Hospitality Design - July 2017 - 166

Filifera, the wraparound rooftop bar at
Hollywood Proper Residences

KELLY
WEARSTLER
Founder
Kelly Wearstler Studio
Los Angeles
Growing up in South Carolina with a designer mother, Kelly
Wearstler was destined for a colorful, creative life, so it came as
no surprise when she enrolled and studied interior design at the
Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Between classes, she
waited tables by night and worked relentlessly in her studio in the
morning, which she credits for making her a great multitasker.
Today, her eponymous lifestyle brand with curated collections
from furniture to jewelry and objets d'art is eclectic, exuding her
spontaneous spirit and love of adventure. Her inherently chic style
(outside of design, her sartorial fearlessness is revered) is whimsical
yet soulful, and "a juxtaposition of so many different loves, with
art and fashion among them," she says. "Fashion has definitely
taught me to treat materiality in a different way. I pay so much
attention to the hand of things, the feel and detail of the tailoring,
in everything that I design, discover, and experience." Even her
flagship boutique on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, which sells
luxury goods and furniture, among other curiosities and original
designs from Wearstler's collection, offers a glimpse of her signature
flair with stone embellished hardware and a blend of vintage and
contemporary pieces.
She's worked on many high-profile projects, including the Four
Seasons Anguilla (formerly the Viceroy), the Tides South Beach,
and Viceroys in Santa Monica and Miami with her husband hotel
developer Brad Korzen of the Kor Group. But none like last year's
$2 million renovation of the Avalon Hotel Beverly Hills, a passion
project that "was the first hotel I ever designed [in 1999]. It was the
start of what would become an incredible journey into hospitality,"
she notes. Now, with a Palm Springs location, the boutique

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collection is under Kor's newly launched
Proper Hospitality. In true Hollywood
fashion, she gave facelifts to all 84
guestrooms (think European oak floors),
as well as the public spaces, including
Viviane restaurant for Bombet Group
and chef Michael Hung. The elegant
space centered around a cabana-lined
pool draws inspiration from the '50s and
'60s with vintage furniture, pastel hues, and
playful geometric patterns.
Wearstler is also spearheading the design
of Kor's Proper Hotels and Residences, a brand
recently launched in 2015. "There's a desire to deliver
higher-end, captivating, contemporary spaces that resonate
with the sophisticated Millennial," she says. "This includes
designing more intimate creative hubs and workspaces, and
providing amenities with creative and cultural energy-authentic
experiences for a more upscale creative traveler." Expect
Wearstler's signature warm, residentially informed, curated
aesthetic throughout the spaces. In the upcoming San Francisco
hotel, for instance, housed in a historic 1926 Flatiron-shaped
building clad in brick, stone, and terracotta, she mixed premodernist European influences with vintage finds and pieces by
local artists throughout the classic salon-inspired lounge, a Cubistinformed restaurant, and 191 guestrooms, designed as pieds-à-terre
with a blend of French, Italian, and urban elements. Residences-
created for short and longer stays and decked out with hotel-like
amenity spaces-are already open in Hollywood, and in the next
two years, expect more hotels in downtown LA, Austin (with
residences), and Santa Monica. "Every city is our muse for creating
a 'proper' stay in each destination," she adds.
Wearstler's never-ending creativity comes from her
consciousness of living, her need for travel, and natural disposition,
all of which provide her the ability to "always remain open to
new colors, forms, textures, artists, and furniture whenever I am
traveling, being aware of my surroundings, and doing research,
whether it is reading a book or exploring at a museum," she says.
"That allows me to find the beauty in all that I see and translate it
into my work."
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