The secret ingredient to Kelly Wearstler’s mad designs: a triple macchiato

If the speed at which Stella McCartney’s recent H&M drop sold out the world over last week is anything to go by, you can safely assume the Swedish fashion giant’s first home collection with a celebrity interior designer—the acclaimed American tastemaker Kelly Wearstler—is likely to meet the same fate when it launches in 28 countries on September 3.

After three decades of designing luxury hotels on LA’s palm belt and homes for her famous clients—Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller, Cher, and Sir Elton John, to name a few—it seems odd that Wearstler has just made her debut at Milan Design Week, the global ramp for all things design. Her 29-piece collection with H&M Home, of which nine curated pieces were on display in Milan last month, features modular furniture and design objects made for dining, dressing, and lounging areas, which fit like a puzzle and can be moved and reconfigured to suit an ever-evolving home as it matures from a bachelor pad to a working couple’s home and a family house.

“Modularity is freedom. A space is never fixed; it continues to evolve,” believes the AD 100-feted Wearstler, whose cage-like, metal-and-fabric Emera table lamps for H&M Home transform a functional object into something sculptural and stunning that can fit on a work-from-home desk as seamlessly as your bedside table.

Anyone who knows Wearstler’s signature style knows that it is anything but beige and boring—she revels in colour, specialises in mood-lifting spaces, and is the creative genius behind playful designs like a $2,800 bum-shaped Butt stool and the shiny disco ball Paris Drinks table that she made for Rotganzen. Bold and bespoke, her designs belong to the school of peak personality decor that embraced maximalism even in the quiet luxury era. A critic once compared a Wearstler room to that of an overstimulated child. Which is to say, we were expecting some of that playful energy, whimsical designs, and Hollywood-style sheen with her first almost-affordable collection that democratises design.

And she delivered. The palette may be muted, but there is Tetris-like seating, a trompe l’oeil vase, a chair that can turn into a sofa, a table that can be arranged to suit the size of your entertaining spread, and even a clothes rack that seems inspired from her latest trip to Jaipur. At Palazzo Acerbi, a venue that has been closed to the public for years, all this unfolded in a series of immersive rooms where these pieces changed and interacted with the different spaces.

Below, Hollywood’s favourite maximalist talks about her Milan debut, her macchiato order, and what’s common between homes from Milan to Mumbai:

This may be your first time showcasing at MDW but not in the city. What’s the first thing you do in Milan?

Milan is a city of momentum. It’s about business, energy, and ideas, so I want to arrive feeling clear and focused. It’s a long journey from Los Angeles, so I always begin by resetting my body. Movement is essential. I’ll go to Barry’s Milano or the fitness centre at my hotel to help me recalibrate and come back to myself. Then it’s a triple macchiato, taken standing at the bar like the Milanese: quick, precise, and part of the rhythm of the city. From there, I move straight into meetings while absorbing as much of the culture and atmosphere as I can.

Is this the same work routine you followed while designing this collection for H&M Home?

Routine is essential to how I move through the day. I begin the same way each morning: a triple macchiato, a workout, and time with my son Crosby, getting him ready for the day. From there, everything shifts: site visits, meetings, sourcing, constant movement. But I always return to that midday reset—a workout I think of as my “afternoon delight”. It’s a moment to recalibrate, to come back into focus. Over time, these routines become rituals. This collection is about elevating the objects that live within those moments, the pieces that support the most personal, intimate rhythms of daily life.

The collection is made up of everyday objects that are built for our daily needs, but the space you chose to showcase it—Palazzo Acerbi—is anything but ordinary.

Palazzo Acerbi is an incredibly unique space—a 17th-century Baroque palace that has never before been open to the public for a Milan Design Week installation. Before we took it for the H&M Home presentation, it was an accounting office, which is incredible. It has this beautifully understated facade that opens into a classic Milanese courtyard and a lush interior above. Columns and ornate frescoes punctuate the space, creating a dramatic dialogue with the collection’s contemporary look and feel. It was the perfect space for the launch, with this sense of history meeting modernity.

When you design a collection for a brand like H&M that produces in such high volumes, it’s entering homes the world over. What is it about these pieces that makes them fit so easily into homes across the world?

This is my first time designing at this scale. I’ve been wanting to create a collection that could reach a global audience at an accessible price point for such a long time now. H&M Home was the perfect partner because this marks their first designer collaboration to include larger-scale furniture. Modularity became central to the design language. This flexibility to restrain or expand the size of the design allows each piece to adapt, transforming and personalising itself within different spaces and homes globally.

Modularity is a key feature in this collection and something that is essential to an evolving space like a home. What’s your decor advice to people who rent?

There are so many ways you can make a space your own without the need to make any permanent changes. My advice would be to start with pieces that anchor the room—a sculptural sofa, a statement mirror, or an oversized rug that defines the space. This not only helps to make an impact in a room, it also provides a direction from which you can build on for the rest of the space.

From LA to Milan to Mumbai, what’s the one thing taking over our homes right now?

There’s a strong shift toward spaces that feel personal and layered. Homes that tell a story rather than follow a formula will always feel the most personal. We are embracing pieces with history, character, and charm.

You are known for your bold, colourful design, yet it feels like you’ve stayed away from it in this collection. Why is that?

There is a lot of colour in the collection; it is just rooted in the natural world given the materials and also taken from the facades of Milanese architecture. While the palette may be pared back, it allows the textures, forms, and materiality to do the heavy lifting. It creates a foundation that feels both sophisticated and universally adaptable, catering to a global audience.

What’s the one piece from the collection you’re planning to bring home?

We’ll keep every piece in our archive, and I am constantly moving pieces through our home.