Interior, product and fashion designer Kelly Wearstler has teamed up with Visual Comfort to debut her first line of lighting at High Point Market this October. Wearstler drew upon her love of mixed metals, stones and unique textures while creating the new line.
“This collection draws upon various periods of design with each piece using a different creative approach,” said Wearstler. “I could easily envision mixing and matching the various pieces within one of my own residential projects. Some are loud statement pieces and others possess a quieter point-of-view. There is a hierarchy of voices.”
Kelly Wearstler
The collection is characterized by the designer’s “raw and refined” aesthetic and features a range of materials including ceramics, marble, alabaster, textured bronze, silver, gunmetal paired with cast glass and hand-selected natural stones. It is comprised of ceiling chandeliers, pendants and flush mounts, wall sconces, table lamps and floor lamps.
“I tried to draw upon my experience creating jewelry, incorporating fine detailing and signature textures. I think this really makes all the difference,” said Wearstler. “The designs are classic in form but they still feel modern and distinctive.”
Rendering of Weartsler's Precision design
Read on to learn more about each of the eight collections:
Zephyr draws upon Wearstler’s love of luxurious textures and iconic architectural detailing. Pieces include sconces, table lamps and linear pendants.
Mélange is inspired by Wearstler’s love of natural stone and luxurious metals. The sculptural carved alabaster pieces set against natural bronze have a jewelry-like setting that is both decadent and raw.
Liaison is inspired by the light fixtures Wearstler designed for her own design studio offices in Los Angeles. This collection is flush with grandeur and soulful architectural design in natural bronze and cast textured glass.
Covet draws upon Wearstler’s passion for stone and metalsmithing (techniques fine-tuned from years of designing jewelry) with raw natural stones mounted in a signature natural bronze prong setting.
Precision features perforated metal in a rich natural bronze finish, and is born out of a love of architecture and the interplay of light over form. These perforations, a signature design element within Wearstler’s practice, diffuse and reflect light to create a moody elegance.
Utopia calls upon Wearstler’s love of nature and features topographic and organic forms inspired by California’s coastal landscape. The carved bronze detail is a technique the designer first developed in her jewelry collections—here, reinvented with cast “shard glass.”
The Strada collection appears delicate and ethereal, drawing inspiration from Wearstler’s signature kaleidoscope design. Each sculptural piece, with a seemingly random array of planes, plays with cast shadow to evoke a soft sophistication.
The abstract and boldly kinetic Cubist collection is inspired by Wearstlers’s love of Alexander Calder’s “Mobiles” and how they react to the environment. These three-dimensional geometric sculptures also utilize the interplay between material, light and shadow, and negative space.
During High Point Market (Oct 18 – 23) the new Kelly Wearstler Lighting Collection for Visual Comfort & Co. will be presented at the showroom, located in the Commerce & Design Building, 2G. Consumers will be able to purchase the products starting next summer.
Additionally, Wearstler will be launching a new furniture collection in partnership with EJ Victor, to debut during High Point Market in April 2015. Stay tuned for additional information.
