Storytelling without borders: Everhouse's vision for global dominion

The creative minds behind Everhouse, Ken Chircop and Jon Calleja, share their insights on venturing into new markets, finding the perfect blend of creativity and commercial appeal, and leveraging technology to enhance their storytelling. Committed to delivering exceptional interiors and cultural narratives, Everhouse aims to inspire and enlighten a global audience.

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As Everhouse expands into new markets, how do you plan to tailor your content strategy to maintain relevance and engagement in diverse cultural contexts, especially considering your emphasis on extraordinary interiors and the culture surrounding them?

YouTube has been a great tool for distributing our content, but it has also helped us focus and decide on what type to produce.

Central to our content philosophy lies a deeply rooted belief: the importance of storytelling. Since we've been doing this for a couple of years, we could also see what works and what doesn't and pivot accordingly. We knew we could shoot great-looking footage of a beautiful house, but we wanted to go beyond that. We've learned we want to tell the story of the person behind the space as much as we want to see beautiful spaces, and we believe our audience wants that, too. Our theory is that if you're a creative person, chances are you've surrounded yourself with beautiful things, which generally means you have a great space. So, we have focused on the homeowner's narrative and their home, and we have let them go through their design decisions and tell us about themselves on camera. Through these conversations, we see the spaces through the eyes of those who created them. 

Everhouse Youtube channel

Homes and interiors are a tough segment, so we are carving a niche of our own and positioning ourselves as a go-to brand for anything design-related. Our core audience is based in the USA and UK, and we focus on distinguishing ourselves as a key player in the home design and architecture content space. To achieve this, we are also expanding into content beyond video and social media and focusing on our website, where we see countless opportunities to provide more varied content for our growing online community. 

We're lucky enough that this market is loved all over the world, and good design can be found anywhere.

Future Content Series: You mentioned plans to introduce new series, like the insider episodes, to the world's most beloved stays. What drives the selection of these new themes, and how do you ensure they align with Everhouse's mission to inspire and educate about design and architecture?

We started Everhouse with a series called 'People of Interest,' where we met creatives, entrepreneurs, and interesting people in their houses. 

However, we plan on growing and starting a new series to expand and serve various content. We have, in fact, just recently launched 'Places of Interest', a new series in which we look at top hotels from around the world and focus on what makes them different.

The choice of visuals, the tone of voice, and the introduction of a guest make it a signature Everhouse episode. We look at detail-oriented spots where the design choices and interiors are exciting and original and display an eclectic taste.

Our first episode features the Parker Palm Springs in California. This high-end luxury hotel is part of the Leading Hotels in the World®. The interiors are eclectic, and the setting, like an oasis in the desert, gives the Parker an extraordinary vibe. With this series, we hope to carve our own niche in the travel space.

Bart Kuykens, Belgium

Balancing creativity and commerce: How do you balance Everhouse's creative aspirations with the commercial realities of running a media and e-commerce platform?

Our main goal is to build a global brand in the home and entertainment industries while always focusing on quality content. We are building a real community, which helps us leverage our content and actively engage with our audience to understand their preferences and feedback.

By doing this, we ensure that commercial efforts do not detract from the user experience. We collaborate with brands that align with Everhouse's values and our audience's interests, ensuring that any commercial content feels relevant and valuable to the audience.

David Camenzuli, Malta

Impact of Technology on Future Plans: As technology continues to evolve rapidly, in what ways do you foresee incorporating emerging technologies to enhance Everhouse's storytelling capabilities or viewer interaction?

We are a small setup and want to keep it that way. We leverage technology to spend as much time as possible focusing on what matters most, which, in our case, is telling stories. Technology facilitates this more than ever. It has made collaborating so easy, accessible and efficient. 

We usually work remotely, but these advantages also spill into other areas. All pre-production meetings, especially before our travels, are carried out online. When we partner up with other production companies, we use apps that let us plan and collaborate better. Managing these shoots can get hairy; this way, we can be more efficient on location and, in turn, tell our stories better, which, in the end, is all that matters. 

"We knew we could shoot great-looking footage of a beautiful house, but we wanted to go beyond that. Our focus is on the story of the person behind the space."

We use AI tools to facilitate research and idea generation. When used appropriately, these tools help speed up mundane processes and give us a fresh perspective. We welcome AI not out of laziness but to be more productive and efficient.

One aspect of technology that we take for granted today is social media. It enables us to create, share, and interact with our community. In the past, we have made many decisions based on what our audience shares with us, both through comments and polls and by adequately interpreting the analytics these platforms provide.

Saddle Peak House, Topanga, California

Long-term vision for Everhouse: Looking beyond the next five years, what is your long-term vision for Everhouse's impact on the design and architecture world? How do you plan to sustain growth and innovation in the long run?

Our dream is to be the go-to platform for anything home- and design-oriented. The brand started on Instagram, and we moved to YouTube to distribute our video content. We are looking to add more streaming platforms, especially established ones, as we can see that our current episodes and others in the future are easily adaptable. 

While we are still firmly in the entertainment industry, we've started working on e-commerce. Our goal is to become a global brand with a whole ecosystem of our own. 

We both come from a design-oriented background, so we value the language of art and design and appreciate artists and designers who push boundaries, innovate, and bring fresh perspectives to their work. We plan on continuing our collaborations with like-minded people and brands, as we did last year with our first homeware-oriented products. 

Since we have started our new series, 'Places of Interest,' featuring leading hotels and vacation stays worldwide, Everhouse can venture a little deeper into the travel world and produce travel guides and other publications based on our other series.

We also look forward to trying out some untried approaches to funding new projects, such as crowdfunding. We love the idea that our audience can be directly involved in the inception of new products, both through funding and ideation.

Evolution of Creative Processes: With your backgrounds in design and storytelling, how have your roles influenced the evolution of Everhouse's series like 'People of Interest'? Can you share how you integrate these creative insights into developing fresh content?

When we started Everhouse, we aimed to spotlight interesting individuals and their spaces and tell their stories entertainingly, which has become our signature style.

Being both in the creative field, as a brand designer and a filmmaker, we understand the importance of creating a solid brand and a set of values to keep things consistent. We are continuously looking for ways to enhance our storytelling experience. 'People of Interest' was initially a more straightforward interview series. However, it now features cinematic visuals and a more laid-back, relatable and personal narrative, which is now the recipe for an Everhouse episode. This is what makes us Everhouse.

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