Traveling Through with David Prior · Thursday, July 16, 2026
Nate Berkus discussed the unexpected charm of Portugal, noting its slower pace of life, emphasis on family and nature, and high-quality craftsmanship, particularly in textiles and footwear. He highlighted the family's farm and their integration into the local village community, experiencing genuine warmth and acceptance.
“Well, the whole aristocracy and most of the wealthy families had to flee to Brazil, you know, for most of the sixties and some of the seventies as well, and when they returned, they came back to an economy that was really broken. So Portugal is like thirty years behind the rest of you. That has its charm, but there is this sort of innate joy that we've found. It's very very family center. It's obviously very focused on nature and preservation and slow sort of living and thoughtful interaction, and that is that obviously will have has a universal appeal.”
“But what I think is really interesting about craft as it applies to Portugal is that there is sort of nothing of bad quality, and even these mills that are mass producing things for these US or European department stores and things like that, even the Spanish department stores. I mean most of the cotton, almost cotton in Spain is from Portugal. So it's like even those great kids clothes, like the most Spanish children's closing is the most beautiful in the world to me, but like all of that is made or the material is from Portugal.”
“And interestingly enough, we renovated Jeremiah did not me, renovated one of the homes on the on the land on the farm for his parents, so his mom and stepfather lived there full time, and we basically at any given moment of three generations already so that already sort of kicked off what I feel.”