How Kelly Wearstler Is Breaking the Net with Her Asian Design Influence

Since the inception of her design firm Kelly Wearstler Interior Design (KWID) in the mid-1990’s, Kelly Wearstler has been consistently recognized as one of the best interior designers in the world. Her remarkable interiors – including hotel chains and celebrity homes – have influenced design in commercial, hospitality, retail, and high-end residential spaces.

In assembling a global selection of pieces under her luxury lifestyle brand, the fashionable influencer demonstrates a flair for juxtaposing style periods and cultures. Although rarely emphasized in discussions of her work, an awareness of Asian design informs much of her interiors are shown incredibly in her recent content posts in Social Media.

Kelly Wearstler’s creative process is centered around allowing each location to tell its own story through her thoughtful framing and interpretation. Her travels, including visits to vintage shops and art galleries all over the world, imbue her approach with a multicultural sensibility. Nowhere is this more evident than in the mid-century Malibu home in Broad Beach recently renovated by Kelly Wearstler, which she lovingly refers to as a “vintage surf shack”. European furnishings and decorations are placed amid panels of warm, honey-colored wood, tropical plants, and Japanese screen doors and ceilings, giving the interior an effortless Asian charm. Table settings featuring rustic stoneware dishes and bamboo steamers for dimsum enhance the interior’s mellow, welcoming atmosphere.

Elsewhere, Kelly Wearstler’s interiors feature Western and Asian design elements in dialogue with each other. Elements of Oriental Art Deco are apparent in the interior of the Madison Residence, and the Westfield Century City building in the West Coast features the Japanese design elements of noguchi-inspired landscaping, water features, and sculptures. Kelly Wearstler’s bold reinventions bring a long-awaited, fresh perspective to Asian design.