Welcome to another episode of our serious SLG meetups by Super Luxury Group, where we connect with some of the most interesting players in the luxury market. My name is Alvaro and today we'll be having with us a very special guest. His name is Noah Santos and he is the CEO and founder of Nainoa, architecture and design experts, where he will be talking about emphasizing life-changing experiences through interior design. Noah will also share with us about how important it is to help your client to find the ultimate home goal, not only by helping them know what to want in your home, but how you want to live.
Totally great insights on the unique approach to bring life and love into your home. I hope you enjoy it. Noah, my friend, how are you? Good, how are you?
Good, good seeing you. Where are you? I'm at my house out in Eastampton. Of course, and I like the plant in the background.
Obviously, it's an interior designer. You have to have everything. Perfect. So, I was making a quick intro about yourself, you know, because there's one thing that I really like about what you guys do, which is the life-changing experiences to the interior design in the homes.
So, I think that there is no a better time to be emphasizing on that because there is so much value on what people can do, staying at their homes. I love what you said here, which teaches you not just about what you like but about how you want to live. Exactly. So, tell us a little bit about how do you end up turning your passion for interior design into a successful career and then the meaning behind the breadth.
Yeah, well, I guess I've always sort of loved design. I've always had a particular affection for homes. So, I originally studied business and architecture at Stanford and I moved to New York and actually worked in an interior design studio, working with clients. And that's really where I discovered my love for design, not necessarily because of the nice objects you put in someone's home, but really because of the intimate relationship that you end up establishing with someone because you really have to understand how they want to live.
And that's what I love about design in general is that it's problem-solving, right? It's coming up with an understanding of the constraints that allows you to craft something uniquely singular for the person you're working with. And so, I really just kind of parlayed that passion into my first business, which was really kind of an agency we represented close to a thousand designers. And then I know the newest business, which is really more of a traditional design business, but one that merges my love for business as well as design.
And we have about seven different people who work for that company. Now we work with about two dozen clients. And yeah, it's been really exciting. That's incredible.
And I really see it for the work that you guys are doing. I'm just going to pull some pictures in here. I mean, this is the most basic one, but it tells you so much. Right now everybody having an office to hold.
There's nothing better than having the amazing viewers. This is so simple, but so profound. So I really like this one. What you just said is like a very traditional kind of interior design, but it's so meaningful.
And I think that it's changing people's lives. So what you guys are doing, where are you currently focusing on? It's basically in New York also in Hawaii. We have clients, most of our clients in the United States, but we do them across different we have clients on West Coast East Coast.
And then we actually have a couple of clients in the Middle East. You know, and these rooms at the office, I think, was probably the best example of it. But what we try to do is really focus on what's the one big or maybe one or two big key objectives of a space. And the office you were showing for this particular client, it was about being in a place that was sort of nothing but the view.
And that was the view that allows them to think the best and to do what they want to do the best. And as you can see, there's not much to this room at all. I mean, there's a lot in the details and the plaster work and the molding and how the desk doors integrated so you really can't see it down to that leather pad on the desk. You know, but this particular client was all about just being one with this spectacular vista.
And I think a lot of people get overwhelmed when they create spaces because there are so many, or I guess they don't take the time to really hone in on what is the one or two key items they want to focus on or not items necessarily, but objectives they want to focus on. And what is this room doing for you? So it's less about what is the room looking like, what the room looks like should be a factor, or really just a result of the room actually serving a particular and important purpose in your life. Totally.
And I really like that concept a lot. And I think that a lot of people are starting to realize throughout this year that we've been facing is that you need to find a value in the space of your home. Because it's not just about the looks, it's about what brings you, you know, to your life. So right, I think that obviously if we look into some other projects that you've been working on, I mean, it's about the details as well, but the value that it can bring into people's lives.
So my question to you will be how have you seen the industry shifting this year with the pandemic and people staying at home? Yeah, and I think it originally when all of this happened, I think people were really concerned about every industry. And what happened because people were spending so much time in their homes is I think people have or had a lot of time to really think about what does home mean and how important is it to me and to the people I love. And we've seen a pretty dramatic spike, I think, in the industry, just in people's interest to want to invest again in their homes.
Interesting, because I don't see many companies that showcase their product with a drink on it, you know, and come to the dinner do that. And I really like it. This is inviting, you know, this is like the experience as a whole. So I think that's the case with all of our homes, even when we photograph it, right, the spirit of what we do is that a home is a vehicle for living in or an office is a vehicle for working in.
So even down to our photography, if you're not showing that there was life in the space, it ends up looking more like a museum. And while we have pieces that are museum quality in our clients' homes, the intent is always for them to be enjoyed, to be used, to be felt. Beautiful, no, I think it's fantastic. Now, have you seen any difficulties throughout the year?
What was the hardest part for you? Well, I think the hardest part actually has been, you know, we're accustomed to working with clients in person as much as we are working virtually. And initially, it was a little bit of a challenge as you're looking and feeling and wanting to experience materials before, you know, you put a certain fabric on your chair, you decide on a certain well-covering. And coordinating all of that was initially challenging.
But actually, the silver lining to all of this is that we've actually become a lot more efficient. And I think even post, you know, pandemic, we're going to take kind of the efficiency lessons that we've learned and the ability to kind of coordinate samples and not have to, you know, fly across the country to kind of look at things in person if we need to, and just bring that to business in general. Absolutely. And have you used technology and social media to really take that over and stay in touch with your clientele?
Yeah, I mean, I think social media has always been an important part because it allows us to actually project our aesthetic to anyone who is interested in kind of following. From a technology perspective with clients, I think we use a lot of different technologies from technologies that allow us to project manage and organize in an efficient way, to technology that allows us to actually show clients what they're going to get before, you know, we actually press go and build it. So we tend to kind of integrate technology into every piece of the process. And it just gives our clients, I think, what feels to be a modern and transparent experience.
So you touch base on the traditional aspect on how you focus on, you know, making that traditional feeling but very valuable and impactful. But also, if this is something that is expensive or the regular, and it's also being done in amazing homes. So with you being touching both angles, I want to ask you the question that I always like to ask, which is, why is it looking to you? I think luxury to me and certainly, you know, our unique time that we're living in, luxury to me is time, to be honest.
It's the only thing that I recognize as we work with clients who frankly, you know, who don't really want for much, in many cases. The one thing that is ubiquitous across all of them is that, you know, all of us, know how much we have, we can't buy more time. I think that a lot of people will agree with you. Personally, I think that you're right.
There's too many perception on what looks to be so about. The time is definitely the highest luxury that you can. The ultimate luxury. Yeah, the ultimate luxury, exactly.
Now, talking about that, what is something that excites you when you wake up in the morning? I think what excites me is that every day is different doing what I get to do. You know, you're always facing new challenges, you know, down to, you know, when you open up a wall of a house, you never know what you're going to get. It's you open that wall.
But even running the business, I think, engaging with the designers that we have with the clients that we have, for me, speaking of the ultimate luxury being time, like, that's how I like to spend time. Great. And do you have any source of inspiration such as a mentor or any book you've read that, you know, has helped you throughout the journey? I have, I would say less of a mentor and more of like a number of people in their, like, particular fields that I turn to when I feel like I need that sort of mentorship.
I mean, right now it's about surrounding yourself with the right circle that supports you, that encourages you, that tells you, you know, and that makes you become a better person. So, you know, I'm always curious to ask this question because everybody has a different, you know, background, different approaches and facing these difficult times is always very encouraging to hear the positive thoughts that someone that has been doing it successfully, like you has to say. So thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing everything.
And any other takeaways or recommendations that you would like to share to anybody that is currently listening? One of the things about the situation that we are all facing is that we're all in, like, this is really historically completely unique, right? I don't think any of us have ever been in this type of environment in all of our lives. And I think one of the important things I've gleaned from this is that with a unique challenge comes unique opportunities to innovate and to build things differently and to question the things that frankly haven't worked in the past.
And I think thinking about it that way and knowing that, you know, obviously God willing, we're all going to come out of this at some point, I think using this time as like a unique time in history to experiment more and to just challenge the norms more, I think that it just turns, hopefully it gives a silver lining to the situation that we're all in. And I think that's what hopefully the real estate industry has found is certainly what we found in our business is that if we didn't have this time to really take a step back and say, hey, how did we get here? You know, what wasn't working before? How can we change?
How can we build a better future? And how has this time forced us to really think about that? That I think is just, it's nothing else. It just helps get out of it every morning.
Right, right. I think it's a nice challenge that we're all facing to get us, get stronger and better. So, you know, embrace it, you know, battle all time, get better. So I answer, I'll just say with the right people so that you can all support each other.
And we're a mask while you do it. Right, right, exactly. Thank you. Thank you for those takeaways.
If they want to reach out to you, where can they find you? I mean, the easiest way is probably just my Instagram because it's easy to shoot me a message. But if not, we have our website, which is, you know, 9oa.com, which is on my Instagram. And nowadays it's actually like, if you want to reach someone, like how could you not be able to?
Yeah, exactly. So many ways. Exactly. So email and Instagram, anything like that work.
Perfect. Well, anything else that you would like to share? No, I mean, I really appreciate you facilitating this conversation with me and with the others that you featured here. I think it's these are the types of things that actually give people a little bit of hope in the time where, you know, that can be kind of challenging.
Yes, I'm sure that lots of people that are currently listening are going to see tremendous value from everything that you shared. So again, I go appreciate your time. Keep doing successfully what you're doing, changing people's lives through interior design. And I look forward to meeting you with a New York or here in Miami or whether we get to see each other.
It was a pleasure as always and we think you're always the best. Thanks so much, Alvaro. Take care. Bye-bye.
And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace its beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.