“During a break last year from filming his super-popular Netflix makeover series Queer Eye, bubbly designer Bobby Berk was vacationing with pals in the Coachella Valley and fantasizing about something that he — and many visitors like him — typically daydreams about while lounging by the pool with a cocktail in hand: owning his own piece of the desert.
However, unlike most other folks, Berk desired more than a vacation home. He wanted a Modernism Week Showcase Home. “I’d been talking to Modernism Week for a few years about doing a show home, but I didn’t want to do one until the time was right,” says Berk, who launched his design firm in 2006 after working as the creative director for housewares brand Portico. “I wanted to be able to buy something myself, and I wanted it to be my home.”