DESIGN TIPS FROM A QUEER EYE GUY:
If you had to define your design philosophy, what would it be? My philosophy is to do what you love. Don’t follow trends, don’t do what other people tell you to do. Find a look you love and go with that no matter what.
all the retail and focused on the design portion of my company. You’ve talked about growing up in Missouri and the challenges of living under a conservative religious tradition. I’m curious how you managed to get out from under it and then managed to prosper so well. Aside from walking away, no running… and never looking back? (Laughs) That’s the short version of a very long story. Between prayer meetings, youth group, revivals, plays and music, my whole life revolved around the church. When I came out, everybody that was incorporated into that life, all of a sudden just turned their back on me. I remember thinking, “This is not at all what I think the church should be” and I so walked away and never went back. And as you can see if you know the Queer Eyeepisode with Mama Tammye, that I still don’t buy into it. I took a step back and realized it was such bullshit; the people who
profess “God is love, God is love…” For them, God is love only if you conform to the exact version of their Bible. Which, if you actually really read the Bible, it’s filled with love and acceptance. It’s man’s transla- tion that changes it and screws it all up, so, I walked away from it and have not looked back. I have definitely found a lot more peace with it since, but that version at least, isn’t for me anymore. I appreciate your frankness. It’s an important story to share for those who are still struggling with being gay. Every one of our success stories show that being LGBTQ doesn’t have to have limitations... or consequences. Thank you.
If you had to name the things that you do when you begin the design process, what would they be? One of the first things I do is to try and find out how a space is supposed to function and then also, how a space isn’t function- ing for a client. I like to spend time to see how a space works or doesn’t work so I can create a successful, useful design. I also look to people’s Instagram and Pinterest boards for inspiration. Not everyone is able to articulate what they want or what they think is beautiful, so if I’m able to view their social media posts I can get inside ideas about their likes and dislikes.
What’s the best advice you’ve received as far as design? Edit, edit, edit… to always take away one piece. I’m defi- nitely more of a minimalist, so too much is a bad thing.
If you have advice for someone trying to update a room or do a quick renewal on their place. Definitely a can of paint goes a long way. You can really transform a room by repainting: lighten a dark room with light colors, add some depth with a dark color. If you don’t have a lot to work with just a can of paint. The big three are basically paint, pillows and rugs.
Speaking of successes, let’s chat about how you became involved withQueer Eye. Courtney [Pisarik, his publicist and owner of Ink
PR] heard they were auditioning and threw my name in the hat. They scheduled a Skype interview , so I set up the background to look all pretty and about 10 minutes before we were to do it the power went out in my building. I frantically ran to my car and drove down to my office as fast as I could, which left me all sweaty and disheveled and of course, the only thing behind my desk is a big black wall, which made me look like Powder, from the film! (Laughs) I thought, “They think I’m a sweaty mess and a total disaster, there’s no way I’m ever going to hear from them. I was actually supposed to be on an amazing,
all-expense paid promo tour of Spain and Courtney gets a call saying they want me to come and audition in L.A. with the top 40 people hoping to get on the show. Like I said, it just happened to be at the same time of my trip and I was certain there was no way I was going to get it and really wanted to go to Spain, so I planned on skipping it. Luckily, I did do the audition. The first night was a
cocktail mixer with all of the guys and the next day we sat around 13 to 14 hours for just 16 minutes of audition time, which felt like a speed dating round- table with three tables of executives and producers. They told us, “We’ll call you if you need to come back.” I finally got a call from the executive producer, David Collins around 1 a.m. telling me, “We are really excited and want you to come back.” He talked to me about an hour and told me, “Without giving anything away… you’re on the show!” (Laughs) That was the first freak out moment I had. I thought “Oh my god, this could actually change my life.” The next day was a very sad morning, because
there were so many who didn’t get a call back and were still staying at the hotel. There were a lot of tears and a few tantrums, so it was a very exciting, but very devastating moment. I was so happy to be in the ring, but all these other guys weren’t, so it was a very emotional, rollercoaster day. People ask me to describe the auditions and I always say, “You’ve seenAmerican Idol, right? And, you’ve seenThe Hunger Games, right? (Laughs) It was kind of like a combination of the two... a lot of happiness and a lot of sadness. Sounds excruciating and exhilarating all at the same time. How quickly did you and the other five connect and what was that meeting like? The greatest thing about the whole experience
is that the five of us, Antoni, Karamo, Jonathan, Tan and I really clicked very quickly. The final day was all
SEPTEMBER 2018 | RAGE monthly 31
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