Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another SLG Meetup. Today we have with us someone who's not just building spaces, but shaping how people experience where they live. I'm here with Noah Santos, the founder of Nainoa, a brand that blends design, development, and lifestyle into something much deeper than just real estate. This is about vision, taste, and creating environments that actually elevate how we live.
Let's get into it. When I look into everything that you've done, I want to take it a little bit back into the region. So what was the original vision behind Nainoa, and what did you see that others didn't? Well, I don't know if I saw anything that others didn't.
I think it is more about seeing, I mean, there's an opportunity, I think, to really craft spaces that respond super intimately to people's lives. And for us, home has always been such an important part of your life. And I think nowadays when people think about the way they want to spend their time, they're becoming super specific, and sort of calculated as to how they want to shape the environment as they spend their time in. So I'm not sure.
I don't know that I saw anything particularly different, but I think it was really in realizing how important that is. And then understanding also the relationship that technology has and allowing us to actually do architecture, do design, do our jobs better than I think it ever has been before. So I don't know. It's a fun learning experience.
I know it. And by the way, I'm just admiring the backdrop of what you stand right now. Which is where you're in Trebeka? Yeah, this is our top floor, like the sunroom of our place in Trebeka.
Beautiful. I love that. That's very charming. Now let me ask you, you know, at some point, did this become more than real estate for you?
Yeah, I think it always has been. I think, you know, we, you and I have known each other for a few years now. I think we've always shared that passion for real estate. I have a, you know, I don't collect many things, but homes are one of the things that I just cannot stop from, you know, trying to keep acquiring.
But, but yeah, I think it has always been about loving spaces that are already exist and sort of figuring out, okay, how do you go into those spaces and shape them to be very specific to how someone wants to live and how someone wants to spend their time. And then obviously, you know, we work a lot with clients who are crafting something completely new. It's one of the reasons why we started in interiors, but my background being in architecture, we sort of started interiors, built it into interior and architecture. And then now we do landscape design and custom furniture so that we can kind of, it's almost like fewer cooks in the kitchen, I would say.
You get to understand it by super intimately and everything is super connected. Like building a house or spaces is not about compartmentalizing items. It really is about, you know, how does the landscape come indoors? How does the space itself, the character of the space, influence the pieces that you put in it?
So everything hopefully wants to, to, to sing like a wonderful symphony rather than being sort of, you know, discrete instruments. I like that. You know, it's fine because I was actually going to ask you what makes something feel special today. We know we're luxuries everywhere, right?
And you just talked about just little details. But what is something in your case that defines good taste versus expensive taste? Oh, that's a good question. And I think it really is just about intention.
I don't really presume that, that, and I think this is why our work tends to have a pretty diverse, if you look across the 19 countries we're building houses and many of them look quite different. One, because they respond very intimately to the context. So we always like to make sure that our homes actually are almost pulled from the ground that they stand on. But I think, I think taste is such a subjective thing.
It's about intention. I don't come into our relationships with our clients or even our team members presuming what someone's taste should be. For me, like if we did, our work would be sort of homogenous and it would become boring. For us, it's like, what does taste mean to that individual?
And I think taste is really about having intention and an intention that is very specific to you versus something that you might assume from someone else. I think a lack of taste in my mind is always when someone sees something and they just sort of adopt it as their own without the intention of like, does this actually suit my needs? I think taste is so much more than just visual. It should have a functional operational.
It should be super responsive and deep to what it means to you versus something that is purely cosmetic. That's such a great answer. I love it, especially the intentionality behind it, right? I do believe that that's the core of everything.
So well said, I'm very surprised to hear that. That is so true. Now, when it comes to building homes, right? Because you're not just doing that, you're building experiences.
So what does that actually look like in practice? Well, I think so many people have, as they've been, I mean, people have been in houses for many, many, many years. I think so many people see it as the process becomes sort of almost like a necessary evil to get to the end. You know, I always use the analogy of like wedding planning.
You know, when you're planning when my husband and I planned our wedding, it was more complicated and more expensive than anything we would have like ever dreamed at the time. It was just such a huge aspect of the imagination to do this. And pretty early on, we said, if we don't enjoy the process, it's going to take two years to do this thing. And then we're going to spend four days enjoying it.
And I'm not spending this kind of time and money and emotional energy on something that's four days, but I will spend it on something that's two years and four days. And so for us, I think that is really about that's what this has become is that, is yes, the output is a home and a beautiful and beautifully crafted spaces, which by the way, like should evolve and should change as your life does. But for us, that's not the experience. The experience is like should be the process of actually doing this together.
And I think to me, that's really where we've tried to map the experience of working with us after what we would expect someone to enjoy. And I also think that the byproduct, which obviously, eventually is a home that you can live in, is sort of the sum of the spirit that you put into it in a weird way. It's like, if you don't enjoy it, I don't know that like you're going to really enjoy loving the final spaces much as you should. Like it should be a collection of memories.
Like isn't that a house is really meant to be a vessel for memories with the people that you bring into it. And so for us, I think it's that experience part is like something that is truly our core. Wow. I love that.
That's such a great answer. And I want to start thinking that analogy of the vessel is pretty cool. No, I appreciate that. And well said, I see that a lot of times developers architects, they overlook certain areas.
And I wanted to ask you about what is something that you think completely change how the space feels. Well, I think it's that probably. I mean, I think it is like how you feel in creating it. Like you walk into a space where you think about it.
If you've like created this space and then the whole time, it felt like, you know, it felt disruptive and it felt emotionally exhausting. And I'm not trying to say like that every moment of every day of this experience is going to be amazing. But you know, in many cases, our clients are working with their family members, their partners, their kids, you know, people that mean a lot to them. And the ability to actually have these experiences.
It can be I think really profound where you walk into a room and you're like, I remember when we were picking the tile or remember when we couldn't decide about what plaster color we were doing. And I think, you know, it's, it's, I think that's really what people should be subscribing for when they create spaces that they want to love. You know, it's interesting to say that because I was closing my eyes as I was hearing you. And it is to the response when you just go through the memories of the process.
So that's what makes it special, right? Right. I think it's very important who you work with. Because that's what's going to make the difference of the whole journey.
Because if you're picking up the wrong person to work with, to do these projects, then you're going to start feeling the anxiety and that's going to be a negative memory. But if you're going through it in a very positive way, you're always going to look back and be like, Oh my God, remember when? So that's a good memory that you talk about the vessel. That's a great analogy.
I love that. Now, you know, are you are building properties around the world? You were just telling me that you were doing incredible projects in different locations. Or do you see the next level of luxury going?
The ultimate luxury, you know, you mentioned sort of the luxuries abound these days. The ultimate luxury for us is time. I think it's still one of the things that you can't get enough of. No matter how much you have, you can't buy more of it.
People are certainly trying. Maybe one day. Maybe one day. That won't be the case.
But as of right now, I think to for us, like the experience of wanting to spend your time in spaces and places and having experiences that you want to have, that's really what defines luxury for us. You know, it can be you can spend what you want to spend, but how you want to spend your time, I think is something that I mean, you know this, like you you you've tailored your life to spend your time doing the things that you really want to spend. I think that you're probably more intentional about the things that you, you know, the mountains you climb, the helicopters you jump out of, like, you know, those things for some people for me jumping out of helicopter is not a luxury. But for you, it is.
Right. So yeah, I think I think for and what's nice about that definition for us is it actually really does have very little to do with finances as very little to do with. I think when I'm from fifth generation from Hawaii and I think about how people spend their time there and sometimes, you know, being in New York, I think those people are actually living a more luxurious life, even though they have far, far less to call their own in terms of, you know, physical possessions. But yeah, anyway, I don't know if that answers the question, but no, it is a great way to put it.
And that is also something that I wanted to lean towards, which is the mindset, right? Because it's all about perception and we live in such a fast-paced environment where we feel that we can have Russian people doing things, acquiring more things, building more things. And ultimately comes to just staying calm. Like, are you having a calm mind?
That's what attracts a lot of the things that we often push away because we're rushing. So yeah, I mean, it's interesting because you're working with super high-end network individuals. You're also surrounded by luxury and you just gave a great definition of luxury, right? Time is something that not a lot of us can't expand on.
We can try to live longer, which that will give us more time. But that's something that we cannot fully predict yet. Now, when it comes to the mindset, what is a hard lesson you've learned that changed how you operate today? Mm-hmm.
I learned plenty of them. I'm trying to think of the one that I think in starting a company and I've now started a few of them, I think is really developing the skill of listening. And I'm in my no means where I want to be with this. But one of my favorite, I don't know where the quotes from, but one of my favorite quotes is, argue like you're right, listen like you're wrong.
It's my favorite thing because I have no problem arguing like I'm right. But I think listening like you're wrong is such an important skill that I am myself always trying to develop. And when you're able to do that, it really does open up to such an amazing sort of gross potential one, but it sort of unlocks in my mind this like curious mentality of always being curious, of always figuring out like what am I missing here, looking for the things that kind of make something surprising. And it sort of all circle back to this idea of like we're so fortunate to work with really incredible clients that are successful, that are intelligent, that are purposeful people.
And I think listening like you're wrong is a great skill. When you have those clients, I've learned some of the hardest lessons that have made this business far, far, stronger, simply listening to clients that are like, hey, I wish we did this instead. And I'm like, oh, okay, good to know. That's such a powerful quote.
I don't know who said it. I want to quote you. I don't know. That's a good one.
Are you like you're right, listen like you're wrong. It is such a bold statement that is so true when you put yourself in that position. And nowadays we just feel like we want to say more and more and more. But the reality is that there comes more when you're listening and you're right.
It's about the curiosity mindset. It's about wanting to learn more. And if you think that you know it already, then you're not going to learn even though you're listening. So it is a great statement.
I wanted to just wrap it up with a couple of things. But before we get into that, there's something that a lot of people often ask us, which is like what separates the people who build iconic things versus the ones who just participate? Because I see that often with people that they're building incredible things like yourself, but then they're just trying to fit in. So what's that separation?
Oh, God, these are good questions. I guess for us, it's always important. We think of what we do as crafting heirlooms. That means that it shouldn't respond to any sort of immediate trends or, you know, or sort of cosmetic surface level information.
It really means that getting to the root of what this wants to be and understanding what will be here for generations. So the best answer I have for that question is, is understanding at the foundation what constraints you have when you start to craft spaces and you start to craft homes. And for us, it always starts with a context. So our job is to discover what the context wants the house to be.
And that might be weather conditions. It might be soil conditions. It might be natural materials that exist there. I mean, no one goes to sort of the ancient Greek ruins and we're like, well, these were trendy.
Like, no, they were amazing. And why are they amazing? Because they were pulled up from the literal, literally the ground they still on is what they use to create those things. And for us, it always starts with that.
And then it becomes this really curious endeavor of finding out what the context wants to be and then finding out who the client is. And then really sort of digging into both of those things and then finding that like really unique recipe that frankly only can exist here in nowhere else. And that, that for me is like the most amazing part of the experience of doing this. I love that.
So that's amazing. Well, no, I want to just wrap it up with a rapid fire, which is going to be a couple of questions real quick. Whatever comes to mind. Great.
No negotiable in design. Clients that don't want to be involved. Oh, I love that. One thing you'll never do in a luxury project.
Clients that don't want to be involved. OK, I see the trend. What does leveling up mean to you right now? This curious mindset of always wanting to learn more and more and more.
But what do we put here if not to try to make this place a little bit better? And how are we supposed to do that if we're not curious? Love that. And most exciting project you're working on right now.
Oh, goodness. That's like picking a favorite kid. Oh, it's all right. We're doing an amazing estate in Bali that is I can't leave it off the cliffs.
That's beautiful. I mean, we're doing some epic heirloom pieces out in the Hamptons. There's a villain Egypt. There's quite a few of them.
Every day I kind of have a new favorite and it's probably the one I just saw. So it's tough. Wow. This is amazing.
It looks when vision meets execution and it's not just building properties, but building environments that actually elevate people. So I appreciate you know for this amazing conversation. I'm sure that is going to inspire many others. And we're here to support you in the journey.
So whatever we can do, just let us know. If you want to come to Miami and fly the helicopter, you know, we can we can take a little bit. If you want to jump off the worst of the next. We'll have a cocktail when you land.
We'll have a cocktail when you land. That's exactly that's good. I love the balance. Well, anything else you would like to say before we close this up?
No, thank you for having me. This has been great. I appreciate you. Keep on doing great.
Can't wait to see how all these projects come to life. And we'll stay in touch. All right. Thank you.
Thank you. And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace it's beautiful success in life.
My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.