Kelly Wearstler on What Waiting Tables Taught Her About Design
The Los Angeles designer and entrepreneur joins Imran Amed on The BoF Podcast to trace her journey from scouring Myrtle Beach flea markets to running a 60-person studio — and to make her case for why a chair from H&M can be made as well as one from a luxury house.
Kelly Wearstler, the renowned designer, shared her early life experiences that shaped her design career on The BoF Podcast. Born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, she was raised by fiercely independent women who exposed her to thrift stores, flea markets, and auctions. These formative experiences laid the foundation for her future interests in design and aesthetics.
At the age of five or six, Kelly began creating drawings and sculptures from cans and cartons, often selling them with price tags at family gatherings. Her first job came at the age of 13, and she went on to study graphic design in Boston before apprenticing with the famous designer Milton Glaser in New York. Kelly's career trajectory took her to Los Angeles, where she started working as a waitress at a Beverly Hills restaurant.
It was during this time that a regular customer became her first client, marking the beginning of her successful design career. Today, Kelly's design studio is a bustling hub with 60 employees and six different verticals, including interiors, architecture, licensing, creative direction, a gallery, and a Substack newsletter. In a recent episode of The BoF Podcast, Kelly discussed her journey of advocating for herself, even before she had an established track record.
She also shared insights on how waiting tables taught her valuable lessons about designing restaurants and her innovative use of artificial intelligence within her studio.
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