Speaker 1: Your home reflects who you are. You know, what are
Speaker 1: you collecting, and it's just like how you dress. It's
Speaker 1: such an important part of who we are. This is
Speaker 1: Kelly Whistler.
Speaker 2: She's the famed interior designer of private residences and boutique hotels.
Speaker 1: We were doing three hotels at one time, and I
Speaker 1: was burning the midnight oil and then you lose a
Speaker 1: team because they're burnt out. Saying no is just as
Speaker 1: important to saying yes.
Speaker 2: I think that's great life advice and design advice. Before
Speaker 2: we jump into this episode, I'd like to invite you
Speaker 2: to join this community to hear more interviews that will
Speaker 2: help you become happier, healthier, and more healed. All I
Speaker 2: want you to do is click on the subscribe button.
Speaker 2: I love your support. It's incredible to see all your
Speaker 2: comments and we're just getting started. I can't wait to
Speaker 2: go on this journey with you. Thank you so much
Speaker 2: for subscribing. It means the world to me.
Speaker 3: The best selling authoring the host the.
Speaker 2: Number one healthy wellness.
Speaker 3: Podcast on Purpose with Jay Shetty.
Speaker 2: Today's guest is a dear friend and an incredibly powerful,
Speaker 2: multifaceted and renowned creator of experiential, residential, hospitality, commercial and
Speaker 2: retail environments, expansive collections of lifestyle product and thought provoking
Speaker 2: brand collaborations. Kelly Weisler has received awards from numerous publications
Speaker 2: and organizations, including Architectural Digests, eighty one hundred, Hall of Fame,
Speaker 2: Elder Cores, The A List, Titans, Wallpaper Magazines, Top twenty Designers,
Speaker 2: and Time Magazines, The Design one hundred, and Vogue's Best
Speaker 2: Dressed List. Kelly has just launched a new book with
Speaker 2: Rissolue titled Synchronicity. Synchronicity features her most recent work for
Speaker 2: Proper hotels as well as several private homes. Please welcome
Speaker 2: to the show, Kelly Wistler. Kelly, I'm really happy to
Speaker 2: be with you because I've had so many special offline
Speaker 2: interactions with you, and I've always loved them because you
Speaker 2: always have this really bright, really light energy about you,
Speaker 2: and you know, we'll bump into each other in one
Speaker 2: of the beautiful hotel projects you've worked on, or we
Speaker 2: bumped into each other at mutual friends homes, or you've
Speaker 2: been here too, and I've just always appreciated just how
Speaker 2: thoughtful that you are, how reflective you and I've been
Speaker 2: really looking forward to this, so thank you so much
Speaker 2: for doing it.
Speaker 3: Honestly, Oh thank you, Jay.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm so honored to be here and be one
Speaker 1: of your guests and sitting here with you super excited.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, let's dive in. The question I want to
Speaker 2: start with you is can design make you happy?
Speaker 3: Yes? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the most beautiful parts of
Speaker 1: my jobs is making people happy, which is like I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't. I can't believe I get paid for what
Speaker 1: I do because it's making people happy and inspiring people.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's nothing better than designing a hotel
Speaker 1: and going in time and time again and seeing people
Speaker 1: laughing and having fun and listening to music and seeing
Speaker 1: them time and time again, you know, whether they're there
Speaker 1: as a leaser traveler or business traveler, and knowing that's
Speaker 1: their place, that's a local venue for them, just makes
Speaker 1: me feel so good.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I've been to two of your projects, the one
Speaker 2: in Austin the proper hotel there, and the one downtown
Speaker 2: in LA and they are just spectacular and you're so right.
Speaker 2: Like I remember when I walked in last year, we
Speaker 2: were going to watch f one and so come into
Speaker 2: the Austin and I bumped into you and you were
Speaker 2: listening to the podcast you showed it, Yeah, which is amazing.
Speaker 2: I loved it. And then I just looked at this
Speaker 2: one place behind the steps and you have all these
Speaker 2: most beautiful collected like pots and vases and like they're
Speaker 2: just they're so simply and beautifully kept on this like
Speaker 2: this kind of step. I've known you.
Speaker 3: Have such a good memory.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a picture of on my phone, Like
Speaker 2: it's it's stunning, and it's so interesting to me because
Speaker 2: I think I underestimate growing up just how much spaces
Speaker 2: and esthetics affect on mind. And today is someone who
Speaker 2: wants to live an intentional, mindful life. I find that
Speaker 2: design and interiors and aesthetics play such a big part
Speaker 2: in the mood we experience and how we feel throughout
Speaker 2: the day. What do you think it is about design
Speaker 2: that does make people happy or sad or drain energy
Speaker 2: or bring energy or like you just said, you walk
Speaker 2: into space and people are connecting versus isolated, Like what
Speaker 2: is it about design that's doing What have you learned
Speaker 2: about design?
Speaker 1: People want to see and experience something they haven't seen before,
Speaker 1: and that's what you know, I love doing at for example,
Speaker 1: a hotel project, and they also want to feel a location.
Speaker 1: And you know when you travel to say Austin, Texas
Speaker 1: and you remember those beautiful the pottery on the stabs,
Speaker 1: I mean all those were designed by local artisans. So
Speaker 1: really bringing like this local experience and this authentic experience
Speaker 1: to you know, wherever we design, and you know, all
Speaker 1: of our projects are you know, very site specific, and
Speaker 1: you know, getting very close to our client and really
Speaker 1: understanding and listening to what the client you know, intentions are.
Speaker 1: There are going to be no surprises, and they're going
Speaker 1: to love to be in their environment and it's going
Speaker 1: to in turn make them happy.
Speaker 3: And inspire them.
Speaker 1: And we all want to live a better life, and
Speaker 1: we all want to look better in our clothing. And
Speaker 1: it's the same thing at home, you know, we want
Speaker 1: to surround ourselves with things that are familiar and make
Speaker 1: us happy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I've got a lot of friends in my life
Speaker 2: right now who are trying to redecorate or redesign their homes,
Speaker 2: which can be such a challenging thing to do. You
Speaker 2: obviously worked on some private homes, obviously work on hotels
Speaker 2: and so many other spaces. But if someone's listening right
Speaker 2: now and they're thinking Kelly, like, you know, the book
Speaker 2: looks stunning, Like they've seen your pictures on Instagram. They're like, Wow,
Speaker 2: that living room looks spectacular. But they're thinking, you know what,
Speaker 2: maybe I don't have access to a designer. Maybe I
Speaker 2: don't have access to Kelly like, but I do now
Speaker 2: through the podcast, how do I find my creative spirit?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: How do I find that spot to start that process
Speaker 2: in my own home?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, there's something that everyone gravitates towards. And
Speaker 1: I really encourage everyone to go out to museums and
Speaker 1: go to a flea market and go to vintage stores.
Speaker 1: And I always say vintage stores because I think it's
Speaker 1: important for people to see history and see things that
Speaker 1: are soulful and that have had like this life. You know,
Speaker 1: there's like you know, I love like you know, how
Speaker 1: I design is like there's always an old soul and
Speaker 1: a new spirit.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I love a merging artist and I love contemporary artists,
Speaker 1: and that is you know, parent and everything I do.
Speaker 3: I dress that way as well.
Speaker 1: So really looking at you know, what is something you
Speaker 1: like to collect? Are you you know, interested in art
Speaker 1: and maybe starting there. You know, do you like color,
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to have color in your home, and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe that's a good.
Speaker 3: Place to start.
Speaker 1: And baby steps and pace is so important because when
Speaker 1: somebody gets their apartment and I've been there, it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited.
Speaker 3: I want to get in there and make it amazing
Speaker 3: and enjoy it right away.
Speaker 1: But you really should take your time, like it's really
Speaker 1: important because you're going to really value all the pieces
Speaker 1: and they'll spark a memory, you know. So maybe you
Speaker 1: went to a flea market with a friend and you're
Speaker 1: going to remember that day. Or you traveled with your
Speaker 1: boyfriend or husband and you found this really cool chair together,
Speaker 1: or went to a gallery.
Speaker 3: So baby stepping and being very thoughtful about what you
Speaker 3: start to curate.
Speaker 2: I really love what you said about history and vintage,
Speaker 2: and I think it's so true. I'll give an example
Speaker 2: of something that happened to me recently. So I remember
Speaker 2: a quote from Robin Sharma which I read when I
Speaker 2: was very young. He wrote a book called The Monk
Speaker 2: who Sold His Ferrari. Their quote the quote read, so
Speaker 2: it's a fiction story, and it's really funny. I read
Speaker 2: it so young but ordinary people have big TVs. Extraordinary
Speaker 2: people have big libraries, and that always inspired me. And
Speaker 2: today I'm fortunate enough to have a beautiful bookshelf in
Speaker 2: our main living room, which is like, you know, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of books I can fill in that shelf.
Speaker 2: And so what I've been doing is traveling and curating
Speaker 2: books for that by myself, because I really enjoy reading,
Speaker 2: but I also enjoyed design. I can't wait for this
Speaker 2: to be right there. While I was doing that, I
Speaker 2: was inside a store. We have a local Buck Mason
Speaker 2: store here in LA and I was inside there. They
Speaker 2: do a great curation and their curator always finds books
Speaker 2: from all over and so I was in there checking
Speaker 2: out their books and they said, Jay, you know what,
Speaker 2: if you really want books, you should go to this
Speaker 2: random vintage store down the road. And I'd never seen
Speaker 2: this store, so I start walking around. I walk past
Speaker 2: this store and it looks closed, and it looks really small,
Speaker 2: and it looks really old, and I don't see anyone
Speaker 2: in there, but I start knocking in just to make
Speaker 2: sure this lady comes out and to your the door
Speaker 2: and I say, hey, I heard you have vintage books here.
Speaker 2: I'd love to see them, and she goes, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: she binds books. You could see all these like old
Speaker 2: binding materials for like these, you know, massive book covers
Speaker 2: and all of the old machinery and tools and processes
Speaker 2: you would need. And she said, well, I don't really
Speaker 2: sell books, but we have all these books here. And
Speaker 2: she said, I'll tell you. You know, she told me a story.
Speaker 2: She was like, when I got divorced from my husband,
Speaker 2: who used to own loads of bookstores, I got half
Speaker 2: the books. So she goes, I just have thousands and
Speaker 2: thousands of books. Some of them are here most of
Speaker 2: my home. I said, well, I'd love to look through them.
Speaker 2: So I started looking through these books and I was
Speaker 2: discovering like early editions of really special books, and I was,
Speaker 2: you know, starting to make a list, and I got
Speaker 2: a whole pile out, and she she was really like
Speaker 2: she didn't care. She was like, you can take them
Speaker 2: for free. And I was like, no, no, no, I'd love
Speaker 2: to pay for them, like you know, this is such
Speaker 2: a gift. And so I paid them whatever she asked
Speaker 2: me to play for them. And then there was one
Speaker 2: book and she said, I've been looking for this book
Speaker 2: for years and she goes. I couldn't find it because
Speaker 2: it was like all these crease pages and hidden away.
Speaker 2: And she said, do you mind if I don't sell
Speaker 2: this to you, can I keep it? And I said,
Speaker 2: of course. I was like, it's your book if you
Speaker 2: can get it. Was I really wanted it. It was cool.
Speaker 2: I'd never read it, but it's a little book that
Speaker 2: was called like the Hidden Temple, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: that sounds so cool, like especially with my background. But anyway,
Speaker 2: she kept that one.
Speaker 1: I know, I know that that shop, you know, because
Speaker 1: she does bookbinding and there's very few companies that do
Speaker 1: that still, and you know the like I love going
Speaker 1: to a bookstore and just getting lost in the aisles
Speaker 1: and just randomly just pulling books out of something that
Speaker 1: I know nothing about. And there's the Strand Bookstore in
Speaker 1: New York. Love that and it's amazing bookstore. And there's
Speaker 1: so few now, there's a few downtown that are so good.
Speaker 1: But I agree like going and just digging around and
Speaker 1: exploring and discovery and and really it's all about having
Speaker 1: an open heart and being open to all the possibilities
Speaker 1: and you know, enlightening yourself.
Speaker 2: I think one of the challenges that makes it hard
Speaker 2: to do. What we're both agreeing on is that we're
Speaker 2: so used to now seeing the same thing. Like if
Speaker 2: you're on Instagram and you're following these channels, everyone's posting
Speaker 2: the same kind of interiors, the same kind of rug
Speaker 2: with the same kind of table, which there's nothing wrong
Speaker 2: with that. That's how things get mainstream and bigger and scaled.
Speaker 2: How do you challenge yourself to stay curious and try
Speaker 2: and discover new things? Like? How what do you do?
Speaker 2: What are the practical steps that you take to be
Speaker 2: open minded?
Speaker 1: I guess I'm constantly, you know, in search of something
Speaker 1: new that I'm gonna fall in love with. And I
Speaker 1: know if I go to a gallery and I'm so
Speaker 1: moved and I might see three new materials come together
Speaker 1: in this unbelievable creation and something I've never seen before,
Speaker 1: and my heart stops.
Speaker 3: It's like seeing you know, that cute guy.
Speaker 1: And just like, oh my God, like like you're just
Speaker 1: so moved and it's so inspirational to me. And it's
Speaker 1: that feeling of falling in love and you want to
Speaker 1: keep falling in love and continue to discover and there,
Speaker 1: you know, there's so many new technologies and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm inspired.
Speaker 3: By pulp culture and.
Speaker 1: AI, which is like such a huge disruptor in the
Speaker 1: you know world of everything.
Speaker 3: It's like a major earthquake happening right now.
Speaker 1: Also, all of our clients are also different, and they come,
Speaker 1: you know, they're from all over the world, and all
Speaker 1: the architectures different, and the landscape, the view from the
Speaker 1: windows different, so everything truly is one of a kind.
Speaker 1: So I'm just always searching, Like you know, I have
Speaker 1: my bar is like super high, and I just want
Speaker 1: to keep doing better and striving, you know, to be
Speaker 1: a better designer.
Speaker 3: And I kind of live that way.
Speaker 1: I want to you know, be you know the best
Speaker 1: mom I can be, the best you know wife I
Speaker 1: can be, and and you know leader at my studio
Speaker 1: for my team, you know, just being inspired and sharing,
Speaker 1: you know, my love and you know, continuing to make
Speaker 1: people happy.
Speaker 2: If there's people watching and listening right now and they're like, Kelly,
Speaker 2: I just have bad taste, like they're like, you know,
Speaker 2: I just I just don't, you know, I can't. I
Speaker 2: don't know what matches like I tribe, but it doesn't
Speaker 2: look right like if the people feel like that, like
Speaker 2: have you I'm sure, you've worked with places, people, homes,
Speaker 2: hotels where you kind of see that creative slump. What
Speaker 2: is it that you say to someone who's struggling because
Speaker 2: I just have bad taste. I can't think about this, Like,
Speaker 2: how would you encourage them to think about that?
Speaker 3: Well, nobody should.
Speaker 1: Back with all of the visuals in our world, with
Speaker 1: magazines and social media and everything, like, there's so much
Speaker 1: inspiration out there. So it's really just having an open
Speaker 1: heart and being aware and finding your passion and what
Speaker 1: you love and what moves you, like what excites me
Speaker 1: seeing something that I haven't seen before, and you can't
Speaker 1: find that unless you go out and seek it out,
Speaker 1: Like even you might find somebody it's like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I love the way they dress, or I went to
Speaker 1: this home and it was so incredible and inspirational.
Speaker 3: And it happens to me all the time. I'll go
Speaker 3: to a.
Speaker 1: Party and it's like how they set the bar and
Speaker 1: it's like wow, Like I haven't seen that, and that's
Speaker 1: really cool, and I'm going to put it in my
Speaker 1: bag of tricks for the next time I have, you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm inspired and I love it. I take photos
Speaker 1: of everything that's like my journal, Like I take photos
Speaker 1: of everything, and every month I always.
Speaker 3: Go back and look at you know, what has.
Speaker 1: Inspired me, and you know, I share it. I like
Speaker 1: to share it with you know, my team and in
Speaker 1: social media and just see you know how my I
Speaker 1: wanders and what excites me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're spot on. When I was on
Speaker 2: my tour this year, I took so many pictures around
Speaker 2: the world of stores, arts, fabriaks, textures, details, like there
Speaker 2: were so many things that I was like, wow, I
Speaker 2: would never have thought about that together.
Speaker 1: Or and there's a pattern, Like that's why you'll discover
Speaker 1: like your style, Like would you Jay, if I say
Speaker 1: what is your style?
Speaker 3: What would you say?
Speaker 2: Oh, the way I dress or the way I like.
Speaker 1: Myself does inherently because they go like how somebody dresses
Speaker 1: and before you answer that question, like I always I
Speaker 1: have clients who'll say, you know what, like I really
Speaker 1: I'm not sure exactly what I like. And I'm like, listen,
Speaker 1: we're going to go in your closet and we're going
Speaker 1: to see, like what you gravitate towards.
Speaker 3: Is it all neutral? Like do you like pattern? Do
Speaker 3: like little bits of color? Is it modern? Is it
Speaker 3: more minimalist and like the answer is there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. I'd say that my overall style is I
Speaker 2: try and wear something that's a more or not where
Speaker 2: I try everything to have more of an untraditional silhouette
Speaker 2: or something that's hopefully a bit thoughtful. I like my
Speaker 2: spaces to be very calm and very approachable, and I
Speaker 2: think about everything like a sanctuary, So I think about
Speaker 2: the energy that it has even more than the item.
Speaker 2: And I think when I'm especially putting my spaces together,
Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, well, what how do I want to
Speaker 2: feel when I walk into this room? And you know,
Speaker 2: even when we had a tiny apartment back in New York,
Speaker 2: which we lived in like the six hundred square four apartment,
Speaker 2: every corner of our apartment was thought about in that way,
Speaker 2: like what can we put in this corner to make
Speaker 2: it feel special? Or like how do we differentiate between
Speaker 2: the bedroom and the bathroom when it's like in the
Speaker 2: same space, right, Like what do you do whether it's
Speaker 2: a scent, whether it's something you see. I even think
Speaker 2: about like what's the first thing I see in the
Speaker 2: morning and what's the last thing I see at night?
Speaker 2: All of these kind of things to me are really important,
Speaker 2: And like you said, it could be an art piece,
Speaker 2: it could be pottery, it could be a picture of
Speaker 2: your family. Like I think it can be anything and everything.
Speaker 2: But I think we don't often use visual hues and esthetics.
Speaker 2: We think of it so esthetically that we forget how
Speaker 2: emotional it is, if that makes sense. We think of
Speaker 2: it as like, Oh, that's just about looking cool and
Speaker 2: being cool. It's not about feeling a certain way. But
Speaker 2: to me, like even when I walked in today and
Speaker 2: I saw the cover of your book and I was like, oh, wow,
Speaker 2: that looks beautiful, like I wanted to feel it, and
Speaker 2: I wanted to I was drawn towards it. I was like,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, what's the texture like? And I think
Speaker 2: when we were kids, that's how we approach things. When
Speaker 2: you're a kid, you see something cool and you want
Speaker 2: to touch it, you want to press the button, you
Speaker 2: want to And I think as adults, I think we
Speaker 2: sometimes lose that. Do you, ever, how do you feel
Speaker 2: about Do you think that as children we are naturally
Speaker 2: that way and that you are connected to your childlike
Speaker 2: feeling or is that is that something else?
Speaker 1: Well, I'm like the most curious person and that drives
Speaker 1: my passion, and you know, I'm just I want to
Speaker 1: know how something's made.
Speaker 3: I want to know, you know.
Speaker 1: And I love going to artist studios and seeing how
Speaker 1: how they operate. I love going into a creatives home
Speaker 1: and just see how how they organize. Curiosity is such
Speaker 1: a big driver. And I just love the imagination, you know.
Speaker 1: And it started when I was like really little I
Speaker 1: had When I was about seven years old. We would
Speaker 1: go visit my grandparents and our you know, cousins and everyone,
Speaker 1: and I would make these little designs, like I would
Speaker 1: take like an a carton and do something interesting, you
Speaker 1: know with it. I would make little cards for the
Speaker 1: family to buy, and you know, blank cards or a
Speaker 1: drawing on it.
Speaker 3: And then I would.
Speaker 1: Pack everything up and I would take it and put
Speaker 1: it on my grandparents' table and put little price tags.
Speaker 3: I was in business.
Speaker 1: I wanted to make money because my mom was always
Speaker 1: taking my sister and I to the flea market. And
Speaker 1: that's where I really started educating my eye. Going to
Speaker 1: the flea market and not having any money.
Speaker 3: It's not fun.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, I'm just going to like start making
Speaker 1: money myself, you know. And it was a great fun
Speaker 1: thing to go. And now I can go to you know,
Speaker 1: these vintage stores and flea markets that my mom would
Speaker 1: go to all the time and be able to shop.
Speaker 1: So just in going to these and being very curious
Speaker 1: and just seeing and also I was educating my eye
Speaker 1: from you know, a young age.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, And I think that that's It's fascinating how
Speaker 2: much you pick up from those moments and those times
Speaker 2: about what you gravitate towards. And I always wonder whether we've, yeah,
Speaker 2: whether we block that as we get older and we
Speaker 2: start to follow a more status quo or start to
Speaker 2: follow a more rhythmic routine like approach to our spaces
Speaker 2: as opposed to like that childlike, as you said, curiosity,
Speaker 2: but also that I don't know, that kind of contagious
Speaker 2: feeling you get. I guess how do you know when
Speaker 2: how do you know, as Kelly, when you're saying, Okay,
Speaker 2: I need to be patient. You were just saying that
Speaker 2: when someone moves to an apartment or to a home,
Speaker 2: they should take their time. How do you know when
Speaker 2: you should take your patients with an item or when
Speaker 2: you're like, no, I need to buy it now. And
Speaker 2: it's almost like taking your example of the cute guy.
Speaker 2: How do you know when this is the one to
Speaker 2: be with or whether you feel like you're.
Speaker 3: Settling, Like that's such a good question.
Speaker 1: Like it's intuitive, I think, you know, and the more
Speaker 1: that you see and the more that you know what's
Speaker 1: out there, like you're you're you know what the anomalies
Speaker 1: are and what's really special. But it is, it's an
Speaker 1: intuitive feeling. And working with clients and you know, these
Speaker 1: projects that we work on can take two years, you know,
Speaker 1: five years, and so really taking our time to find
Speaker 1: things that are meaningful and that the clients trulier are
Speaker 1: going to you know, they're going to live with these
Speaker 1: pieces and and it makes them feel good. Also, when
Speaker 1: you when you're working and buying things to your house,
Speaker 1: you should have like a hierarchy. Everything can't be super expensive.
Speaker 1: So that's where if you want to buy something new
Speaker 1: and you want to you know, have a really amazing
Speaker 1: comfortable sofa versus you know, piece of art is knowing
Speaker 1: where to spend the money like a sofa you're going
Speaker 1: to have, you know, probably for a shorter time. Where
Speaker 1: you have a piece of art and you invest in it,
Speaker 1: it brings a memory and it's so personal that you
Speaker 1: can take it with you in your next uh, your
Speaker 1: next home.
Speaker 2: So you just incurage everyone to spend more money on
Speaker 2: the the comfies uh that you said every day?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can know because it's just it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's furniture, and it's so it's so true what you
Speaker 1: said about how just with social media and everything is
Speaker 1: there's so much sameness out there, and so you know,
Speaker 1: your your home reflects you know, who you are.
Speaker 3: Your home, you know, reflects who you are. You know,
Speaker 3: what what are you collecting?
Speaker 1: And and you know, it's just like how you dress,
Speaker 1: and it's such an important part.
Speaker 3: Of who we are.
Speaker 1: And don't you look like when you do zoom meetings?
Speaker 1: Are you checking out what's behind them?
Speaker 3: I know? And it says a lot about about the person.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I'm looking at all these amazing things behind
Speaker 1: you and like as all of this are these all
Speaker 1: personal choices?
Speaker 2: Yes, So what we tried to do. So my biggest
Speaker 2: goal for this space, obviously this space is just so
Speaker 2: everyone who's listening and watching you know that we're in
Speaker 2: my podcast studio and this room is only used to
Speaker 2: record the podcast. And so our goal was I wanted
Speaker 2: it to feel intimate because a lot of production sets
Speaker 2: have like thirty people on them, and I find conversations
Speaker 2: like this to be much more intimate and close, and
Speaker 2: like this is how I would sit with a friend,
Speaker 2: So that was a key need. The second thing was
Speaker 2: I didn't want it to be packed with too many
Speaker 2: other people, because I think that removes the intimacy. The
Speaker 2: choice of art was all to evoke emotion, So I
Speaker 2: chose that piece there with the heart because to me,
Speaker 2: I want to only have heart based conversations here. That's
Speaker 2: what on Purpose is all about. Where we reveal our
Speaker 2: hearts to each other, me included, and even our audience
Speaker 2: and community is opening up their heart to the ideas
Speaker 2: and topics. I genuinely put eyes there through that art
Speaker 2: through because I think eye contact is such a beautiful
Speaker 2: way of being present and being still and being focused
Speaker 2: with someone. And again, these are I'm giving these subliminal
Speaker 2: not messaging, but the deeper meaning behind why these things there.
Speaker 2: This is an African shield and we had that there
Speaker 2: because I wanted people to reminded to put their guard down.
Speaker 2: It's almost like hanging your shield up, the thing that
Speaker 2: blocks you. And then there were, and they're all pieces
Speaker 2: by people of color. So all the art in here
Speaker 2: were by people of color. And this was to remind
Speaker 2: of the highest good, which is of serving and offering,
Speaker 2: and which is such a big part of the philosophy
Speaker 2: that I followed.
Speaker 1: And you know, one question that I had is, because
Speaker 1: you obviously were working in finance and in London and
Speaker 1: you went you became a monk, how has like material
Speaker 1: things and design and fashion you look amazing and superstylish,
Speaker 1: and like, how has that changed for you?
Speaker 2: It's such a good question. I'm so glad you asked
Speaker 2: me that, honestly, because I think that I was always
Speaker 2: interested in fashion and design before I became a monk.
Speaker 2: So I was always intrigued by graphic design. I loved
Speaker 2: college art and design was one of my favorite subjects
Speaker 2: at school, and I did really well at it. And
Speaker 2: I've talked about my art teacher often, who I credit
Speaker 2: so much with my intentional thinking. So let's say we're
Speaker 2: doing a college and we're doing mixed design. I would
Speaker 2: put something together and I think it would look amazing,
Speaker 2: and my friends would think it would look great, and
Speaker 2: my teacher would look at it and say, why did
Speaker 2: you do that, and if I didn't have a good
Speaker 2: enough answer, I didn't get a good grade. And so
Speaker 2: he was training me to always ask why. He was like,
Speaker 2: why would you put those two things together? What's your reason?
Speaker 2: And I started to realize that the intention was so important,
Speaker 2: the intuitive design of putting things together. It wasn't just
Speaker 2: about the form, it was about the substance. So I
Speaker 2: would I loved that from before I became a monk.
Speaker 2: I even wanted to. I had the dream of becoming
Speaker 2: a graphic design or art director when I grew up
Speaker 2: and put magazines together. That was always kind of what
Speaker 2: I enjoyed. And obviously I left that all when I
Speaker 2: became a monk and moved away from it. And the
Speaker 2: monastery was always very minimalist, right, there was no It's
Speaker 2: not that there was no design, and I think that's
Speaker 2: always important to remember, Like if you've ever seen an altar,
Speaker 2: an altar is highly designed, whether it's deities of God,
Speaker 2: whether it's forms of sages or gurus. If you ever
Speaker 2: walk into a temple.
Speaker 3: Atmosphere, it's very decorative, very decorative.
Speaker 2: And some of the temples that I visited in India
Speaker 2: had like the most ornate carvings around them telling stories
Speaker 2: and histories and pastimes of incredible epics, and you'd see
Speaker 2: you'd see that the design that was above the place
Speaker 2: where you stand when you're in front of the altar
Speaker 2: had specific markings on the ceiling. Like there's so much
Speaker 2: intentionality even about a temple and how they were designed.
Speaker 2: And so I think I appreciated all those things. Although
Speaker 2: in the temple it was very minimalist. It wasn't you know,
Speaker 2: it wasn't I guess material in that sense. But I
Speaker 2: think for me now, I've just allowed all my passions
Speaker 2: to infuse. And I really do believe that designing your home,
Speaker 2: designing what you wear or choosing and selecting it carefully
Speaker 2: allows you to feel different. And so to me, design
Speaker 2: a mindfulness or fashion and mindfulness or how you dress
Speaker 2: is probably a better word than even fashion. But how
Speaker 2: you dress and mindfulness and how you design your home
Speaker 2: and mindfulness are completely synchronized, and they can't be separated.
Speaker 2: Because I feel different when I wear something different, I
Speaker 2: can express myself differently when I dress differently. I can
Speaker 2: sit with you and we can create an atmosphere, hopefully
Speaker 2: in this room for you and our guests that allows
Speaker 2: you to be comfortable and open, and that allows you
Speaker 2: to feel safe and so hopefully the answers you're question.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it does, but no, it does.
Speaker 3: It's great, and it is a lifestyle. It's like how
Speaker 3: you dress.
Speaker 1: And how you uh, how you design your home, and two,
Speaker 1: how you operate your your lifestyle, whether it's wellness to
Speaker 1: what you eat, you know, the whole thing goes hand
Speaker 1: in hand.
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Speaker 2: the code on Purpose. I think one thing about your work, though, Kelly,
Speaker 2: that I like, and it kind of reflects on the
Speaker 2: question you asked me, is you know one of the
Speaker 2: things I often struggle with is because I lived as
Speaker 2: a monk and now don't and I'm married, of course,
Speaker 2: and we have businesses and companies and everything else. I've
Speaker 2: given myself permission to be all of the complexities of
Speaker 2: who I am. And I love meditating, but I also
Speaker 2: love media. I also love sharing messages. I also love
Speaker 2: management and strategy, and I've just allowed all of myself
Speaker 2: to coexist. And I feel that allowing myself to do
Speaker 2: that has allowed me to be happier with who I am.
Speaker 2: And when I look at your work, and I'll let
Speaker 2: you comment on that in a second on me, but
Speaker 2: when I look at your work, I see that same
Speaker 2: juxtaposition of things that people would often say, well, that
Speaker 2: doesn't work or that wouldn't make sense, And if you
Speaker 2: walked it through theoretically, most people would argue, I think
Speaker 2: with your designs that they wouldn't make sense because I
Speaker 2: think you put things together that seem so alien and
Speaker 2: challenging and random that people would say, yeah, that doesn't
Speaker 2: make any sense. Now you've found a way to make
Speaker 2: it cohesive and make it work. I wonder are you
Speaker 2: trying to do you agree with that first of all?
Speaker 2: And and how have you allowed yourself to permission to
Speaker 2: put things together that people would find unexpected?
Speaker 1: You know that that's such a good question. And when
Speaker 1: I was starting out, there was a very specific style.
Speaker 1: It was like the slip covered furniture and everything was neutral.
Speaker 1: And I came to Los Angeles and I, you know,
Speaker 1: so grateful for this.
Speaker 3: First job that I got for a couple that.
Speaker 1: Lived in Venice Beach and they needed help with like
Speaker 1: one dining room and I was going to actually work
Speaker 1: with a design studio and this job just fell into
Speaker 1: my lap. And so it was on the canals in Venice.
Speaker 1: It's really cool bungalow and designed. They were like, listen,
Speaker 1: all we do we only have money for one room,
Speaker 1: so let's do this. I did it, and there was color,
Speaker 1: and there was like vintage things and there was some
Speaker 1: contemporary artist pieces and the room like looked, you know, incredible.
Speaker 1: They didn't quite understand it, and they were like, well,
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like maybe what I'm seeing, and so
Speaker 1: you know, I had to really like talk them through it.
Speaker 1: And this is you know, before you know, now you're
Speaker 1: doing like renderings for you know, your clients. To really understand,
Speaker 1: you know, there was a lot of communication.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I took them to the flea market with me, you know,
Speaker 1: and we really made these decisions together. They were a
Speaker 1: little apprehensive, but it turned out great. I ended up
Speaker 1: doing the whole entire house and then somebody saw that
Speaker 1: and so yeah, it was it was a little scary
Speaker 1: and still now there are clients that are maybe we'll
Speaker 1: do a presentation. They'll say, you know, I like part
Speaker 1: of it, but maybe this part I don't like. And
Speaker 1: if I truly believe, I'll take the time and kind
Speaker 1: of show them the way in my thought process and
Speaker 1: maybe give them, you know, a few more visuals. So
Speaker 1: the team and I will work on that, you know,
Speaker 1: but if it doesn't, if they're not one hundred percent
Speaker 1: dialed in and excited, then we'll come up with another option.
Speaker 1: And you know, we're all about you know, making you know,
Speaker 1: our projects amazing and unique, but we also you know,
Speaker 1: want to make sure our clients are like so happy
Speaker 1: and love the space. So it can be challenging for sure.
Speaker 2: How did you get that confidence, especially early on, right
Speaker 2: so you asked to do a dining room? I can't
Speaker 2: believe that you is, you know, like, it's beautiful to
Speaker 2: hear that that today when you're designing multiple hotels and
Speaker 2: that it started with just designing a dining room. And
Speaker 2: I think that's so inspiring for so many people listening
Speaker 2: and watching who either want to follow in your career
Speaker 2: path or do something creative that they can think, wow,
Speaker 2: that that's where it can start. How did you have
Speaker 2: the confidence at that point to walk them through it
Speaker 2: and say, hey, even if you don't get it, this
Speaker 2: makes sense. What gave it to you at that point
Speaker 2: or did you feel at that point did you feel
Speaker 2: a bit nervous when they said, hey, we're not you know,
Speaker 2: we don't get it, or did you always have that
Speaker 2: confidence about your work.
Speaker 1: No, I was nervous, okay, one hundred percent. Like I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, am I making the right decision?
Speaker 1: Like I felt like in my heart it was the
Speaker 1: right decision. So I really wanted to not convince them
Speaker 1: but haven't understand like we're I was coming from. And
Speaker 1: they they had faith in me, and we went for
Speaker 1: it and it looked amazing, and you know, we still
Speaker 1: have those clients. But yeah, it was a nervous, nerve
Speaker 1: wracking experience. And we still now will do a presentation
Speaker 1: like the team and I will work on something for
Speaker 1: weeks and it's like a really big concept presentation, and
Speaker 1: there will still sometimes be like this just doesn't feel
Speaker 1: right because our audience maybe whether it's for a hotel
Speaker 1: and it's a group of people, they might not they
Speaker 1: might not have seen it before.
Speaker 3: And I strive for that.
Speaker 1: I want to do something that is unique and site specific,
Speaker 1: and so they might not see before, so they get
Speaker 1: a little a little timid. So again it's being, you know,
Speaker 1: really communicating and letting the client know what what you
Speaker 1: know is in our minds.
Speaker 2: I tell us about some of the communication skills that
Speaker 2: takes because I think think when people think of creative careers,
Speaker 2: we think of them as purely artistic, but actually you're
Speaker 2: dealing with someone's intimate homes or a hotel space, which
Speaker 2: again is people are coming there to rest or relax
Speaker 2: or connect or take a break. So they're very important
Speaker 2: spaces for us, and therefore people are quite opinionated about them.
Speaker 2: What have you learned about communicating more effectively with people,
Speaker 2: especially when things are so personal, because I think that's
Speaker 2: a unique skill set that people wouldn't understand that you've had.
Speaker 2: You'd have to have, but you obviously have to because
Speaker 2: you're talking to people about things that they have very
Speaker 2: clear thoughts about and specific choices for.
Speaker 1: Dealing with confidence, like presenting it like you have to
Speaker 1: believe it, and having confidence is everything.
Speaker 3: The visuals are so.
Speaker 1: Important, and so I like to communicate with the visuals.
Speaker 1: Because I can talk for an hour and the CLIs
Speaker 1: I might still not understand like the direction. So having
Speaker 1: the visuals is everything, and the confidence confidence is so
Speaker 1: is everything.
Speaker 2: For you, you know, Like we just talked about your
Speaker 2: careers started from like humble beginnings, and I wonder what
Speaker 2: is what was the hardest thing about getting started? What
Speaker 2: was the most difficult thing on this journey to get
Speaker 2: to where you are today? What was the thing that
Speaker 2: scared you the most, the thing that you struggled with
Speaker 2: the most.
Speaker 1: Like I'm a really hard worker, and I know what
Speaker 1: I like probably going into it like by myself, Like
Speaker 1: I did the job starting out for three years by myself.
Speaker 3: I was the.
Speaker 1: Business person, the creative person. I was loading my car
Speaker 1: up with the flea market with a huge chair and
Speaker 1: putting it in myself and doing everything and so doing
Speaker 1: that by myself. And I didn't work in a design studio,
Speaker 1: so I didn't have that visibility to how a design
Speaker 1: studio truly operates. So really figuring out the contracts, the
Speaker 1: budgets and how to present that, I did it, you know,
Speaker 1: on my own, and I ask a lot of questions
Speaker 1: and there were some great contractors and people that I
Speaker 1: was working with and collaborating with on these projects, and
Speaker 1: I just asked, you know, a million questions.
Speaker 3: But I would say that doing that alone.
Speaker 1: And now when I go to a big meeting and
Speaker 1: I get nervous doing a big presentation, and I have
Speaker 1: my team and my support team, my family, my husband
Speaker 1: who's like my biggest cheerleader, and we do it as
Speaker 1: a team, And that was probably like the most kind
Speaker 1: of frightening part of starting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm hoping that the reason I asked is
Speaker 2: I think there are so many people right now who
Speaker 2: are listening, have a passion, have a creative project that
Speaker 2: they want to work on, and it can feel daunting
Speaker 2: when you say, oh, I don't know accounts, I don't
Speaker 2: know how to do my taxes, I don't know how
Speaker 2: to put a presentation together. I don't know how to
Speaker 2: pitch that. But you're saying, asking questions and just doing it.
Speaker 2: I guess I'm guessing there are lots of me.
Speaker 3: You just have to do it.
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, you just have to do it, and really,
Speaker 1: you know, just having the passion and really you know,
Speaker 1: the drive to wanting it and educating yourself along the
Speaker 1: way and I'm continuing to educate myself along the way,
Speaker 1: and every project we have there's a new group of creatives,
Speaker 1: whether it's a landscape or architect lighting designer, that we
Speaker 1: all learn from one another and that just makes me
Speaker 1: and my team a better designer and we pass it
Speaker 1: along to all of our next projects and clients.
Speaker 2: What do you think was your biggest mistake that you
Speaker 2: made on that part of the journey, Like something that
Speaker 2: now you look back and, oh, that's ridiculous. I can't
Speaker 2: believe that was a mistake that it doesn't feel that big,
Speaker 2: But at that time you're like, oh, no, I don't
Speaker 2: know how to do this.
Speaker 3: So I worked.
Speaker 1: I worked on a project and I had one assistant,
Speaker 1: but we were working on this project for this music
Speaker 1: executive and she loved color, and so she was traveling
Speaker 1: and this was actually starting out. She had a really
Speaker 1: low budget, and so we were like, listen, we're going
Speaker 1: to have this painted. We're going to do something unbelievable.
Speaker 3: And it looked awful.
Speaker 1: It was like so it was a wreck and it
Speaker 1: was just too many colors just went overboard, which you
Speaker 1: can do, which is great.
Speaker 3: You to make mistakes.
Speaker 1: It's so important in the creative process to make mistakes,
Speaker 1: and so she was going to be back in a
Speaker 1: week and my assistant and like we'd spent the money
Speaker 1: on the painters. We so I painted myself, with my
Speaker 1: assistant the entire house ourselves.
Speaker 2: Wow. Wow.
Speaker 1: You know, we wanted to make it great. And that's
Speaker 1: not the first time I've done that. We worked on
Speaker 1: projects that there was like a little budget, and I
Speaker 1: wanted the project so badly to be amazing, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to make the client happy and they're just and
Speaker 1: so I just like painted myself.
Speaker 2: That's amazing, That's incredible. You sometimes that person now claimed
Speaker 2: that Kelly painted my eye.
Speaker 1: I think they moved and then, but you know, I
Speaker 1: just did it myself.
Speaker 3: And sometimes you just you know, you have to do it.
Speaker 1: You have to just put in the extra work and
Speaker 1: make it happen.
Speaker 2: What do you think was the biggest risk you took
Speaker 2: on this journey where you felt like you were kind
Speaker 2: of leveling up. I feel everyone goes through this phase
Speaker 2: of the doing the work, they're growing the building. You
Speaker 2: went from doing the dining room to the whole home.
Speaker 2: What was the big risks that you thought or a
Speaker 2: leap you had to take which kind of shifted your career.
Speaker 1: I would say, you know, when I was doing interiors
Speaker 1: and and this is like what's so great about you know,
Speaker 1: my job is like anyone can call any moment. I
Speaker 1: got a call from Bergdorf Goodman, you know, this incredible
Speaker 1: store in New York, and they were looking for a
Speaker 1: designer to do the like iconic restaurant on the top floor.
Speaker 1: And so they're like, we'd like to come out and
Speaker 1: meet with us, and we did like a presentation, and
Speaker 1: I was like they were like, well, listen, we're speaking
Speaker 1: to a few other people.
Speaker 3: And I thought for sure was going.
Speaker 1: To be a New York designer, like I was the
Speaker 1: only one on the West coast they were speaking with.
Speaker 1: And we ended up getting the commission, which was like unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And this is like a store that you know, you
Speaker 1: just you just dream about because it's you know, so
Speaker 1: you know, iconic. So doing that project and it was
Speaker 1: like a really you know, big success.
Speaker 3: It looks the same way.
Speaker 1: I think it's been like twelve years since that project
Speaker 1: was was completed. So after the project, the president of
Speaker 1: the company said, hey, listen, you know we would love
Speaker 1: for you to have a shop and I was thinking
Speaker 1: about I don't sell anything, like I'm a designer and
Speaker 1: I don't have product. So I said, well, let me
Speaker 1: think about it, because that was like a dream. Now
Speaker 1: I'm going to have like a shop within Birdorf Goodman.
Speaker 1: And so I went back and I was like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I have designed a lot of things, like
Speaker 1: a lot of commissions for some of our projects, and
Speaker 1: we've done a lot of some things that we couldn't
Speaker 1: find and we ended up designing. So within about six
Speaker 1: months we designed this incredible space.
Speaker 3: It was like a little jewel.
Speaker 1: Box and we were in business and I had accessories
Speaker 1: and it was there for ten years. It did so well,
Speaker 1: and it was a really fun thing to do, and
Speaker 1: you know, I took as a challenge like I want
Speaker 1: to do this. I was so excited and I you know,
Speaker 1: really educated myself on how to you know, find you know,
Speaker 1: fabricators you know, around the world. A lot of our
Speaker 1: things were made there in different places. So it was
Speaker 1: a you know, really cool.
Speaker 3: Thing, and that got me into having a store and
Speaker 3: completely different, completely different.
Speaker 1: And I think that's having an open heart and just
Speaker 1: like riding the wave and being open to like any
Speaker 1: opportunity and now we're you know, designing product and you
Speaker 1: know hotels. I never thought in a million years I
Speaker 1: designed a hotel, and uh, you know work, we're now
Speaker 1: working with a lot of doing really like unbelievable cool things,
Speaker 1: and so it's like really exciting.
Speaker 2: Are there any particular cities in the world that you
Speaker 2: feel you just constantly gravitate towards or have they changed
Speaker 2: over the years, And what would be some of your
Speaker 2: memories of going to any of your favorite cities or
Speaker 2: countries where you discovered something new or something fresh, or
Speaker 2: even something that felt familiar.
Speaker 3: I would say going to.
Speaker 1: Europe, like I love going like the Paris flea Market
Speaker 1: as like unbelievable, and just any of the European cities,
Speaker 1: like I was in Amsterdam this summer and I was
Speaker 1: in so great and in Belgium, and that is so
Speaker 1: many incredible artists, like these really great emerging artists, And
Speaker 1: when you travel, you just see like what's special. And
Speaker 1: I think it's so important to travel because if you
Speaker 1: our world is becoming so same, there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, if you look on your Instagram and
Speaker 1: you know in your technology, things are feeling the same.
Speaker 1: So it's so important to travel because you really see
Speaker 1: what are the special materials and the inherent designs and
Speaker 1: craftsmanship that many of these different countries have. So it
Speaker 1: was very important to get out and see things in person.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Kelly, I want to do something intuitive with you,
Speaker 2: seeing as we're both being intuitive. So I'm going to
Speaker 2: look through your beautiful but which I love to do
Speaker 2: in general anyway, and I'm going to pick things that
Speaker 2: intuitively call out to me, okay, and then ask you
Speaker 2: the story about that. How does that sound?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, okay, there's so much stuff already. I saw
Speaker 2: this picture. I fell in love with this. Actually, I
Speaker 2: was like addicted to this whole space for a second.
Speaker 2: Maybe I should ask you to walk me through this
Speaker 2: because I saw this on your Instagram too.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's a project that's in California, and we
Speaker 1: worked on it with an architect, Marron el said, and
Speaker 1: he did the I'm on and I'm u Geary right,
Speaker 1: and he's just such a talent.
Speaker 3: And this is an.
Speaker 1: Aniche Kapor artwork, a Jonas Bolan chair that is from
Speaker 1: the eighties. That chair, the chair is like sculpture and
Speaker 1: that's why Actually, Jay like one of the things is,
Speaker 1: you know, you think you've seen everything, and so for example,
Speaker 1: like a stiletto heel, you think you've seen every stiletto heel,
Speaker 1: and someone comes out with something that totally blows you
Speaker 1: away and it's like a new thing that.
Speaker 3: That your heart stops.
Speaker 1: And it's the same thing with a chair and having
Speaker 1: like artists find their creative spirit. You know, that's a
Speaker 1: three legged chair, and just people continue to to design
Speaker 1: and come up with things that you've seen, you've never
Speaker 1: seen before. And it's the same thing with music, Like
Speaker 1: you think you've heard like every kind of rhythm or
Speaker 1: sample and you just or something new that just blows
Speaker 1: you away.
Speaker 2: What about people who think that, like you know, Kelly,
Speaker 2: I don't have enough money to make a space look good?
Speaker 2: Like do you need to spend big in order to
Speaker 2: create a space that feels good to you?
Speaker 1: No, one hundred percent, because you can, just like I did.
Speaker 1: You can paint a wall and it could be one wall,
Speaker 1: which is actually kind of cool. Every wall doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be the same color makes it more interesting. And
Speaker 1: just have one amazing chair that you love and one
Speaker 1: light we need light light fixture and a table and like,
Speaker 1: let it sit for a while and really just that
Speaker 1: showcases your style. And it's nice to live in something
Speaker 1: a little more minimal for a while.
Speaker 3: Like I used to live.
Speaker 1: Where I just had so many things that you know,
Speaker 1: I found on my travels and there would just be
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. And I've kind of changed. I
Speaker 1: like things that are really like a little more minimal
Speaker 1: and important less that's the piece shine and have its
Speaker 1: own moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think minimalism is definitely where I feel like
Speaker 2: I feel at home. It's quite minimalist. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of empty space. Everything's very low as well, which I
Speaker 2: really like.
Speaker 1: I know, I love like low, like some of these
Speaker 1: like beds and furniture. I mean you need like a
Speaker 1: stool to step on. They're so they're so tall, and
Speaker 1: it's and it's to say everything's getting.
Speaker 3: Big, yes, everything, like literally we were.
Speaker 1: Designed designing tabletop and you know we plates, like you know,
Speaker 1: they're so much bigger now.
Speaker 3: It's like everything. And so while I love.
Speaker 1: Really low beds because I think you feel like really
Speaker 1: low to the ground, and it also makes a small
Speaker 1: bedroom like feel more expansive because it doesn't cut the
Speaker 1: room in half.
Speaker 3: So a bed that's note. Yeah, a bed.
Speaker 1: That's like twelve inches in height, and it's so nice.
Speaker 1: I mean it's very you know, it's like in Ja Japan,
Speaker 1: everything's like really low and it doesn't get in the
Speaker 1: way windows, and it makes your space feel so much
Speaker 1: more expansive.
Speaker 2: These are very good practical tips. I think everyone, everyone's
Speaker 2: everyone's going to be getting low beds because of that.
Speaker 2: This space is spectacular. I don't think I've seen this
Speaker 2: in real life that you would do. All the tiles
Speaker 2: and everything.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that is in Austin where we met.
Speaker 1: We actually spoke over on the right side there, and yeah,
Speaker 1: so that is a restaurant and so all those tiles.
Speaker 1: I was in Portugal and I stumbled upon this shop
Speaker 1: that had tiles, and it was like a seventy five
Speaker 1: year old family owned tile company.
Speaker 3: And I went.
Speaker 1: Inside and I was so moved in this restaurant, the
Speaker 1: chef that we were designing this restaurant for. It's Mediterranean,
Speaker 1: and so the reason why it's very patchwork is because
Speaker 1: all of these tiles came from different like decades and periods,
Speaker 1: and so you know, many of it's like dead stock.
Speaker 1: And there was seven left or maybe twenty left and
Speaker 1: so really created this patchwork of all of this, you know,
Speaker 1: different color and pattern and reliefs, and it looks, you know, amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. It's I didn't I didn't see
Speaker 2: that day. I think we were hitting on the other side.
Speaker 2: We're on the other side right well through them. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to figure that out.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's also like making do with what you have
Speaker 1: or what you've seen. Like I could easily gone in
Speaker 1: this tile store and seen one tile that I absolutely
Speaker 1: loved and like, okay, let's just do the entire wall
Speaker 1: in that. But you know, having something that that you know, okay,
Speaker 1: how can we make this work and make it really
Speaker 1: interesting and kind of just you know, letting your creative
Speaker 1: juices flow.
Speaker 2: I think that's what's so beautiful about it is that
Speaker 2: when we're present and when we're when we observe. I
Speaker 2: find that And I don't know how I started doing
Speaker 2: it with furniture and things like that, but I feel
Speaker 2: like when you've really I think it's just mindfulness training,
Speaker 2: But when you get really present with like looking at
Speaker 2: even the direction of like the grain lines you know
Speaker 2: on a piece of wood, or whether it's looking at
Speaker 2: like how it's cut or connected or you know. And
Speaker 2: I don't have any of the vocabulary of an interior
Speaker 2: design at all, or the language or have any skills
Speaker 2: in this space. I can appreciate something that looks beautiful,
Speaker 2: and so as I'm looking through.
Speaker 3: This, yeah, and things that are also like imperfect.
Speaker 1: And if you you know, if we're skinning, if we're
Speaker 1: skinning a wall in timber, and you know, you want
Speaker 1: the hand of it to really show its like dimensionality
Speaker 1: and how things are assembled and put together, and it's all,
Speaker 1: you know, part of the storytelling. And it does like
Speaker 1: things that are imperfect are so beautiful, which is kind
Speaker 1: of crazy because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to like, you know, let things go
Speaker 1: a little more. Like sometimes like I literally will go
Speaker 1: to like one of the hotels and I will see
Speaker 1: the furniture that's out of place, and people are like,
Speaker 1: oh God, there's Kelly, Like she's like moving like the furniture.
Speaker 1: I'll I can tell if things are like two inches off.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like to keep things like super tight,
Speaker 1: but sometimes you have to like let it go.
Speaker 2: No, I'm with you, my wife, and I get into
Speaker 2: I will rearrange dining chairs are on the table every night,
Speaker 2: just because.
Speaker 3: I totally am that person.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my wife, love, what are you doing? I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: these are just too close and I can't appreciate this
Speaker 2: space because of this. I'm totally like that. So I
Speaker 2: get that, and.
Speaker 1: I told my boys, I'm like, listen, I see everything,
Speaker 1: like you'll never pull anything over on me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I see everything.
Speaker 2: I love it. This piece I saw. I loved it
Speaker 2: from the moment I saw it, and mean, it looks spectacular. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So this is in the hotel that's in downtown, and
Speaker 1: it's a pool suite because the building is a historic
Speaker 1: building and it used to in one of its lives
Speaker 1: be a YMCA, and so in order to get the
Speaker 1: historic tax credits you have to keep a lot of
Speaker 1: the programming there. So there was a pool and it's
Speaker 1: quite it's like a thirty forty foot pool. And so
Speaker 1: it's a three bedroom suite and it has its own
Speaker 1: kitchen so you know you can stay in this. You know,
Speaker 1: really incredible. I mean, this is an experience that you'll
Speaker 1: really rarely get. And that's what we like to do,
Speaker 1: is like, you know, give people an experience and something
Speaker 1: that they can take an incredible memory home with them.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean there's I could stop at every page,
Speaker 2: So I'm really trying to be intuitive as I said.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you have to go to the Santa Monica proper.
Speaker 2: Yes, I've been there before.
Speaker 3: Have you been there?
Speaker 2: Very is beautiful. No, I've been there. I've had I've
Speaker 2: been there for birthdays and events, and yeah, that space
Speaker 2: is spectacular. Downstairs upstairs, have been on the rooftop as well,
Speaker 2: It's a really beautiful space. I love the use of
Speaker 2: like plants and nature like to me, these kind of spaces.
Speaker 2: Of course, these kind of spaces are really special with
Speaker 2: like this kind of composition. But that feel similar to
Speaker 2: the first one I showed you, I think, but when
Speaker 2: people are trying to do plants in their home, how
Speaker 2: should they think about it? Because I feel like that's
Speaker 2: something that people try hard and struggle with keeping them
Speaker 2: any life is one thing, but you know.
Speaker 1: Like that is where having something that if you have
Speaker 1: a really incredible yeah, that's that's so great. Well, we
Speaker 1: are so fortunate to work with some amazing talents and
Speaker 1: but I actually love going to the nurseries and seeking
Speaker 1: out these unbelievable specimens that have that are imperfect and
Speaker 1: that really transform your interior.
Speaker 3: And I think too like less.
Speaker 1: Is more, although I do love uh, you know, we're
Speaker 1: working on a project where there's a selarium and there's
Speaker 1: there's so many you know, incredible you know plants and
Speaker 1: uh in different colors of green and the pots and
Speaker 1: it just tells like a really beautiful story. And that
Speaker 1: project that is an artwork. That's a vase, the chair,
Speaker 1: do you see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this this this is probably one of my favorite
Speaker 2: rooms you've ever done. Like I love this room.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So that's the grotto and the grotto actually the inspira
Speaker 1: it's a library.
Speaker 3: When we were.
Speaker 1: Working on this hotel, I wanted an intimate space where
Speaker 1: people could go and have a meeting and hang out.
Speaker 1: And this is a hotel that's in Santa Monica and
Speaker 1: so the it's like maritime. I mean that was the inspiration.
Speaker 1: And so I went to a friend's parents' house and
Speaker 1: there were an older couple and they live in Malibu,
Speaker 1: and I remember walking in their home and being so
Speaker 1: inspired because they had this incredible artwork and they had
Speaker 1: a library and all of these things that you know,
Speaker 1: they're well traveled couple that they've collected their whole life
Speaker 1: and it just felt so real and represented them. And
Speaker 1: so this room, the grotto we called it. We brought
Speaker 1: in a lot of emerging artists from Los Angeles and
Speaker 1: then we also found a lot of vintage pieces as well,
Speaker 1: and it's just a great place that you can have
Speaker 1: a meeting and it's like being in a grotto.
Speaker 2: Yeah lit podcast studio right there. Yeah, I love it. No,
Speaker 2: it's beautiful And like I said, I could going on
Speaker 2: and I'm glad we did that though, because I love
Speaker 2: hearing you react and tell us the story behind incredible things.
Speaker 1: And I'm such a visual person, like it helps to
Speaker 1: like see to see things because I am like so
Speaker 1: visual and it's such a you know, a big part
Speaker 1: of you know, my spirit and what I do. And
Speaker 1: that's like when I was doing the masterclass, they were like, listen,
Speaker 1: we want you to you know, you're going to be
Speaker 1: you know, the teacher and you're just going to talk.
Speaker 1: And I was like, but you guys, everything is like
Speaker 1: so visual and tactile and there's like materiality and so
Speaker 1: much to the story. And so we uh went outside
Speaker 1: the box and went on some site visits yeah, so fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, you actually went out with.
Speaker 3: The way we went out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we went out too and toured and and I
Speaker 1: think then people can apply and I think if somebody
Speaker 1: is not like really skilled, if designed, like, they also
Speaker 1: need to see things as well, so that helps them,
Speaker 1: you know, to apply it to you know, what they're
Speaker 1: trying to do.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and people can actually learn from you directly from
Speaker 2: the master class. So that's that's a great way of
Speaker 2: giving people the tools. If you're inspired from today, then
Speaker 2: hopefully the master class will help you piece together all
Speaker 2: these amazing lessons that Kelly sharing. Kelly, you didn't You've
Speaker 2: said before or I've learned before that you didn't always
Speaker 2: plan on being a mom or like you didn't think
Speaker 2: about it as your natural course. But it's something that
Speaker 2: of course I've even met some of your children, I
Speaker 2: believe as well.
Speaker 1: So yes, yes, yeah, so my like growing up, you know,
Speaker 1: my my mom worked, my grandmothers both worked, and so
Speaker 1: having you know, the white picket fence was not you
Speaker 1: know in my in my mind, I wanted to work
Speaker 1: and I really love designed, you know, from when I
Speaker 1: was doing my bunny shop, when I was seven years
Speaker 1: old and really discovering my passion in high school and
Speaker 1: just like you, I love graphic design. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of where it all started from, is going to the
Speaker 1: flea markets with my mom and seeing all the magazines
Speaker 1: and so I really wanted to work and.
Speaker 3: Be, you know, have a career.
Speaker 1: And then I met my incredible husband, Brad, and a
Speaker 1: family was important to him, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I got to think about it. You know, I have
Speaker 1: an open heart, like I'm in love with you. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm in love with my husband, and so I said,
Speaker 1: let's do We'll have one. We got engaged and and
Speaker 1: I got pregnant. That was the most transformational like moment
Speaker 1: in my life. My family's everything and kids are like
Speaker 1: the most like incredible layer to life.
Speaker 3: And I love what I do, like absolutely love what
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 1: But it's like there's nothing like it and it's like
Speaker 1: just everything, and yeah, it's the most beautiful thing. Like
Speaker 1: my kids are my heroes. They teach me like so
Speaker 1: much about life and you know, and I just had
Speaker 1: a baby, and you know, so many people were like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: you have two older kids, and like, you know, what
Speaker 1: would do do differently? Like reflecting and is spend the
Speaker 1: most amount of time with your kids now because it
Speaker 1: goes by so fast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how's that? How's that been with? Also, of course
Speaker 2: your ambition and you're working on so many projects like
Speaker 2: you've been able to. It sounds like be so present
Speaker 2: with your kids and not have to give up your passion.
Speaker 2: And I think that that's such an important thing that
Speaker 2: we also need to see as well, because I think
Speaker 2: in that advice of people thinking, God, I just spend
Speaker 2: every time, we kind of let go of the things
Speaker 2: that you value. How have you? And I don't like
Speaker 2: the word balance because I don't think that's necessarily what
Speaker 2: I'm asking. It's almost like, how do you keep passion
Speaker 2: and presence alive, present with your family, but then your passion,
Speaker 2: which kind of keeps you alive. How do you keep
Speaker 2: both alive?
Speaker 3: It can be a struggle.
Speaker 1: And what I do is when I'm at work, I'm
Speaker 1: so present with my team and I go to my
Speaker 1: studio like I love going to my studio.
Speaker 3: I'm like in the thick of it with them every day.
Speaker 1: But I make time for my kids and obviously they're
Speaker 1: things that you miss out on, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: all about prioritizing and having a routine and schedule and yes,
Speaker 1: like reflecting, you know, with with Oliver and Elliott when
Speaker 1: they were younger, and this is before there was like
Speaker 1: zoom meeting and working from home and all that is.
Speaker 3: I miss things.
Speaker 1: I was traveling and you know it, it broke my heart,
Speaker 1: but I was also happy. I was happy that I
Speaker 1: was being fulfilled as a designer and I was living
Speaker 1: my dream and I am living my dream and they
Speaker 1: see that and and makes me an incredible mom because
Speaker 1: I get to teach them things. But yeah, it's definitely,
Speaker 1: you know, can be can be tough.
Speaker 2: What is the difference between creativity and replication? And is
Speaker 2: replication the thief of creativity?
Speaker 1: It's it's such an interesting question. And for me, creativity
Speaker 1: comes within. It's your soul and it's your stylistic voice,
Speaker 1: and replication is looking outward. So what maybe inspires you
Speaker 1: to design a certain way? And you know, for example,
Speaker 1: replication can inform creativity. And if we're designing a front
Speaker 1: desk of a hotel and the functionality works so well,
Speaker 1: we're going to incorporate that, but then we're going to
Speaker 1: give it a new spirit by skinning it with another material.
Speaker 1: So that's where the replication comes into play. But creativity
Speaker 1: truly comes from within, and it's an artist or a
Speaker 1: designer or chefs, it's like it's their creative their creative voice.
Speaker 2: When you are on the journey towards this successful career
Speaker 2: you have, now we are there moments of experiencing burnouturs Okay,
Speaker 2: taking this project on, Okay, well I've got another project,
Speaker 2: but oh no, they want me to do the whole house,
Speaker 2: and oh my gosh, now I've got another one. And
Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of creators today, especially online,
Speaker 2: feel a lot of burnout because they feel like they
Speaker 2: have to keep up with their own success. They may
Speaker 2: have had an overnight moment which led to more work,
Speaker 2: which is exciting but equally challenging. Even during the pandemic,
Speaker 2: there were so many companies that went through their biggest
Speaker 2: scaling but also led to people having to work harder
Speaker 2: and longer. So how have you thought about burnout?
Speaker 1: Saying no is just as important to saying yes. And
Speaker 1: there are projects that I really wanted to take but
Speaker 1: it just would have just over and data and stressed
Speaker 1: the studio. And so timing is everything. And I know
Speaker 1: there's going to be other projects that will be on
Speaker 1: the horizon, but you want to do a great job.
Speaker 1: I'm personally so involved in every aspect of my business.
Speaker 1: I mean my studio every day, providing the creative leadership.
Speaker 3: To the team. I'm involved in the business.
Speaker 1: I'm involved in so every aspect of the studio, And
Speaker 1: so you really have to kind of pick and choose,
Speaker 1: like the right time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how do you trust that the next project will come?
Speaker 2: I think that's so brave and thoughtful that you're like, look,
Speaker 2: I want to do a great job. I'm only going
Speaker 2: to take these few projects. I get it. I have
Speaker 2: to say no, even though I'm so in love with this,
Speaker 2: but I trust that the right projects will come. How
Speaker 2: did you kind of build that sense of trust? Because
Speaker 2: I think a lot of us fear that, oh no,
Speaker 2: maybe I'll never get an opportunity again if I missed
Speaker 2: this one. So how did you have that more open
Speaker 2: mindset that yes, I trust.
Speaker 1: Well, because it came from the mistake of taking on
Speaker 1: At one point, I took on a lot of work
Speaker 1: and I just remember just, oh my god, I cannot
Speaker 1: wait for these projects. It was we were doing three
Speaker 1: hotels at one time in some residential projects. And so
Speaker 1: of course I'm like, well, we're just going to hire
Speaker 1: more people. But you have to be so in tune
Speaker 1: with your team. And when you have a lot of
Speaker 1: new team, it takes like a year or so for
Speaker 1: them to really get in sync with what's going on
Speaker 1: in the studio, how it operates, what's the the the philosophies,
Speaker 1: and so making the mistake of taking on too much
Speaker 1: and I remember it was a really like, you know,
Speaker 1: stressful time, and I was burning the midnight oil and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and the team was and and then you
Speaker 1: lose a team because they're burnt out, and you know
Speaker 1: that's you know, terrible and so so really from those mistakes,
Speaker 1: I learned to.
Speaker 3: To pace myself.
Speaker 2: Do you have a ten off.
Speaker 3: When I sleep?
Speaker 1: When I sleep and I hit the pillows so hard
Speaker 1: and I'm out and I have the or ring, which
Speaker 1: I love, So I know I sleep very well. But yeah,
Speaker 1: when I sleep is when I completely turn it off.
Speaker 1: But then I dream design. I really I dream design
Speaker 1: is amazing, and I'll wake up and I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I wish I had turned the corner to
Speaker 1: see like what was next or so, but sleep and
Speaker 1: I go a million miles a minute and I love it.
Speaker 1: I would not have it any other way. I love
Speaker 1: I'm not like a great person with a lot of
Speaker 1: free time.
Speaker 3: I love being busy.
Speaker 2: I mean, tell us about some of your dreams. Have
Speaker 2: you ever invented, created, curated in your dreams and taken.
Speaker 3: Something out of it one hundred percent?
Speaker 1: Like there was like the staircase actually in Austin case,
Speaker 1: Like that was like kind of a moment of something
Speaker 1: that that I dreamed about, and the pottery and it's
Speaker 1: kind of like not something you would traditionally see, like
Speaker 1: a really big staircase and a new you know, contemporary architecture,
Speaker 1: and so that was something that that I dreamed about.
Speaker 1: And like the other night, I was having a dream
Speaker 1: that I was in a house and there was like
Speaker 1: this really amazing light fixture that had all of these
Speaker 1: like strings of some sort with these small little lights,
Speaker 1: and it was like, really, it's like very artistic, Like
Speaker 1: it's in my mind's eye and we'll see where it
Speaker 1: comes up in the design.
Speaker 3: But yes, I do dream design.
Speaker 2: I love. That's that's wonderful to hear because yeah, it
Speaker 2: just shows how obsessed you are and how much you
Speaker 2: are in the world that it's it's even happening in
Speaker 2: your dreams and that staircase it's so it's so amazing though,
Speaker 2: And I love that it's.
Speaker 1: Dream probably also as being visual because I see so
Speaker 1: many images like all day because when we're doing concept presentations,
Speaker 1: like we're constantly curating images to help present our story
Speaker 1: and the concept to the client, and so I just
Speaker 1: have like this library of like images constantly going through
Speaker 1: my head. So I know that obviously is the inspiration.
Speaker 3: For my brain.
Speaker 2: M hmm. Yeah. And I love the dream to design
Speaker 2: because when I'm reacting to that staircase, people like Jay,
Speaker 2: it's a staircase, relaxed, but it really does spark so
Speaker 2: much joy. Like I look at it and I go wow,
Speaker 2: like you know, And so it's amazing how design from
Speaker 2: your dream can actually spark moments of awe, which are
Speaker 2: so nice to experience when you're just walking around doing
Speaker 2: your daily tasks. You know, so special. I want to
Speaker 2: ask you a question, Kelly, around artists valuing their work
Speaker 2: or even creatives or coaches or experts or whatever it
Speaker 2: may be. I think so many of us and I
Speaker 2: get this question a lot. Jay I don't feel confident
Speaker 2: enough to charge what I think I'm worth. Like people
Speaker 2: forget the amount of time they trained, People forget the
Speaker 2: amount of time they worked. It becomes really hard to
Speaker 2: come up with an hourly rate, or a project rate
Speaker 2: or a piece of art. Right. I have friends who
Speaker 2: are artists who are constantly like not knowing how to charge.
Speaker 2: How did you make sense of how you wanted to
Speaker 2: price yourself and how do you encourage people to figure
Speaker 2: out how they price themselves? What things could they think
Speaker 2: about in order to do that?
Speaker 1: Well, it all has to do whether if you really
Speaker 1: want to be involved in the project. For example, we
Speaker 1: just had this happen, like there's a really amazing project
Speaker 1: that's in Asia that you know, I'd love to be
Speaker 1: part of, and our few is too high, and I
Speaker 1: know I'm going to be very involved, but I really
Speaker 1: want to take the project. And so the client came
Speaker 1: back and was like, how can we make this work?
Speaker 1: So I think it's like communication and you know, and really,
Speaker 1: you know, both parties valuing each other's worth, and so
Speaker 1: I think just being a really you know, great communication
Speaker 1: and we'll have you know, some emerging artists that I
Speaker 1: know are struggling and they're just getting started, and we
Speaker 1: want to bring them on to a projects for a commission,
Speaker 1: and you know, we'll figure out ways, like can we
Speaker 1: internally help them get to a place where it's not
Speaker 1: going to be as time consuming. So I think there's
Speaker 1: really many different ways that communication is key.
Speaker 2: How did you go about creating your first pricing structure?
Speaker 2: Because I feel like when someone's starting out as a creative,
Speaker 2: as a designer, as an artist, they can struggle so
Speaker 2: much much with their self worth and what their value is,
Speaker 2: but they don't want to miss out in the client
Speaker 2: And so how would you encourage someone to think about
Speaker 2: pricing themselves and how did you do it?
Speaker 1: I really wanted the job, Like my first project, I
Speaker 1: really wanted a job, and as I said, I didn't
Speaker 1: work for a design studio, so I didn't know really
Speaker 1: how how to charge. And so I asked them, I said,
Speaker 1: what do you feel comfortable paying me to do this project?
Speaker 1: And they told me and I was like wow, And
Speaker 1: so I came back to them with something I found,
Speaker 1: you know, thought was fair, and we met in the middle.
Speaker 1: But I was doing I really wanted the project, and
Speaker 1: so you know, that is one of the projects that
Speaker 1: I actually did the painting myself. And if you know
Speaker 1: this is a stepping stone in your career, then maybe
Speaker 1: you do take less for it. I think you have
Speaker 1: to like look at all the different factors in how
Speaker 1: you charge and is it, you know, for a friend,
Speaker 1: is this going to be a big step in your
Speaker 1: career or is this something that you know is going
Speaker 1: to take a lot of time on your part and
Speaker 1: your team's part, and you have to charge accordingly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that, honestly, what you just shared
Speaker 2: there is really smart and I want people to really
Speaker 2: listen to that. Is it a favor for a friend?
Speaker 2: Is it a project because it's just so epic? You
Speaker 2: don't get to do things like that. Is it actually
Speaker 2: just going to take a lot of your time and
Speaker 2: it's not that epic, like it's just work? Which level
Speaker 2: is it? Because that's going to affect how you price yourself.
Speaker 2: And I'd also add that I found that when people
Speaker 2: are coming up with that hourly rate, they're usually thinking
Speaker 2: about how much an hour is worth, But really it's
Speaker 2: not about your hourly rate. It's about the hours it
Speaker 2: took to get there. So for you to learn the
Speaker 2: skills you have the hours it took for you to
Speaker 2: make it as simple or as accessible or as useful
Speaker 2: as it did to that individual. Whatever it is you're offering,
Speaker 2: of course includes the hard costs of materials and things
Speaker 2: like that, but really you're charging for how much someone
Speaker 2: values that time or effort or work. And in these
Speaker 2: circles it can be hard to understand. And I think
Speaker 2: looking at other people that you aspire to be like
Speaker 2: or people that are in your fields can help you
Speaker 2: find that middle ground. But again I love what you
Speaker 2: said about figuring out where it ranks in.
Speaker 1: The order of Yeah, and most clients and are like
Speaker 1: reasonable and if you if you really lay out like
Speaker 1: it's going to take me this amount of hours or
Speaker 1: it's going to take a year to get this done,
Speaker 1: and it's like this, you know, uh, this much of
Speaker 1: a team.
Speaker 3: And on also the skill set.
Speaker 1: Because if you're if you're going to bring someone on,
Speaker 1: you know that they have an incredible skill set. They're
Speaker 1: going to save you time, but they're also going to
Speaker 1: save you money at the end, because a mistake is money,
Speaker 1: and so is it worth to pay someone up front
Speaker 1: who knows exactly what they're doing and how to operate.
Speaker 2: That was great, Kelly. It's been such a joy talking
Speaker 2: to you today, and I'm glad that we've this has
Speaker 2: been a very unique episode. We've been reacting to beautiful
Speaker 2: pictures in your book. I've loved hearing about your stories
Speaker 2: as well of just you know, the steps that it's
Speaker 2: taken to build this phenomenal career that you're having, and
Speaker 2: I love that you still feel like you're just at
Speaker 2: the beginning, which is such a great mindset to have.
Speaker 2: But as you know as a fan of the podcast,
Speaker 2: we end every episode with a final five, and you
Speaker 2: have to answer all these in one word or one sentence.
Speaker 2: But I always digress, So let's let's start with the
Speaker 2: final five. All right. Question one is what is the
Speaker 2: best design advice you've ever heard, received or given?
Speaker 3: Diversity of everything.
Speaker 1: I'll let you expand now, diversity of scale, of eras materiality,
Speaker 1: because you don't want to buy all your furniture in
Speaker 1: one place, and so many people do.
Speaker 3: They'll go to one place and buyo.
Speaker 1: The furniture because they're in a rush, and so diversity
Speaker 1: is like so so important.
Speaker 2: Good advice, all right, So don't don't buy everything from Ikea,
Speaker 2: trust me, I know. Yeah, I've done that many times.
Speaker 2: All right. Got a second question, what is the worst
Speaker 2: design advice you've ever heard, received or given That.
Speaker 1: A project has to be done in such a short
Speaker 1: amount of time that you're forced to buy everything right now.
Speaker 3: Good advice, because you want.
Speaker 1: To to curate everything over time, so it's meaningful.
Speaker 2: I made that mistake earlier this year and we didn't. Luckily,
Speaker 2: I didn't go through with it, but with the house
Speaker 2: was finished and I wanted to do art, and that's
Speaker 2: the thing you should least rush. But there was so
Speaker 2: much a part of me that was like, I'm just
Speaker 2: tired of looking at blank walls, and I wanted to
Speaker 2: feel inspired in this space, and I like, I was
Speaker 2: quickly looking at collections and everything. Luckily my wife is
Speaker 2: so I'm a very decisive quick person and my wife
Speaker 2: is like really slow, and we'll never make a decision
Speaker 2: if she doesn't have to, and so we balance each
Speaker 2: other out really well because I'll be like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: think this will fit there and she were like, no,
Speaker 2: I don't think so, and then we'll sit with it.
Speaker 2: And I think this idea of sitting with things is
Speaker 2: such a great You mentioned it multiple times in this conversation.
Speaker 2: And I've learned that skill through through working on my
Speaker 2: own home that sitting with something is the most important thing.
Speaker 2: But often we think once we bought it and put
Speaker 2: it together, we have to keep it. And luckily there
Speaker 2: is a refund policy in return policy, you can give
Speaker 2: things back. And I think it's interesting the idea of
Speaker 2: sitting with something is something we struggle to do. We
Speaker 2: think once we bought it, we have to keep it,
Speaker 2: or we didn't buy it.
Speaker 1: Well, everything is just so fast now, everything like just
Speaker 1: is like going a million miles a minute, and you
Speaker 1: feel like you have to get something done and it's
Speaker 1: such an exciting process of like you're curating things that
Speaker 1: you're going to put into your home, but you know,
Speaker 1: take the long road home.
Speaker 2: Question three. I know you do a lot of health
Speaker 2: and fitness is a big priority in your life. In
Speaker 2: order to how does that affect your creativity?
Speaker 1: I come up with a lot of ideas. It's just
Speaker 1: it's unbelievable having just this. It's active meditation for me
Speaker 1: where I can just cleanse my my brain and uh,
Speaker 1: and a lot of things come to me when I
Speaker 1: want to run and UH, and I love Disana as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's my active meditation. And when you create this clear
Speaker 1: space in your brain, it allows for creativity.
Speaker 2: And he's running your main form of that or is
Speaker 2: there or are there others? Or is that your main you?
Speaker 3: No, I do. I do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1: I like to change it up because you want to
Speaker 1: surprise your body, just like you always want to surprise
Speaker 1: your audience. You know, it's the same thing with you
Speaker 1: and me and in design and so surprising your body
Speaker 1: so important. So I'll do pilates, uh, cardio, strength training,
Speaker 1: like mobility work, like a little bit everything. And I
Speaker 1: love playing tennis and also padel.
Speaker 2: I love padel.
Speaker 3: Padel is so cool.
Speaker 2: I keep missing your tennis Fuse I'm so upset with myself.
Speaker 2: I love tennis too, and whenever you invite me i'm
Speaker 2: out of town or traveling, it makes me so sad.
Speaker 1: We just put in a padel court at our house
Speaker 1: and it's so much fun. It's such a great like
Speaker 1: social sport with the glass walls. And we played the
Speaker 1: first time last year. We went to Brazil and they're
Speaker 1: all over there and it's so much fun.
Speaker 2: I got into it in Dubai and so Dubai has
Speaker 2: really taken off, and then I played in Miami, but
Speaker 2: it hasn't taken off in LA because pickleball has. So
Speaker 2: I've been playing pickleball. But padell is.
Speaker 1: We just this weekend met this guy who's a Padel.
Speaker 1: He's from Spain. He's like a Padel expert. He's a teacher,
Speaker 1: and he told us there are eleven courts in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: They're like there were people's homes. There's actually one ironically
Speaker 1: on Santa Monica, like near like by the Peninsula Hotel,
Speaker 1: like a really random place. But it's such a it's
Speaker 1: such a fun sport. And I like it because it's
Speaker 1: a little more like skill and uh and a little
Speaker 1: more challenging.
Speaker 2: It's a little more unpredagial than pable, for sure, because
Speaker 2: you've got to be great at physics to play Padel.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like chess. It's like active chess. It's like
Speaker 3: so yeah, it's so fun and social and really social.
Speaker 2: Absolutely all right. Question four and five. Last two questions.
Speaker 2: Question four, what's the first thing you think about when
Speaker 2: you look at a space to bring it to life?
Speaker 3: What's outside the window?
Speaker 2: Interesting? Walk us through that.
Speaker 1: It's like what is outside the windows so important because
Speaker 1: it's part of your interiors, Like you have to look
Speaker 1: at it is it's like your first piece of art
Speaker 1: in the room. So is it a tree, is it
Speaker 1: another building across the street? Is it the mountains? You know,
Speaker 1: it's so important to the space.
Speaker 2: Wow, that I did not expect that. There you go,
Speaker 2: you know, and how how do you use that to
Speaker 2: info what goes on inside?
Speaker 1: Well, if we're selecting, like we were working on a
Speaker 1: project in New York and there was a terracotta building
Speaker 1: outside the window, and so like it was their large windows.
Speaker 1: There was five of them that go across this elevation,
Speaker 1: and so it's really it's like a large piece of
Speaker 1: art in the room. So we need some something that
Speaker 1: really speaks to the window and the materiality on the building.
Speaker 1: And so we had to consider it. And so it's really,
Speaker 1: you know, important part of design.
Speaker 2: What are some of I'm digressing here from the final five,
Speaker 2: but what's what are some of the biggest mistakes you
Speaker 2: think we make when it comes to setting up our
Speaker 2: spaces in our rooms. What are some things to avoid
Speaker 2: that people can look out for?
Speaker 1: Like one thing that I love that I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people. Like for small spaces, mirror goes so
Speaker 1: such a long way and it actually really feels good.
Speaker 1: Like there's great feng shui and mirror and where it's
Speaker 1: placed is so important.
Speaker 3: And it not only creates.
Speaker 1: A window if you have one window in your room.
Speaker 1: Like we're working on a hotel project in like Tahoe,
Speaker 1: and you know we're using you know, really beautiful millwork
Speaker 1: and incorporating mirror, and like the transformation of the room
Speaker 1: and what it does to the space is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's a great note.
Speaker 1: But I would say too the furniture, like really low
Speaker 1: seating just makes your space seem so much more expansive.
Speaker 1: And lighting is so important, and like one thing like
Speaker 1: we really avoid is like just directional downlights.
Speaker 3: You have to be so careful.
Speaker 1: That they're not over seating areas because you know, we
Speaker 1: have people and come to the hotel.
Speaker 3: We want people to look like great.
Speaker 1: And feel amazing, and so lighting is like really I
Speaker 1: think underestimated and should be really considered.
Speaker 2: Got it all right? Great answers? All right. Fifth and
Speaker 2: final question. If you could create one design law that
Speaker 2: everyone in the world had to follow, what would.
Speaker 1: It be really understand what your style is, and frequent
Speaker 1: museums and galleries and go out and see what things
Speaker 1: say to you, because you're going to discover something.
Speaker 3: That you didn't know was inside you.
Speaker 1: That's going to make your interior represent who you are.
Speaker 2: I think that's great life advice and design advice. It's
Speaker 2: knowing who you are and allowing enough input. I definitely
Speaker 2: found that when we moved from London to New York
Speaker 2: and then from New York to LA it was just
Speaker 2: I just got exposed to so much more than I'd
Speaker 2: ever been exposed to. And that exposure is what also
Speaker 2: helped define an edit who you were and who you
Speaker 2: wanted to be.
Speaker 1: And you're constantly changing, like the more you see. Like
Speaker 1: I look at projects I did twenty years ago and
Speaker 1: they're they're great, but they're different than how I would
Speaker 1: approach things now. Just taking your time it's like so
Speaker 1: important and I go my million miles a minute and
Speaker 1: I get excited about things and I want things to
Speaker 1: happen now, but really it's like taking your time, like
Speaker 1: pace is everything.
Speaker 2: Well, Kelly, thank you for your time today, and thank
Speaker 2: you for being so present and gracious and kind, and
Speaker 2: that you've been so trusting of me. I've loved having
Speaker 2: this conversation with you, and I hope that everyone who's
Speaker 2: been listening or watching has found some inspiration, some sparks,
Speaker 2: some creativity to help enliven and bring to life their spaces,
Speaker 2: because I really do believe design can make you happy.
Speaker 2: I really do believe that design and aesthetics in our
Speaker 2: spaces can define how we feel and how we move
Speaker 2: and the emotions that we go through.
Speaker 1: And so and design too jays of something else about
Speaker 1: design that we're speaking that is very more esthetic, but
Speaker 1: it also makes our lives easier.
Speaker 3: And that's something that continues to get.
Speaker 1: Better and better and which is going to give us
Speaker 1: more time. And so not only the esthetic of design,
Speaker 1: but also the functionality, which is really you know critical.
Speaker 2: Give us an example of that, because that's a great,
Speaker 2: great point and we didn't talk about that. Tell us
Speaker 2: a bit more about how we can think about our
Speaker 2: spaces functionally in order to make them easier as well.
Speaker 2: What have you found what little tips have worked for
Speaker 2: you for that?
Speaker 1: Well, in our studio, we're actually working with AI and
Speaker 1: after like during the holidays and you know, the fall
Speaker 1: when open AI announced the the you know, generative.
Speaker 3: Intelligence and what it can do.
Speaker 1: I just listened to a lot of podcasts and read
Speaker 1: up on it, and I was like, I'm going to
Speaker 1: implement this in my studio in some way. And obviously
Speaker 1: you can't go full force into it, so department I
Speaker 1: have like a director and we're using it every day
Speaker 1: and it's been like really profound and really inspirational, and
Speaker 1: it's not designing spaces for us, but it is actually
Speaker 1: generating ideas that we can implement into a project and
Speaker 1: something that maybe we never thought of.
Speaker 3: And you know, and I.
Speaker 1: Tell the team, I'm like, listen, this is like you
Speaker 1: have like a junior designer by your side that can
Speaker 1: help implement. And I'm super bullish on AI and what
Speaker 1: it's doing for my business is unbelievable. And we're only
Speaker 1: like at the surface, and soon we're not going to
Speaker 1: have just a junior designer. Everyone's going to have a
Speaker 1: senior designer working for them. And it's not going to
Speaker 1: take away what we do because you've got to have
Speaker 1: somebody driving the ship. But it's it's fascinating and love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I love hearing you embrace that because I
Speaker 2: think so many people get scared like, oh no, like
Speaker 2: people can just design their rooms by AI. But I
Speaker 2: think when you're confident in conscious of what you're doing,
Speaker 2: what do you think what parts do you think it's
Speaker 2: going to help replace and help solve versus what parts
Speaker 2: do you think you're like, well, wait a minute, my
Speaker 2: brain will always be able to do this part.
Speaker 1: It's just generating, like idea generation, but also like Photoshop
Speaker 1: and how quickly that you can get things done now,
Speaker 1: So maybe we can take on a certain amount of
Speaker 1: work a year, but it's going to enable us to
Speaker 1: probably take on more projects and be more efficient with
Speaker 1: our time. And then when you're more efficient with your time,
Speaker 1: your team's more happy because then they have free time.
Speaker 1: So I think it's going to make our And this
Speaker 1: is I'm not an expert in AI. I'm just telling
Speaker 1: you how I'm using it and my studio using it,
Speaker 1: But it's going to benefit us in so many ways
Speaker 1: and helping give us more free time and idea generation,
Speaker 1: which is great because it's like having a new person
Speaker 1: on your team, a new creative spirit on a project
Speaker 1: every day, which is unbelievable, Which is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great. I love it. Thank you again, Kelly,
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you so wonderful. I hope you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're amazing and I and thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: And I'm so happy to be here finally with you
Speaker 1: and uh and your You're amazing.
Speaker 2: Thank you, min Well. I'm glad that we keep deepening
Speaker 2: our friendship. And I'll never forget the first time I
Speaker 2: met you and how kind and sweet you are to me.
Speaker 2: So thank you so much. And I'm glad that you
Speaker 2: know the book's available. I'm glad that I'm glad that
Speaker 2: we're drinking from your classes. This is this is spectacular,
Speaker 2: this is a beautiful. I can't wait to shove the
Speaker 2: whole collection. Thank you so much. If you love this episode,
Speaker 2: you'll enjoy my interview with doctor Daniel Ahman on how
Speaker 2: to change your life by changing your brain.
Speaker 4: If we want a healthy mind, it actually starts with
Speaker 4: a healthy brain.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I've had the blessing or the curse to scam over
Speaker 4: a thousand convictions to felons and over a hundred murderers,
Speaker 4: and their brains are very damaged.