Welcome to the IDS Long Island Design Podcast, your go-to source for insights and inspiration in the local interior design community. Each week, we interview industry leaders, designers, and experts relevant to Long Island's vibrant design scene, sharing their knowledge, experiences, and tips to help you elevate your craft. Tune in to stay connected, informed, and inspired!
IDS Podcast S3E6: Swatched — Inside Long Island's Biggest Design Gala
This one's all about Swatched, IDS Long Island's design competition and gala that only rolls around every other year — and this fall marks the eighth one. Brian sits down with the two co-chairs running the show: Joey, who a lot of you know from Sights and Sounds on the AV and smart home side of things, and Amber Freedman of North Sea Works, a residential interior designer out of Huntington Station and last year's IDS Designer of the Year.
If you've never been, here's the gist. Designers get one hour, a room layout directive, and a bag of mystery materials, then work the room pulling swatches from sponsor tables to build an original design board — no phones, no outside help, no ChatGPT, everything anonymous. Judges score on creativity and how well each board represents the sponsors, with separate categories for students and seasoned pros. Wrapped around the competition is a real party: a DJ, dance floor, photo booth, a mountain of raffle baskets, and John Tedisco on the mic.
Amber and Joey also get into the part that matters most — the charitable side. This year's proceeds go to the Parkinson's Foundation, the National Kidney Foundation, Tunnel to Towers, and Mama's House. They're still taking sponsorships and raffle donations, and as Amber says, no donation is too small.
Swatched happens this October at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. Watch the IDS Long Island website and socials for tickets. Want to donate or reach Amber? amber@northseaworks.com (mailto:amber@northseaworks.com).
You can learn more about our host Brian Berkowitz:
Brian's Website: https://www.brianberkowitzphoto.com (https://www.brianberkowitzphoto.com/)
Brian's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianberko (https://www.instagram.com/brianberko)
1 Sept 2026
IDS Podcast S3E5: Infinity Drain and the Case for American-Made Design
Ever notice how shower drains went from an afterthought to an actual design feature over the last decade? This episode digs into why. Brian sits down with Mike Rizzuto, National Technical Sales at Infinity Drain, whose path started with dropping out of Nassau Community College, apprenticing under a licensed plumber, and spending 14 years as a decorative plumbing buyer at Gracious Home in Manhattan. That curiosity — always asking what a product is made of and what problem it solves — is what led him and founder Jonathan Brill to a plumbing trade show in Europe, where they found linear drains and decided to build something of their own.
Mike breaks down what Infinity Drain actually makes: architectural drainage that turns a drain into a design element, from bold metal statements to nearly invisible tile-insert and slot drains. He explains site-sizable, the bread-and-butter product that lets you move the outlet and adjust the length right on the job site — no perfect measurements or custom-order anxiety required.
From there, the two get into the real advantage of manufacturing in Amityville, Long Island: quick lead times, next-day custom, and a real person on the phone when a job goes sideways. They also cover supply-chain resilience after COVID, the Build America Buy America Act, how to vet a "Made in USA" claim, sustainability and solar, and Mission Belly Full — the charity that's served over 110,000 meals since 2020.
Learn more about Infinity Drain at https://www.infinitydrain.com (https://www.infinitydrain.com/)
You can learn more about our host Brian Berkowitz:
Brian's Website: https://www.brianberkowitzphoto.com (https://www.brianberkowitzphoto.com/)
Brian's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianberko (https://www.instagram.com/brianberko)
25 Aug 2026
IDS Podcast S3E3: Styling a Room for the Camera with Jamie of JBT Designs
There's a strange math in the design world: eight months to a few years building a room, one afternoon to shoot it, and then those photos represent your work for the next five or ten years. That's exactly where this episode lives. Brian sits down with Jamie of JBT Designs out of northern New Jersey — an interior stylist who came up through the editorial side of the business. She started at Hearst on the startup magazine Shop Etc. and later worked in the photo department at Oprah Magazine before moving into design, and eventually styling full time.
Jamie's whole thing is styling for the camera, and she's great at explaining why that's a completely different skill from styling for real life. When you design for a homeowner, you're styling for their reality — kids, pets, budget. When you style for a shoot, you've got two seconds to tell the story on a four-inch phone screen, and proportion, flow, and the right few props make or break the image. Brian and Jamie dig into what the camera sees that your eye doesn't, where the designer's job ends and the stylist's begins, the three-way dance between designer, stylist, and photographer on shoot day, and some honest advice for designers on a tight budget (spoiler: less is more, and don't skimp on the florals).
Find Jamie: Instagram @jbt_styles (https://www.instagram.com/jbt_styles) | jbtdesigns.com (jbtdesigns.com)
You can learn more about our host Brian Berkowitz:
Brian's Website: https://www.brianberkowitzphoto.com (https://www.brianberkowitzphoto.com/)
Brian's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianberko (https://www.instagram.com/brianberko)
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