Kelly Wearstler’s Gallery is growing through new collaborations

If you’ve ever coveted one of the many statement-making objects that Kelly Wearstler frequently installs within her glamorous, high-octane projects, then the designer’s expansion of her in-house gallery arm will be a flood for the senses. Building on a series of one-off collaborations that Wearstler unveiled over the course of the last year, Gallery makes a fresh splash with exclusive product collections by eight artists and designers from around the world, newly created with her input and guidance. 

The essence of Wearstler’s memorable environments, which span the residential, commercial and hospitality worlds, can often be found in her choice of provocative and often one-of-a-kind pieces that blur the line between form and function. Her expanded vision for Gallery underscores the importance of the collectible and serves as a meeting point for international talent, emerging names and design in all forms. 

As we’ve discovered from our previous conversations with Kelly Wearstler, collaboration with other creatives is a key part of her process. 

‘I launched this initiative as I wanted to share the artists that inspire me most with my community around the world,’ she explained when the platform first debuted. ‘These collaborations offer me the opportunity to work with a range of talent that I have always admired. One of my favourite aspects of my work is collaborating with different artists and designers, as I have the chance to expand my knowledge, pushing my creative boundaries as I learn new ways to approach craft and design. I am constantly learning and developing as a designer.’

In its reaffirmed form, Gallery brings together the work of creatives including the Detroit-based ceramicist and sculptor Ebitenyefa Baralaye, whose terracotta sculptures nod to text, symbols and forms drawn from the diaspora and translated into a contemporary context, the Nashville multidisciplinary artist Amelia Briggs, known for her playful inflated forms (Wearstler commissioned her to create three large, metallic mirrors), the Dutch designer Dirk van der Kooij, whose recycled plastic lamps blend craftsmanship and invention, and the South Korean ceramicist YehRim Lee who has used the traditional ‘onggi’ hand-building technique to create a series of terracotta drinks and side tables – a first for the artist.

Wearstler has infused her insight and signature aesthetic into each of these creative relationships, be it through suggestions on scale and the type of product being developed, to the way materials themselves are being used. Her expertise stems ‘from working with different artists and knowing what sells, what clients are looking for and knowing what scales work well within a project’, she explains. ‘These pieces are all unique works. While some of these artists might be represented by other galleries globally, we’ve focused on creating new works that are in partnership between the artists and myself.’

Austrian furniture designer Felix Muhrhofer (whom Wearstler has commissioned for projects in the past, and whose pieces she has acquired for her personal collection) has created a new series of tables featuring inlaid stone, this time incorporating stones from both Italy and others collected by Wearstler from the beach near her Malibu home to symbolise their relationship. 

Wearstler says, ‘A lot of Felix’s works were more delicate in scale, so working with him on scale and materiality and collaborating on something that was from his material palette, while also being inspired by LA [is where we landed.] Within all of the rocks and stones that are placed on each tabletop, I actually selected around 100 stones for this collection from Malibu, which he took and worked with. The colours are vast. I love that within each piece, you can see the stones that came from Malibu. It’s really beautiful in person.’ 

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