Kelly Wearstler is known for bold color choices, antique incorporation's into modern designs. Her look has been compared to the classic Hollywood Regency designers such as Dorothy Draper. Her mother was a decorator and antiques dealer, her father an engineer. She graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, where she studied interior and graphic design. She moved to Los Angeles hoping to start a movie career only to find her original direction in design and decorating. She eventually opened her design business, Kelly Wearstler Interior Design, or Kwid, in 1995
Real estate developer Brad Korzen, hired her to renovate the interiors of a few of his residential properties. She convinced him to renovate his 40's era hotel "the Avalon" in Beverly Hills, California. One hotel after another, her colorful theatrical interiors caught attention, and her career took off. The story had a good ending, she married Brad Korzen in 2002.
After the renovations of their Beverly Hills mansion in 2006, she produced a book entitled “Domicilum Decoratus,” featuring photographs of her Beverly Hills mansion, every room having a chapter of its own.
By 2008, Kelly Wearstler was asked to feature as a judge on Bravo’s “Top Design”. She caught media attention on her extravagant outfits, and how stopping hair. She has introduced lines of striking rugs, fabrics and wallpaper, as well as a unique line of gifts for Bergdorf Goodman
Art and design books have been the spark to many of her great ideas. Among her favorites are as follows:
Goodbye Picasso
“The Bathroom: A New Interior,” published in 1931
THE HERMES SHOP WINDOWS: TALES OF A WANDERER
Shell: Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design
“Aquarial Fish” by Keith Banister
“Minerals: Nature’s Fabulous Jewels,”
A Specimen Book of Pattern Papers Designed For and In Use at the Curwen Press.
Hue
Modern Glamour: The Art of Unexpected Style
