‘i Have Lists On Lists’: Kelly Wearstler Shares Her Secrets To Cultivating Creativity

Kelly Wearstler has a motto: “Old soul, new spirit,” she says. With a 70-person team at her Los Angeles-based studio, Wearstler is the principal and founder of a robust interior and industrial design practice. In her more than 30-year career, she’s built that business, launched a fashion line, written a few books, completed her first architectural project, and has just launched her own Substack, Wearstler World. 

A boy mom who nerds out equally at thrift stores and Fashion Week, Wearstler says her experience teaching a MasterClass showed her how powerful storytelling and community can be. She’s a creature of habit, loves a list, and unapologetically sticks to a strict morning routine that, she says, sets her up for success. Her design philosophy is akin to collecting an eclectic group of friends, wanting nothing to be too perfect, too square, too round, too new, or too old. Leveraging different disciplines, artforms, materials, and perspectives is how she strikes the balance between vintage and innovative, for which her studio is best known. 

I’ve always had a creative spirit. I grew up with strong women in my life; my mom was the most creative out of all of them. Both my grandmothers worked full-time jobs. My mom would always go to thrift stores and break at every yard sale. We’d go to Brimfield. I remember having an allowance, and fashion was my first foray into design. We would go to thrift stores and I’d say, “Oh my god, I love that belt or scarf.” It was about educating my eye and having a wandering eye, being curious, looking at things, turning them over. That’s why I love history, and things that are imperfect. Things that have soul. 

I am a creature of habit and I love organization. It’s the key to success and allows me time. I have steady routines. I get up at 5 a.m. so I have time in the morning to myself. I read the The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. I read digital magazines. I work out for an hour and half in the morning. I do my sauna and a five minute meditation at the end before I wake Crosby [her son].

When I go to the studio, I’m focused. I’m not looking at texts. I’m with my team and I’m really there. I’m a list person. I have lists on lists. I make time and plan ahead. I like being one step ahead. Unless I’m traveling, that’s where I am every day. I’m a stickler, and I want my team there, too. The most creative ideas come from sitting around a table together, laying out a set of construction documents and pinning things up on the wall. I have a home studio. After Crosby goes to bed, I’ll work some nights. It’s quiet and some great ideas come during that time.

It’s so important to go to artists’ workshops and studios. To be a good designer, you have to know how things are assembled, how things are put together. There are always discoveries to be made. That’s something they don’t teach you in school. 

It’s good to hit roadblocks; It makes you a better designer. We get to solving the problem of design—creativity or functionality—sometimes it takes a long time to figure it out. I’m about putting the pencil down and giving it a few days, really just thinking about it and going back to what the original program was. Start at the absolute beginning again. Have conversations with your team and talk it through. I’ll say to the architects, go talk to the industrial designers. The studio is a cross pollination of so many disciplines. It’s about having many voices and radical candor, being honest with everyone on your team. Saying, “I think we need to continue working on it.” We don’t have a formula. Sometimes things just take more time. The creative flow can be bumpier, but at the end of the day you have a project or product that feels unique and special.

My sources of inspiration are so far-reaching. I’ve always admired people who did many different things. I read that book, Range—it’s really good. Everything you do outside of your main profession strengthens every other thing you do. I took my team to the Petersen Automotive Museum. I discovered so many details. These low-rider cars and the storytelling that goes into every one of them. The tricks these cars can do, to the craftsmanship. Different generations of families worked on these cars for 10 years. They’re works of art; just the tooling and the paint, the embroidery on the seats. It’s phenomenal for anyone in the creative world. 

Old soul, new spirit. That’s a motto of mine. To be a good designer, you have to know history. You have to know what’s been done—styles and periods—and the talents that have moved us forward from the past. I like things that are imperfect. 

Every single project of ours, I’d say 50% is antique or vintage pieces. I dress that way; today I have an old jacket on and trousers from an emerging designer. Old soul, new spirit. Just like your friend group. The old souls and the new spirits. It makes it dynamic and interesting. We have so much to learn. That’s how I started, going to auctions and seeing furniture and lighting and art from all over the world. It’s so important. 

Jesse Lee, who is chairman of the board at Design Miami, says design is the new fashion. It’s true. It’s everywhere: graphic design, landscape, architecture or interiors. It’s how you look at things. It’s not just spaces. It’s being able to appreciate the assembly, the curation and storytelling. 

I love sharing anecdotes; I want to fuel the community with things I discover and share my knowledge. MasterClass was an unbelievable experience for me. I’ve done guest editing for Vogue Living and Wallpaper. I had a column in InStyle and loved it. I love the curation of imagery and the themes and presentation. With my Substack, Wearstler World, I wanted to pull back the curtain on the connective tissue between design, fashion, travel, and wellness. I wanted to connect all of these different elements and show the relationships between all of these categories. Media is an important part of it.