Design

Kelly Wearstler: one of the most influential voices in American decor

Influential voice in American decor, interior designer Kelly Wearstler is at the forefront of projects as audacious as hotels and video projects in Hollywood.

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Keeping up with interior designer Kelly Wearstler can be exhausting. On an afternoon that seems absolutely normal for this 54-year-old powerhouse, she is personally overseeing a five-day photo shoot at her latest hotel, the 148-room Downtown LA Proper; is working on several residential and commercial projects, including another hotel inMiami; is producing massive amounts of new products and artist partnerships; and is stepping up efforts in her own e-commerce to include limited-edition pieces created in collaboration with artists and artisans she has worked with in the past. Not to mention the drawings for the construction of a new 60 meter yacht "probably the most detailed project I've ever done" - and several other mixed-use productions. Sounds kind of insane, doesn't it? Not for Wearstler. "I have about 60 people working in my studio now, and we make a very accurate selection of projects," she says. "We're definitely a boutique company, and I want it to remain boutique."

The best way to think about the designer would not be to compare her to a New York architect or an industrial designer like Philippe Starck . Instead, it's best to think of this slender angeline as a modern-day Walt Disney in skirts. No type of work seems out of reach, everything is kept under lock and key when it comes to your adherence to a kind of personalized brand vision, fueled by a loyal team of partners and collaborators. Leading by example, and turning to Hollywood industry territory, his studio's latest department is dedicated to renderings in visual effects and video projects. In March, she starred in a video created by her team that imagines a fantastical futuristic mega-garage in the southern California desert for GM's new electric Hummer SUV. It's part war between the two, part luxury real estate video, and all very Kelly. "I would never have thought that I would work on reinterpreting a new car," she says. ''It's nice,'' he continues, in typical Californian fashion, persistently optimistic. 'You never know who's going to call you.'

Wearstler was born and raised in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the daughter of a young fan of vintage design and decor who did odd jobs selling vintage pieces and an engineer with a "mathematical brain." Somewhat isolated from the high culture of her small hometown, she was inspired by fashion and design and went on to devour magazines; but had little access to high-quality design, so he went to study graphic design in Boston. Thanks to a handsome architecture student, a colleague of hers at the university studio, Wearstler had the idea of taking architecture classes, which led her to do a double degree and encouraged her to spend her free time in New York, where she absorbed like a sponge design culture. "My projects really have graphic quality, and I think that's where it all came from." After those years in Boston, he continued with classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York, while working as an assistant to graphic designer Milton Glaser (who would later become famous for the iconic "I Love New York" logo).

In addition, Wearstler worked as a waitress to support herself and pay her student loan: "I loved the social aspect of it," she recalls, once again adding a positive twist to a past that others would grudgingly recall.

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After moving to Los Angeles to pursue design in the film industry, Wearstler continued to wait tables until a friend of a friend needed help with a dining room in Venice Beach. One order led to another, and soon she had enough funds to open her first studio, a tiny space in La Brea. His big break came with the renovation of the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. It started when she met the contractor (and her future husband) Brad Korzen, through a friend and actress she had known as a waitress, and helped him redo the common areas of his properties. When he started working at the hotel with a group of investors, she managed to convince them to pass the baton to her. When it reopened in 1999, this mid-century hotel returned to its glory days. Marilyn Monroe had lived there—and in turn, the key element of Wearstler's aesthetic was born: a pleasing reinterpretation of Hollywood Regency-style glamor that felt contemporary, livable, and luxurious.

Then, in 2004, her book Modern Glamour made Wearstler a media darling, and she used those pages not only to sell her designs, but to put herself in the spotlight - something unusual at that time for someone so young, glamorous and naturally at ease in front of the camera. (His early books, which often featured Wearstler in different dresses and fashion references, could be taken as an omen of his current Instagram star status, with over 1 million followers.)

Later, Wearstler's restaurant at Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York prompted an invitation from the retailer to create her first store-in-store space and sell her own creations there. In just six months, she conceived her entire retail concept by drawing ideas from the bespoke pieces she had created for residential customers and other vintage finds - and the New York branch launched a new era for her career as a product designer, which it continues to expand to this day. The Bergdorf store would last 10 years.

The rest is design history. Wearstler shifted the balance of visual culture in the United States to the West Coast, years before being "cool" and moving to Los Angeles. That very kitschy city was ready to be reinvented, and the young designer pioneered it. Not that it was easy. “It was hard to find good and talented people in LA during the beginning of her career. “It was a really difficult and stressful time.” Today she is something of a supporter of the Angelina scene, as one of her many recent jobs was as a guest editor. from Louis Vuitton's Guide to Los Angeles, this fall issue.Your advice on visiting the city?“It's a mix of ups and downs,” she says, sometimes bemoaning the loss of the many boutiques she used to frequent as a young designer back then. At the time, she always drove around town, loading her trunk with antiques to use in her projects. "I love the east side of town; it reminds me of the LA that existed when I moved here. In addition to his contributions to GM's "likes" for the Hummer, his keen eye has extended to the four corners of the design world: a line of paint colors for the historic British brand Farrow & Ball; a series of small sculptures that look like melted disco balls from the Hungarian art collection Rotganzen, sold on its own website; and Transcendence, its latest line of furniture and accessories, which includes striped dining tables made of wood and a series of resin pieces that are coated in walnut and look like they're made of clay. She loves to promote her collaborations and use her hard-earned fame to boost others' businesses. "I love being their megaphone," she says.

In addition to her many hotel designs and endless collaborations, one of Wearstler's most inviting and intriguing projects was her own Malibu beach house, which she lived in for eight months during the pandemic, so the family could be close to the water. during isolation (she also surfs, of course). The property, from 1953, was in an extraordinary condition, very close to the original. "It was such a special house," she says. "It has a very special energy." The house has already been sold, but photos of the space - cozy, with a mid-20th century atmosphere, lots of Italian influence and natural materials illustrate in detail how much the designer has evolved in her 20-year career, while most of her contemporaries simply hit the "repeat" button and it produced the same thing over and over, year after year.

Has the pandemic started to slow Kelly Wearstler? Of course not. Her latest obsession is tennis, which she plays with her children. This true dynamo works out for two hours a day, often starting with tennis lessons at 6 am and following up with pilates before lunch. "I function well being busy," she says. "I don't do nothing. Never.

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