparing homes for the “big reveal,” because “nothing beats seeing our clients’ reactions to their new home,” Lauren says. In the world of interior design, though, how you present yourself is nearly as important as how you present a room; which is why these two always look so fantastic. They share their secrets here.
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LAUREN’S BEAUTY MUST-HAVES >> scent: CREED AVENTUS // moisturizer: KIEHL’S BODY BUTTER // mascara: COVERGIRL LASH BLAST VOLUE MASCARA // nail polish: ESSIE LUXEDO // lipgloss: BOBBI BROWN TANGERINE 15
SASHA’S BEAUTY MUST-HAVES >> scent: ARQUISTE ALEKSANDR // moisturizer: MUSTELA BABY LOTION // concealer: CLE DE PEAU // lipgloss: NARS HEAT WAVE // nail polish: ESSIE LICORICE
Q: Do you have a favorite piece you’ve used in your own homes or a client’s?
Lauren Gold: An incredible 18th century Italian walnut dining table that we repurposed as a work table for one of my clients. It had me at hello.
Sasha Adler: One of my clients has a Gustavian settee from the 18th century with carved Griffin heads that I adore. I always joke with them that I am going to steal it.
Q: It’s obvious that both of your design philosophy’s veer towards vintage. What are your beauty philosophies?
LG: Less is more. I stick with the basics: vitamin C serum, sunblock (every single day, no exceptions), great day, night and eye creams, an exfoliant and a hydrating serum.
SA: My beauty regime is also very minimal. Sometimes for a night out, I will just add a bright lipstick, which is kind of like cheating since I don’t need to add much else.
Q: Day-to-day, you have to present yourselves to clients. Does your look reflect your design styles?
SA: Absolutely. We always reference the fact that we dress the way we decorate and vice versa.
LG: When pulling myself together, I consider the same factors as when decorating a room: I like there to be a good mix of modern and vintage, designer and catalog. I would only use patterns in my clients’ homes that I would actually wear myself.
SA: [Our aesthetic and our portfolio] are all very intertwined. I don’t understand how some people care about one and not the other.
Q: So true. What are your current obsessions, design-related or otherwise?
LG: Mexican pottery. And I’m always searching for great vintage jewelry.
SA: The show Homeland. And baby wipes—their uses are endless!