Yahoo News YouTube Design Star Drew Michael Scott Shares His Decor Sources and Inspirations, From CB2 to Ballerinas
The steady upward trajectory of 27-year-old YouTube star Drew Michael Scott’s career — he uses his middle name to distinguish himself from the similarly named Property Brother — is no accident.
Neither is the fact that Desenio, the buzzy Sweden-based e-commerce wall art brand beloved of millennials and Gen Z-ers in over 35 countries, tapped the online home design personality for a partnership to launch their expansion into the US. The 12-print collection, inspired by Scott’s love of vintage, launched at the end of September; prints range from $20 to $55.
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With 1.1 million followers on Instagram, 1.4 million on TikTok, and 1.68 million on YouTube (where he launched his career at age 12), it’s clear Scott, who posts as Lone Fox Home, has highly-sought-after demographics on speed dial.
He’s been capturing eyeballs since uploading his first clip on YouTube not long after receiving a scrapbooking machine for Christmas. His rigorous schedule — he’d post every day after school — garnered him 10,000 subscribers within five years. He also launched a mail order business, Hopscotch Craft Supplies. That infrastructure, which his parents now oversee from their home in Arizona, also supports the shipping for the curated home decor items he sells through Lone Fox.
Scott pivoted to creating content about men’s fashion after high school. When he moved to Los Angeles, he then began peppering his content with videos of the home projects he was creating to decorate his new apartment. When his renter-friendly DIY design content blew up, he took a closer look at who was watching. “For the fashion, it was 99 percent men but the home videos were all women,” he explains. “That’s when I decided to split the channels.”
A job with digital fashion influencer Chriselle Lim immersed him in the nuts and bolts of social media. “She really showed me the ropes,” he acknowledges of the three years he spent working with her.
Lone Fox took off during the pandemic. “That’s where I found my complete love for interior design,” he says. His style mixes vintage with contemporary, masculine and feminine. Creating the content conjured up the joy of his scrapbooking days. “I love the whole process of creating the content,” he shares.
Committed to posting videos twice a week, his schedule of 12-hour days, split between shooting and editing, is a grueling one. “It takes me two to three days to create a 15-minute video,” he shares. With only two employees — Justin Miller, who helps with the content and his roommate, Marie Dyrda, who runs Lone Fox’s online store and handles the day-to-day administrative — Scott handles almost everything else himself, from finding retailers and designing products to sifting through sponsorship opportunities.
A new house — a duplex in the Miracle Mile District he’s transforming Into a single-family home — offers endless opportunities to go viral (an on-trend coffee table, which used six wooden Ikea salad bowls for the base, has racked up nearly 700k views on TikTok to date). Apart from the Desenio partnership, he’s considering offers for television, and concentrating on expanding his online store. “I just really look forward to waking up and going to work every day.”
He spoke with THR about his current design inspirations:
Who are you following on social media?
I’ve actually been following vintage accounts like Les Collection. And a bunch of interior designers too. I love Amber Interiors and Heidi Caillier is so good. I love how she uses fabric and textures and different scales of patterns. She has such a good eye. I’m learning a lot from her. And Hadley Wiggins is another one. She’ll bring something like lime green into a room that you’d never think to add, but it looks so good!
What’s your favorite place to shop for decor?
I’ve been loving CB2 for more modern accents and pairing them alongside flea market finds. Facebook Marketplace has also been a huge source of both furniture and decor. Of course, I also incorporate products from my shop lonefox.com for my projects.
What’s the most inspiring place you’ve been to recently, design-wise?
I recently went to Sweden to shoot my art collection with Desenio. While there, we went to a few museums and explored the city which was beyond stunning. The architecture was overly inspiring and I found myself taking photos on every street corner.
What is your favorite thing to do when you need a shot of inspiration?
My favorite thing to do is look through design books both new and old. I find so much inspiration in design from the past and the images in books really are not found online easily so it always feels like a whole new world to me.
What are you obsessing over right now?
I’m currently really inspired by ballerinas and finding ways to incorporate them into my projects. Satin, bows, sculptural glass, soft pastel tones are all bits that I find myself gravitating to when designing. I like to contrast these with something more harsh like iron or wood.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
A version of this story first appeared in the Oct. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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