Kelly Wearstler x H&M HOME: Inside the New 29-Piece Collection
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
Let me introduce you to Kelly Wearstler - a renowned interior designer with genuine celebrity kudos. And by that, I don’t simply mean that she designs the homes of celebrities. Having graced the covers and pages of leading interior and fashion magazines including Architectural Digest and Harper’s Bazaar, Kelly has become a celebrity in her own right - a multi-hyphenate with a global lifestyle brand. She is a member of the AD100 Hall of Fame, has appeared on the Elle Decor A-List and Wallpaper’s Top 20 Designers, and is the founder of an eponymous Los Angeles-based studio working across architecture, design, curation and creative direction.
I am the proud owner of one of Kelly’s books, Evocative Style, and have been a big fan of her work since a trip to Los Angeles where I visited a couple of the hotels where she worked her magic. Kelly first made her mark in the hospitality world with the Avalon Beverly Hills before going on to shape the interiors of several Viceroy hotels across the US. More recently, she has designed the Proper hotels in San Francisco, Santa Monica, Austin and Downtown LA, with each property designed to reflect its location through a distinctive mix of art, vintage pieces, colour and texture. A perfect example is the stunning Santa Monica Proper, which I also visited, with its interiors drawing inspiration from the organic colours, textures and relaxed feel of the Californian coast.
Hotels have always been a huge source of inspiration for my own interiors, so it’s worth checking out the websites of the Viceroy and Proper hotels to see Kelly’s work. If you would like to discover more about Kelly, she has authored six interior design books and writes a column for Harper’s Bazaar Netherlands. You can explore her interior projects, shop her very own luxury design pieces on her website, Kelly Wearstler, and sign up to her Wearstlerworld Substack for her Wednesday newsletter about design, fashion, travel, influences, rationales and limitlessness.
Kelly is recognised for her bold, expressive aesthetic and for helping to redefine modern maximalism. Now, for the first time, her distinctive design vision is accessible to a much wider audience through her collaboration with Swedish brand H&M HOME. This is not the first collab for Kelly, as she has a longstanding partnership with textile house Lee Jofa, as well as The Rug Company. She also created a palette of eight paint colours for Farrow & Ball inspired by California. Perhaps the most unforgettable collaboration was her limited-edition series of hand-sculpted, mirrored melting disco-ball artworks created with Dutch art collective Rotganzen.
In this article, I’ll take you inside the new Kelly Wearstler x H&M HOME 29-piece collection, highlighting some of the key pieces, materials and design ideas behind the range.
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
H&M HOME has always been one of my go-to stores for all sorts of decorative pieces and soft furnishings for my home. Launched in 2009, it has grown to become a favourite for stylish yet affordable home decor, soft furnishings and furniture. Described as a design-led interiors brand with products for every room, you’ll find earthy-toned ceramics, textured linen cushions, wool throws, stone tableware, woven baskets, sculptural lamps and more. Their furniture range includes accent chairs, sofas and bar stools, which I was delighted to discover when looking for stools for my own kitchen. H&M HOME products have a high-end feel without the designer price tag.
This Kelly Wearstler collection marks a real evolution for H&M HOME, introducing furniture and home decor within a designer collaboration for the very first time. Alongside the modular furniture are sculptural lamps, vases and decorative objects, all designed to work together to create a complete interior. The collaboration with Kelly brings her distinctive design aesthetic to a wider audience at more accessible prices.
At the heart of the Kelly Wearstler x H&M HOME collection is the idea of furniture that has the flexibility to adapt and evolve. Rather than every piece having a single purpose, several of the designs can be combined in different ways to suit a space, such as side tables placed together to create a larger sculptural piece. The collection made its debut this spring at Milan Design Week alongside some of the most exciting and cutting-edge designs from around the world, with the presentation taking place in Palazzo Acerbi, a spectacular 17th-century Baroque palace. Now the wait is almost over, with the collection due to launch online and in selected stores globally on 3 September. You can also check out the H&M HOME website here.
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
One of the key ideas behind the collection is versatility, with the hero furniture pieces designed to be modular so they can be combined in different ways. Kelly believes that furniture is not just something to be admired but something to live with over time, supporting identity, movement and mood. Take the ORTRA sofa table pictured here, which can be used as a stand-alone table or combined with others to create a generously sized round table. The SOLUNA lounge chairs, when multiplied, easily create a sofa with cloud-like volumes, while two plush POMA accent chairs can be coupled to create a loveseat. In contrast to the curves, the AVERN armchair has a more angular, faceted shape, giving it a sculptural yet inviting presence.
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
The collection started with the vase and, as Kelly puts it, was designed to feel fresh and innovative, with interesting materiality. Keen to create sculptural pieces that feel expressive, tactile and designed to endure, Kelly has given the dramatic black CURVA vases strong silhouettes and oversized handles. They’ll add presence to any room and are as much works of art as they are vases. I have already reserved a space on my mantelpiece! I’ll style mine with upright or cascading blooms like the orchids pictured here.
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
Mixed materials play an important role in the collection, with wood, metal, marble, ceramics and textiles ensuring each piece is as tactile as it is visually striking. Hard natural textures, like the richly veined marble table and smooth ceramic lamp, contrast beautifully against the softness of the upholstery. It’s the combination of these different materials that gives the collection both depth and character. The marble table, with its distinctive veining, adds another layer of texture, as do the swirls of the ceramic MORRA lamp.
Photo credit: H&M HOME
Lighting is an important part of an interior and, as the aim was to create a collection that could furnish an entire room, lamps were essential. The EMERA, featured here, is one of three different lighting designs and combines a cage frame with a textile base. The AUREX has a striking metal silhouette and is pictured below, while the ceramic MORRA can be seen in the first image of the article, held by Kelly, as well as on the marble table pictured earlier. Each of these three stunning designs is available in two sizes.
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
Objects can completely shape a space, and throughout the collection, artisanal craftsmanship brings the forms to life, with angular solid forms sitting alongside soft curves. These black and natural wood pieces are a good example of how functional furniture can have a strong sculptural quality. The AUREX metal lamp is another architectural element and one of the three lighting designs in the collection. Its bold silhouette gives it a strong visual presence while also casting light.
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
If you don’t have room for larger-scale furniture, you can still introduce a piece of Kelly Wearstler design into your home with some of the smaller objects in the collection. Sculptural pieces like the COVA candle holders bring her design aesthetic into a room and act as decorative pieces that help style and finish a space. Group them together, mixing the lower form with the taller candle holder to create height and balance. You could display one as a stand-alone piece, arrange them in odd numbers for a more relaxed look, or use a pair for something more symmetrical.
Photo credit: Sean Thomas/ H&M HOME
Interior design and fashion are intrinsically linked, and Kelly believes that the two go hand in hand. Alongside the 29-piece interiors collection, she has designed a stunning eight-piece capsule fashion collection, as seen here on her MONA clothing rack, which is also part of the H&M HOME range. Although Kelly is best known for her interiors, she previously launched her own ready-to-wear line in 2011. With a coordinating palette of black, white and burgundy, if you're as mad about fashion as you are about interiors, this is definitely one not to miss.
LET’S SUM UP
I hope you are as excited as I am about the launch of the Kelly Wearstler x H&M HOME collection on 3 September. Click here to discover more about the collaboration and see the products as soon as they become available.
Further reading
If you enjoyed this article, you might like my interior inspiration feature where you can discover how interiors and fashion can influence each other: Interior Inspiration: Where to Find Beautiful Home Decor Ideas. Other interior spotlight features include: How Miffy Became a Design Icon in Interiors and Fashion, where you will meet Miffy the bunny who is both a children’s favourite and a global design icon. You might also like to take a tour of the home of interior designer Katie Fischer in Styling a Beautiful, Timeless Home: Inside Interior Designer Katie Fischer’s Curated Home Décor World
I’m Sandra, an interior writer, stylist, photographer for interior magazines and a Sunday Times best-selling author, sharing ideas to help you style your home with confidence and ease.
If you love interiors and want your home to feel stylish, pulled together, yet still personal, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll be sharing styling advice to help you edit, layer, and finish your home with confidence, alongside articles on what’s happening in the interiors world — from design events and colour stories to features on interior gurus.
I also take you on tours of beautifully styled homes from around the world, offering inspiration and styling ideas to steal for your own space. Ultimately, I’ll show you how a little bit of styling can be transformational and take your home to a whole new level.
