As we begin moving into the holiday season, our focus turns to the home—how much time we’re spending in it, how we’re decorating it and who’s in it with us. In 2020, we’ve already spent much more time at home than usual and have had to consider how we curate our living spaces to meet us where we are. With homes and offices largely being one in the same these days, the question has become how do we set ourselves up with a workspace at home that is at once functional and personal?
Worth recently sat down with Jeremiah Brent, celebrity interior designer and star of Nate & Jeremiah By Design and Say I Do, to discuss his tips for personalizing your home office space, his new partnership with Saeco and how to seamlessly incorporate the new Saeco Xelsis espresso machine into your home work space.
We started off by discussing how his partnership with Saeco came to be.
“I think one of the things that I am really fascinated with [about] Saeco is the craftsmanship,” Brent said. “You know I really believe in quality. And one of the things I love the most about [the Saeco Xelsis], aside from the fact that it full-on feels like you have an Italian car on your countertop, is the personalization component because I am always intrigued when design and technology form like a really beautiful relationship and that’s what I think they’ve done with this machine.”
“This is a partnership that was born from a couple different things. You know, I, as a designer, I’m kind of fascinated with the juxtaposition where tapware technology and design meet, and I’m always kind of [figuring] out what’s the next phase of luxury and what does luxury mean to people,” Brent said.
An Italian-made machine that can make 15 different drinks, all of which are customizable, is exactly the kind of luxury Brent is talking about. The Saeco Xelsis does this and lives up to one of Brent’s biggest design tips, which is to incorporate appliances and cookware that are beautiful into your kitchen. “I really believe in that balance of having something that’s obviously multifaceted and really beautiful, and it has a lot of that technology component, but then being able to weave in beautiful things and things that delight your eyes when you look at them, especially in the kitchen. So that was one of the first things that really drew me to the [Saeco Xelsis],” Brent said.
Traditionally, an espresso machine would be kept in the kitchen. But with working from home in full swing, why not keep it in your office? Brent recommends putting it in a cabinet, hutch or some place that’s close to you. “It’s not a difficult machine to weave into any design aesthetic, which I think is a lot more complicated than people think,” Brent told Worth. “It’s more than just one thing. It’s not just an espresso machine. It’s hot water when you need it, it’s an Americano when you need it, it’s a latte when you need it. So I think it’s multifaceted, and because of that, it makes it easy to put anywhere.”
But in order to do that, you need a home work space you actually want to spend time in. Brent offered a few suggestions on how to create a home office space that is both functional and personal.
“I think the home work space is really interesting because it’s taken such a shift,” Brent said. “I think it’s all about creating a space that really feels unique and separate from the rest of your home, if you have that ability. You know, I think like for myself right now, I’m working in my home office creating an area that’s just like where my gourmet coffee machine’s at, a place where everything’s kind of condensed, a beautiful moment to look at. I think with workspaces in particular, there is a really great opportunity to weave in things from your home in an organic way so the space feels personal. You know, so many of us had workspaces before this, but they were just transactional, and you had a desk and you had a couple things on it. I love the idea of your workspace really being assembled by the things that matter to you—that hutch that your grandmother gave you that was just collecting dust, now you’ve got your printer in it, you’ve got everything organized and you look at it every day. And I don’t know about everybody [else], but I’ve gotten so accustomed to the chaos of my children running around the house while I’m working, but that noise, it really soothes me now. So I think it’s just about bringing things into your workspace that bring you joy, but also finding a way to create a room that feels separate or a space that feels separate.”
More than just the design aspect, though, is the ceremony of it all for Brent. Throughout our conversation, Brent mentioned how important ritual is to him during his day, going from making coffee for himself and his husband, celebrity interior designer Nate Berkus, to setting the energy in their home by changing the music three times throughout the day.
“I think those things help people feel sane and like they haven’t just been stagnant,” Brent said. “And I think there’s a lot you can do with a little bit of space. It’s about curating those moments that you actually spend in that space.”
