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Teasers touting a soon-to-be-announced project or partnership have become commonplace—dare we say cliché—on Instagram feeds. Leave it to Kelly Wearstler to conjure an image a bit more thrilling: Pry bar in hand, the AD Hall of Fame designer stands atop a stack of wood shipping crates, each tagged with a spray-painted logo that reads “Rotganzen for Kelly Wearstler.” An all-caps caption advertises the “ultimate unboxing” to be unveiled October 14.
A peek inside the mundane containers reveals not only an exciting new collaboration between Wearstler and Dutch art collective Rotganzen, but also the introduction of a new vertical to Wearstler’s e-commerce platform. Alongside her regular furniture and lighting collections, Wearstler will now also debut limited-edition, exclusive commissions from artisans and designers from across the globe.
Each piece will be made in editions of 10, except for the smaller Tiny Dancer design (lower right), which will have 150.
Photo: The Ingalls“Working with all these artisans, you learn—and that’s the beauty of being a creative,” Wearstler tells AD PRO. “It’s infinite, and you just keep expanding your mind and horizons and falling in love with new things.” Now, she has the expanded platform to house them.
Wearstler discovered Rotganzen, the Netherlands-based collective best known for its “Quelle Fête” series of melting disco balls on Instagram three years ago. She quickly proceeded to order for her own Dalí-esque mosaic ball. “It’s been proudly sitting in my entry vestibule, getting so much attention, ever since,” Wearstler tells AD PRO. (During parties, she adds, she favors moving the object to the home’s buzzier areas as a conversation piece.) “It’s a great work of art that enhances any gathering.”)
“You can create something really beautiful by following the shape of the other piece, which is really difficult to do on a flat surface,” says Schilp of the Sunset People design.
Photo: The IngallsFor its exclusive collection with Wearstler—and first U.S. collaboration ever—Rotganzen has designed five mosaic works inspired by the city and music of L.A. There’s the wall-hung LA Woman, the classically drooping Tiffany Queen, and the intimately overlapping Sunset People. With Cracked Actor, the studio ventured away from its traditional draped shape for a slumped silhouette—or as Rotganzen designer Erik Schilp puts it, ”it’s the tired-of-the-evening, resting-face disco ball.” Each design will be available in limited editions of 10, except for the smaller, dangling Tiny Dancer, which will have 150.
“I’m thrilled to have the platform, to be the megaphone, for these artists to be seen and for people to feel comfortable and confident in bringing these works of art into their homes,” says Wearstler, who also notes that new design collaborations are planned to unveil on the e-shop quarterly. “I’m so grateful to all these artists because they make my projects sing.” And, as this inaugural partner would surely attest, no great performance is complete without a disco ball.
