Designs on the digital age

Does she need an introduction? Martha Stewart, lifestyle queen of television, magazines, books and just plain living, has prepared for the future. She’s hit the Internet, video-on-demand, bought Emeril Lagasse’s TV and cookbook franchise and is providing a food line through Costco. “The Martha Stewart Show” will air its 500th episode Thursday. We talked to her -- she was on speakerphone in her offices -- just after yoga.

How’s your day?

It’s on its way. Partially over.

So how is yoga going after last year’s hip surgery?

Oh, it was very excellent. I have no ill effects from the surgery whatsoever.

That’s marvelous. What’s your least-favorite position?

The ones I can’t do.

It’s incredibly frustrating, isn’t it?

I have two excellent teachers from the Iyengar Institute in New York City. They are real professionals in terms of training you so that you can get into any pose -- handstands, strengthening positions. It’s real yoga.

So you are doing your 500th show!

It’s coming up. March 20 is the 500th show for the “Martha” show, this new show with a live audience. Of course I’ve done thousands more.

That’s a lot of TV.

We have a wonderful library of amazing segments, all pretty much evergreen how-to segments. That was my goal when I started out in television. The older show can be broken up in smaller segments that everyone likes to watch on their iPhones, their hand-held device -- if they’re in a grocery store and they want to figure out how to make escarole soup, they can dial up “escarole soup.” Soon they’ll be able to do this. Martha will show them how. That’s what it’s all about. And ultimately that’s where it’ll all be going.

Ah. I wanted to know how you were ready for the future.

We’re very planned out. It’s been planned for a very long time. . . . The content will be available as a total show. We’re now on video-on-demand on Comcast and soon to be on Time Warner Cable. We’re the most popular of the video-on-demand on Comcast in the home and food arena. We have several hundred different segments available now. We’re selling a million a month of segments. That’s very, very good. Evergreen is the key word!

How does the blog tie into all this? Your blog -- it’s bananas.

The blog is great. Up Close & Personal, it’s called. A tremendous amount of viewership. What I’m trying to do with the blog is give a good behind-the-scenes glimpse of what my real life is like -- and what we do on the weekends, what we do around the house. All of those things. It’s really exciting. And people really appreciate it. Oh, my God, the pictures of our studios at Starrett-Lehigh [Building and] our big prop house.

Are people there worried about showing up in photos?

Like who?

Well, is it true that there’s a “Martha 15” [as in weight gain] when one starts working at your company?

Nobody’s worried about it. Everyone loves it. Their families can see them. They become famous. And we’re getting really somewhere around 40,000 to 50,000 viewers every day of my blog.

Once upon a time there was something of a backlash to the household arts industry. People were worried that we were just leaving reality behind. But no one worries about that anymore.

Well, everything I do is basically reality. And what I’m doing is showing how things are done, how things can be done -- the tools with which to do interesting projects, recipes, how to collect, how to decorate, how to entertain. It’s not at all an unresponsive audience. People really want to learn. My basic theory was, when I started the company, to be the how-to for the homemaker.

And instead, there has maybe been a democratization of good living. Kmart. Costco.

And with Macy’s -- the availability of wonderful products, well-made products, that are not too expensive. Look at Ralph Lauren -- he’s going to JCPenney with a line.

Do things ever spiral out of control at home? I mean, the chickens are laying 100 eggs a day, the donkeys are outside in the snow . . .

The chickens are laying 900 eggs a week right now! And, yes, it is a problem, but not really -- I take the eggs. Yesterday I took at least 100 eggs to my office. We send out an e-mail -- four eggs per person, here now, come get ‘em. And people take them home. In the elevator last night was a young woman I don’t know very well. I said, “What are you doing for dinner?” She said, “Oh, your eggs, I have a recipe for baked eggs!” How nice that is.