In the contemporary landscape of lifestyle and interiors, a new generation of women is shaping the way we live, collect, and experience design. From maximalist Hollywood glamour to surrealist tableware and quietly poetic objects, these founders are creating entire worlds around their aesthetic vision. Their brands are not mere businesses but carefully constructed narratives—an invitation to inhabit beauty, craft, and meaning in everyday life.
1. Kelly Wearstler – The Grand Dame of Maximalist Californian Design
Kelly Wearstler has built an empire that blurs the lines between residential interiors, hospitality design, and collectible lifestyle objects. Since founding her design firm in the mid-1990s, she’s become a perennial on Architectural Digest’s AD100 and Elle Decor’s A-List—what’s remarkable is how her flamboyant maximalist style, rooted in Hollywood Regency and West Coast glamour, continues to evolve and colonize new domains: from furniture and lighting to fashion collaborations and even MasterClass lectures. Her design philosophy is unapologetically layered, richly textured, and unapologetically bold—an enduring force in the field.
2. Ana Kraš – Poetic Pragmatism in Object Design
Serbian-born, Paris-based design polymath Ana Kraš introduces a soft-spoken rebellion through her debut lifestyle brand, Teget. Merging her experience in fashion photography and set design, she crafts furniture and soft furnishings that eschew sterile minimalism in favor of tactile warmth and narrative: think patterned sofa covers and sculptural paper lights, inspired by heritage (her grandmother’s laminate kitchen) and executed with delicate imagination. Her credo? Design from use, not mood boards.
3. Laila & Nadia Gohar – Surrealist Dinnerware as Future Heirlooms
The Cairo-born creative duo behind Gohar World breathe theatricality into everyday rituals. Their swan-shaped lemon squeezers, baguette-shaped bags, and sculptural napkins are handcrafted objects that oscillate between function and fantasy. They’re not just tableware—they’re conversation starters that transform domestic routines into stagecraft and invite us to ask: what is a household object if not a work of art?
4. Melanie Kalfaian – Elevated Simplicity in Handcrafted Tableware
Melanie Kalfaian’s brand What a Host Home champions endurance over extravagance. Each kitchen and table accessory is hand-designed, elegant yet rooted in functionality. Her work, shaped by a hands-on sensibility and deeply personal involvement in every design stage, speaks to a calm poise—and an elevated idea of hospitality. It’s domestic design that doesn’t shout but maintains an unwavering quiet presence.
5. Riley Uggla – Emerging Voice in Conscious Interiors
At just 30, Riley Uggla has carved an interesting niche as a pluralistic creative. Her platform The Condo offers lifestyle and interiors insight, while her label Riley Studio fuses sustainable luxury fashion with spatial sensibility. Uggla embodies a new, digitally native aesthetic leadership—one rooted in conscious production and gender-fluid sensibilities, reflecting the design values of a new generation.
Design Journal Breakdown
| Founder(s) | Brand(s) | Distinctive Aesthetic Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Kelly Wearstler | KWID + lifestyle wares | Maximalist, theatrical, and boundary-pushing interiors and objects |
| Ana Kraš | Teget | Purpose-driven, narrative design with delicate, tactile sensibility |
| Laila & Nadia Gohar | Gohar World | Surrealist, handcrafted tableware that fuses art and utility |
| Melanie Kalfaian | What a Host Home | Elegant, functional accessories crafted with intimate, handmade care |
| Riley Uggla | The Condo, Riley Studio | Digitally attuned interiors & fashion with sustainability at its core |
Why These Women Resonate with a Designer-Minded Demographic
- Intentional Aesthetics: They each offer a distinctive visual language—maximalist opulence, playful surrealism, tactile minimalism—that resonates with a discerning, experience-first audience.
- Personal Narrative & Craft: Their brands spring from authentic sensibilities (family heritage, personal design ethos, crafted humility), creating emotional resonance beyond product.
- Design as Lifestyle Ethos: Each practice blurs across interiors, objects, and narrative—offering a holistic aesthetic world, not isolated products.
- Emerging and Established Influence: They span career stages—from icons like Wearstler to rising authorities like Uggla—offering both rooted legacy and fresh perspectives.
My World of Interiors 