Cortney Bishop: That's a big, loaded question and I love it. I work from a very intuitive place. Beginning to end, you’re collaborating with the architect, landscape architect, contractors and, of course, the client. The first step is putting together the perfect team. Then, I think about the end user. Who’s the family and what are they using the home for? And location. Are we in a city? By the ocean? What are the views like? The purpose of the space and its setting really drive the beginning of the process.

With an architectural plan in place, I’ll move onto the initial questions about materiality. What does the architect suggest for the exterior? What are we discussing with the landscape architect to place around the pool? I like to be involved in those decisions from the start and take a very holistic approach to selecting materials that can be incorporated throughout the design. We figure out how to capture that palette, or feeling, or this particular sheen inside of the home. That’s when the fun begins. 

I start formulating ideas for the interior colors, choosing tonal variations that are present in those base materials—coppers, grays, neutrals, charcoals, bronzes, etc. I'll start layering in materials based on the client’s personality and needs. I’ll take my cues from them, pulling in accent paint colors, fabrics and art selections that complement that foundational palette or pattern. Then it’s a matter of weaving and balancing all of those elements throughout the design in a way that satisfies the client’s style.

We have a world of options at our fingertips. I do this twenty-four hours a day and am always searching for new vendors, artists, and artisans. The vision starts with those base materials, but I can't always express how we do things. It's a feeling I get when we walk into a project—and then do everything I can to make the client feel it too. 

CB: We had a nice ten-year period where everybody wanted tonal grays. More recently, there was a move to white. Stark white homes with white paint, white kitchens, white stone. Those phases lasted way too long in my book. I think we’re clearly seeing—and it’s been illustrated in plenty of magazines and editorial pieces in the design industry lately—that we’re coming into a new era. An era of bolder choices.

Bold use of color, bold use of pattern, bold use of wall materials. The custom home has become something far more layered, textured and creative than it's ever been. At this point in my career, for example, I’ve found there's so much happening on a wall schedule. So many opportunities to be innovative. Whether it’s vertical planking on a wall, or wainscotting with wallpaper, or transferring stone or tiles up from the floor. There's so much more creativity happening at every turn. And to me, that's so exciting.

I've got plenty of architect friends who understand that we like to provide these wall schedules that are interesting and layered. That are warm and organic. They’ll hand us the drawings and we’ll take them on, and the flooring schedules, and the trim details. I love partnering with architects for all of these reasons. I’ll throw it back to them and say, “Well, are you comfortable with this? Are you comfortable if we coffer the ceiling? Are you comfortable if I put horizontal, ten-inch wide poplar planks on the walls?” 

I think we’re moving in the direction of taking more chances through expressive design. We're thoughtfully considering all of those little details that make up a home, and really taking the time to choose materials that people will love to live within. 

CB: I'm a marketing girl. I love threading the needle with a narrative. Whether it's a family home or a boutique hotel or restaurant, I love dreaming up the story. What are we creating for the public? What are we creating for this family's home? For commercial work, I define that story through the same holistic design process I’d use for any project, but also take it to that next marketing level. We want to be involved in the branding—from tableware to uniforms, to the merchandise that they’re selling. Those are integral to the design too, and when clients are willing to listen to our voice in that arena, those are the projects I love to take on.

But the approach really is the same. It’s about the environment, the location. It might just have a little bit more to do with what’s missing in that particular community and determining what we can create for them. What does this area have a lot of and what does it need? A great example of that is what we did with the Ryder Hotel. We saw that there wasn’t really a laid-back hotel experience here in Charleston. A place for people to walk in with their flip flops on and feel comfortable. That's not Charleston as a community—we're not as relaxed. We’ve got beautiful hotels, but they tend to be a bit more formal. The Ryder took things in a more casual direction. It definitely brought something new and, I believe, needed to the hospitality landscape.

CB: I’m so inspired by artists in general, and Album has been a way to do some soul-searching; to dive deeper into my own process. I love what I do on a daily basis, but my clients typically want to see the work I’m doing right now. With Album, I’m already 5 or 10 years forward in terms of what I want to do. I didn’t know what would come of it—it was just something I had to express. And that’s where all the magic is.

I wanted to create a platform that better illustrates what’s happening in my personal creative experience—what inspires and excites me. To show people that they can mix all these works of art together in one space and not conform to any preconceived rules they think they need to follow. They don't. I’ve never looked at design that way. I think it’s so important to live with the things you love—that they’re part of your unique story.  I’m trying to give viewers a bit of confidence in their own ability to find those things, and encourage them to spend a little more time thinking about their purchases.

In addition to the resurgence of bold colors and patterns we’re seeing is this renaissance of things like vintage furniture, and rediscovering designers and artists of the past. There’s not enough of that in the mainstream design world as I would like to see. What we're showing with Album is that there are so many great artists and designers in the world. I want everyone to do a little more research. To find something that’s one-of-a-kind that speaks to them. To go outside their comfort zones and be a little fearless. Don’t settle for anything but something you love. Period.