Kelly's first clients were apartments, condominiums, and homeowners seeking to put some flair into their living spaces. I would document the results on film loaded into Nikon bodies, usually with a Nikkor 28mm locked down on a tripod with a cable release. When the project was completed, we would often do a carefully crafted environmental portrait of Kelly in her creation.
It was obvious early on that Kelly's genius went far beyond an innate sense of style. Her ability to instantly match seemingly unrelatable furniture, clothing, and art pieces across every period of the design, fashion, and art worlds is almost unfathomable.
Those sensibilities combined with graphic design studies at the Massachusetts College of Art and internships with Cambridge Seven Associates and Milton Glaser (who created the iconic I Love NY logo with a heart replacing the word love) gave Kelly a solid platform to launch her career. She opened her own design firm, Kelly Wearstler Interior Design (KWID), in 1995. Throughout her career, Kelly has attended art auctions and trolled the flea markets and antique stores of the world, collecting pieces that spoke to her. They might end up in her storage facility for years until the proper match or mismatch in one of her designs would call for them to be dusted off and staged en scene.
The Big Break
If I could point to a big break that put Kelly on the global stage, it would be converting a retirement home, The Beverly Carlton, into a boutique hotel.
It was a young real estate entrepreneur Brad Korzen's first foray into the hotel business.
This story is from the April 2021 edition of Lens Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2021 edition of Lens Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
IN THE SHIPYARDS OF DHAKA
A very large shipyard in Dhaka is located on the Buriganga River's banks, directly across Dhaka's old city.
Aga Szydlik INDIA
A JOURNEY INTO THE LAND OF DIVERSITY, CULTURE, AND COLORS
SEBASTIAN PIÓREK EXPLORING Enjoyable LANDSCAPE
I retrieved the idea of nature closely linked to the field of human feelings.
The Extreme Macro Photography of Bees
AN INTERVIEW SAM WITH, DROEGE
JEAN KAROTKIN GYMNOPEDIES
Gymnopédies, Karotkin's ongoing series of botanical portraits, takes its name from a trio of piano compositions by 19th-century French composer Erik Satie.
BUTTERFLIES IN LOVE WITH FLOWERS
I sometimes think Chinese art is not fully appreciated in the West. I was exposed to it growing up in Australia, although my fascination was more with calligraphy.
Lissa Hahn:
Hahn: HOW TO EVOKE A PAVLOVIAN RESPONSE IN HUMANS
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ELENA PARASKEVA
Elena Paraskeva is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning Conceptual Photographer and Art Director and, most recently, an official ADOBE instructor.
From a Living Hell to Heaven on Earth: the Inhumanity and Humanity of Humans
In a remote area of western Wisconsin, dogs and cats who otherwise would have ended up on death row are given a reprieve. They can now live out their lives in peace and comfort and with companionship at Home for Life (HFL), which was not afforded them outside the sanctuary's gates.
The Art of DISAPPEARING
In the classical proposal, indigenous people are usually the topic of discussion, but rarely do they have a hand in shaping it.
