There’s a pigeon pitcher on the dining table. A large burl wood button mounted on the wall as art. A doormat in the shape of an apple.
Emma Chamberlain, one of Gen Z’s most influential tastemakers, has designed a 100-piece collection for West Elm that spans furniture, textiles, and decor. It’s full of elegant pieces including a velvet sofa, a round wooden dining table, and cabinets wrapped in cream lacquer. But woven into this lush aesthetic are kitschy little details meant to feel like thrift shop finds. It’s a collaboration that offers a glimpse into what today’s twenty-somethings are looking for as they outfit their first homes.
Three years ago, when Chamberlain was 21, she opened her Los Angeles home to Architectural Digest, and West Elm’s team took note. The space had elements of the West Elm aesthetic—nods toward mid-century and Scandinavian style—but the house was also distinct. There were unexpected pieces, like a chandelier made of acrylic chain links, and a groovy 1970s inspired mirror. It was hard to simply categorize whether the look was minimalist or maximalist, futuristic or retro.
“My approach to home decorating is inherently eclectic,” Chamberlain tells Fast Company. “Rather than choosing pieces based on what should go together, I choose what feels right to me, mixing styles and eras to create a space that feels unique.”
When Day Kornbluth, West Elm’s President, saw the pictures of Chamberlain’s house, she immediately wanted to collaborate with her. She felt that Chamberlain’s aesthetic would appeal to a new generation of consumers who are just beginning to create their homes. But on a personal level, she wanted to get a glimpse into Chamberlain’s personal creative process, to see how she arrives at a look that feels so fresh.
“For many tastemakers in our culture, the home is a secret obsession,” Kornbluth. “They have a private, creative process to create their spaces. As a home brand, we have this enormous privilege of getting a glimpse into how our collaborators create.”
West Elm reached out, and Chamberlain said yes. This came as as surprise to Kornbluth, since Chamberlain’s life is packed. She first rose to prominence as a YouTube creator in her mid-teens, building a following on the strength of her candid, self-deprecating persona. She has since expanded into fashion—becoming a recurring presence at Paris Fashion Week and a face of Louis Vuitton—and launched Chamberlain Coffee, a thriving business. Home, though, had always been a quieter personal pursuit, but one she has been itching to explore. “It turns out, she had a lot to say about the home,” Kornbluth says.
The design process was collaborative to a degree that surprised even the West Elm team. Chamberlain sat on every piece of furniture before signing off on it. She was interested in both the beauty and the functionality of the pieces.
“Furniture isn’t only about aesthetics. More than anything, it’s about function,” Chamberlain says. “Everything should serve a purpose. Even the pitcher that looks like a pigeon? You can actually pour things out of it.”
Together, West Elm’s design team worked with Chamberlain to create a modular sofa in a ticking-stripe fabric that can expand or contract depending on your square footage. A floor pouf has a hidden side pocket for the remote—a detail that came from Chamberlain’s annoyance at never having a place to store a remote. A telephone bench, nodding to the entryway furniture of another era, serves the same purpose it always did: sit down, take off your shoes, put your key somewhere. The lacquer wrapped 6-drawer dresser has a raised compartment along its back edge to corral skincare and makeup brushes.
But sprinkled among these practical pieces are quirky vintage-inspired pieces that bring Chamberlain joy. There’s the pigeon paraphernalia, the button motif that appears in everything from coasters to wall art, and apple-shaped throw pillows and doormats. The aesthetic reads a little like a thrifting, which makes sense for Gen Z, which has grown up on Depop and Salvation Army finds. The tension between the rigorously functional and kitschy is part of the secret to Chamberlain’s distinct look.
The collection also charts something larger for West Elm. The brand has spent two decades as a kind of gateway to mid-century modern living—accessible price points, clean lines, the language of Ray and Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen translated for Brooklyn apartments and suburban starter homes. Kornbluth has been thinking about how to evolve that DNA without abandoning it. The Chamberlain collaboration, she says, isn’t a departure so much as an expression of where mid-century has gone for a new generation.
“There are things we would never have done if we weren’t doing them with Emma,” she says. “But they feel right for West Elm too.”
What makes it feel right is a shared philosophy about what home is for. “Your home should be a place to express yourself and experiment stylistically and creatively,” Kornbluth says. “We don’t want to be a brand that tells you what you shouldn’t do. Our energy is: your home is going to be good if it feels like you.”
That philosophy has a particular resonance right now, because it encapsulates how Gen Z thinks about design. Kornbluth says that many on the West Elm team are in their twenties, and Chamberlain’s approach resonated strongly with them. “They’re not interested in having the home or look that is like everyone else,” Kornbluth says. “They’ve grown up with access to so much visual information on the internet. You might worry that they would get lost in all of this, but in fact, they just seem to know themselves better. And as a result, they’re clear and brave in their choices.”
Chamberlain puts it more simply. “The most timeless thing you can do is choose pieces that bring you joy,” she says. “Something funny will stand the test of time more than something trendy. You’d be surprised how you can style something kind of ridiculous and make it look intentional. It’s like fashion. You can wear almost anything. If you wear it with confidence, people think it’s cool.”