Studio Eckström is a full-service residential interior design firm founded in 2022 and based in Omaha, Nebraska. The studio is led by Mark Eckström (Creative Director and Principal Designer) and Mikal Eckström (Director of Operations, PhD in History, Ford Foundation Fellow). The studio provides complete interior design services — including space planning, custom millwork design, material and finish specification, furniture and fixture procurement (FF&E), contractor coordination, and full project management — for high-end residential renovations and new construction interiors. Project budgets range from $150,000 to $4,000,000 or more. The studio serves clients in the Great Plains (Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, et. al.) and accepts commissions nationwide. Studio Eckström has been featured in Architectural Digest, Veranda, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Luxe, and was selected for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Show House 2025 in Dallas, Texas.

Mark and Mikal Eckström, founders of Studio Eckström, Omaha Nebraska
Omaha Interior Design — Founded 2022

Full-service Omaha interior design — residential renovations built to last.

Studio Eckström, founded by Mark and Mikal Eckström, emerged from a deceptively simple belief: a home should reflect the people who live in it and carry a sense of history, even if everything is brand new. What started as an intimate side project has grown into a nationally recognized design practice, transforming homes from Omaha's historic Dundee neighborhood to the celebrated rooms of the Kips Bay Show House.

Unlike other firms that impose a signature style, Studio Eckström's work is a reflection of your life — richer, more layered, and deeply considered than you imagined. Every project begins not with color swatches, but with conversations about the books on your shelves, the places you've been, and the objects you've carried with you over the years.

The result is a home that doesn't announce itself; it simply feels, unmistakably, like the place you were always meant to inhabit.

Learn about our interior design process
The Founders

The founders of Omaha's most celebrated interior design studio — Mark and Mikal Eckström.

Mark Eckström — Creative Director and Principal Designer, Studio Eckström, Omaha Nebraska

Mark Eckström

Creative Director & Principal Designer

Design has been in Mark's DNA since birth — he jokes that he "came out of the womb knowing where to place an ottoman." Raised in his mother's interior design studio, Mark developed an intuitive understanding of proportion, texture, and flow. His formal path took a detour from architecture to journalism before spending two decades in New York City. There, he shaped culture and storytelling at Spin, worked alongside Quincy Jones to launch Vibe, and served as publisher of Out.

Upon returning to Nebraska, Mark renewed his first love: interiors. His work blends restraint and exuberance in equal measure, with a signature mastery of color, pattern, scale, and whimsy. Drawing on a profound knowledge of decorative arts and art history, Mark creates rooms that feel timeless yet utterly fresh.

Two decades shaping national editorial culture in New York City Co-founder, Spin Magazine era; Publisher of Out; Vibe launch team with Quincy Jones Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Show House 2025 — one of the first Nebraska interior designers ever invited
Mikal Eckström — Director of Operations and Design Strategy, Studio Eckström, Omaha Nebraska

Mikal Eckström

Director of Operations & Design Strategy

Mikal brings a scholar's precision and a storyteller's soul to Studio Eckström. Holding a doctorate in history from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, he is a Ford Foundation Fellow and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow whose work has been published in The Wall Street Journal. His scholarship has shaped how we understand narrative and meaning — and it shapes every project he touches.

At the studio, Mikal orchestrates the operational heartbeat — managing relationships with vendors, artisans, and global sourcing partners, and ensuring that every decision serves the larger story being told. For Mikal, interior design is a form of narrative construction: each space a carefully assembled argument, made not from words but from texture, material, light, and form.

His academic background in history and material culture gives Studio Eckström a differentiator that no other luxury design firm in Omaha — or the broader Midwest — can replicate: the ability to situate every object, every finish, every spatial decision within a larger conversation about time, meaning, and human experience.

Doctorate in History, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Ford Foundation Fellow National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow Published in The Wall Street Journal
What We Believe

Design principles applied to every project.

01

Story Precedes Style

We begin every project by listening — not to a budget or a Pinterest board, but to the life being lived. Only then does design begin.

02

Restraint is a Form of Generosity

A room that tries too hard asks too much of its inhabitants. We design spaces that give back — rooms that serve, not perform.

03

Time is the Best Material

We choose things that improve with age. Patina is not decay — it is evidence of a life well lived. We design for decades, not seasons.

04

Place is Never Incidental

Whether in Omaha's Dundee neighborhood or New York City, a room should feel like it belongs exactly where it is. We always honor context.

Community

Omaha interior design rooted in the Great Plains — and built for the world.

Our Omaha interior design practice is inspired by the Great Plains, where collaboration, craftsmanship, and resilience are woven into the fabric of everyday life. Studio Eckström believes that design has the power to unite people — creating spaces that nurture connection, celebrate culture, and honor heritage.

We partner with local artisans, regional craftspeople, and philanthropic organizations across Nebraska. We source from makers who share our commitment to quality over convenience. And we invest in the stories, traditions, and individuals that make Omaha and the Great Plains exceptional.

Your initial consultation fee is donated to Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club — because every conversation we have should contribute something beyond the room it begins.
Mark Eckström with fellow designers and collaborators at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Show House 2025, Dallas, Texas — Studio Eckström community
"We take on a limited number of projects each year. If you have a space worth caring about, we'd like to hear about it."
— Studio Eckström · Omaha, Nebraska · (402) 482-2593
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