Kelly Wearstler is an interior designer living in the United States. She attended Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and took architectural classes. She graduated with a diploma in interior and graphic design. Today, she is the founder and principal of her design firm, Kelly Wearstler Interior Design, which creates spaces for residential, commercial, retail, and does product designs.
She has been awarded prestigious awards and listings such as Elle Décor’s A-List, Architectural Digest’s AD100, AD France AD100, AD Spain Top International Designer, Wallpaper Magazine Top 20 Designers, Time Magazine The Design 100, and she has five published books. But today, we’re going to explore an interview named “Inside Kelly Wearstler’s Interior Design Studio,” which is about the successful designer where she speaks not about her life and the awards she has received, but about her office and the way she works.
Interior of Kelly Wearstler’s Interior Design Studio
Kelly Wearstler opted for the open office plan rather than the traditional office plan for her design studio. In the office, each workgroup and unit have a different desk. For instance, they have a home decorative table, a project table, and a jewelry table, and she declares that she prefers to stand in the middle of those tables and round around rather than sitting on her desk.
The office is also full of boards, which includes inspirations for different projects that are going on. Thus, various departments are having an idea of what each other is doing, which increases the quality of production and creativity. This layout chosen by Kelly Wearstler for her office is currently preferred by startups and new establishments in many different industries, and old companies are gradually trying to transition to this model too.
Kelly Wearstler’s Liaison with Factories
The second topic the interviewer touched on is what drives Kelly Wearstler while choosing materials since her brand becomes prominent by using bold colors and making unique material combinations. Wearstler mentions that while spending time in factories where materials are produced, she finds different materials and inspirations. She believes that knowing how the materials are produced gives her a vision for using them in different places and combinations.
She also states that all of the products and jewelry that belong to the Kelly Wearstler brand are produced in Los Angeles. The design studio has to be nearby the production facilities since they create unique and innovative designs that require extra care and supervision in the production phase.
Stones as a Way of Storytelling
Kelly Wearstler sees nature as the best designer. Therefore, natural stones are an indispensable part of Wearstler’s designs. However, in Kelly Wearstler’s design studio, these splendid materials, that have been taken from nature, are processed with their own styles and by adding their own DNA.
On the other hand, the brand Kelly Wearstler is known for boxes and stones. As previously mentioned, Wearstler goes for natural materials. To her, using stones is a way of telling a story aside from being jewelry for the home. Hence, she holds a collection of stones from all around the world. She keeps all minerals, semi-precious stones, and marbles in drawers in an orderly manner in the office. When they are ready to be used, they can be easily found and applied. Therefore, her accessibility to many different stones allows her to use them picturesquely in her designs with ease.
Kelly Wearstler’s Personal Life
Kelly Wearstler is the mother of two children, besides managing one of the most prominent design firms in Los Angeles. She gets up at 5.30 AM every day, goes to the gym, then leaves her children to school and comes to work. In this busy pace, she can always find time for her children, and even at those times, she is not far from being a designer.
Wearstler feels that her children are also interested in design, and while she is teaching them about designing, they are teaching her too. For instance, while designing a library for her children at the house, she combined her style with her children’s spirit, just like she does to her customers, and this process challenged and taught her. Herewith, it can be said that Wearstler, like any successful designer, is never off duty. She is contributing to the production process and creativity by being in constant learning and observation.
Key Takeaways From The Interview | Kelly Wearstler Interior Design
The interview contained useful information for designers and prospective designers. For example, seeing what kind of office organization a successful design office uses were very enlightening for architects who dream of opening an office in the future or newly graduated architects trying to decide what kind of establishment they want to be involved with. It was also surprising to learn that Wearstler’s firm had the products manufactured in Los Angeles factories.
Today, in the furniture and jewelry industry, the production has shifted towards China and Asian countries due to cheap labor. Kelly Wearstler’s studio has managed to be successful in the market despite its high prices by paying attention to the quality of the products rather than the cost. It might be an inspiring strategy for the ones who value quality.
Finally, I attribute Kelly Wearstler’s success to her constant observations that feed her creativity. She could even interpret the time she spent with his children through the eyes of a designer. Although these inspiring interviews are guiding, I remember the feelings I got when I watched interviews with successful designers; therefore, I want to remind young designers of a thing that I often forget too. Don’t make yourself feel bad or guilty if you do not get up at 5:30 AM or do not lose yourself to work. The key to being successful can be something else for everyone. The only thing we can do is to keep producing at our maximum. Following that, I believe success will come eventually.
If you are interested in Kelly Wearstler and her design studio, here is the YouTube video of the interview:
