The Art of the Craft

Cortney Bishop fills the interiors of a Kiswah Island home with fresh, artisanmade furniture and wallpaper patterns pulled from the past.

- Marni Elyse Katz

This South Carolina barrier island home is perfectly positioned. "It looks out over the marsh," designer Cortney Bishop says of the site's Lowcountry perspective. "That's the view everyone wants in this part of the world."

Bishop collaborated with Cumulus Architecture + Design to create what she calls the "next forever home" for the clients, empty nesters from the Midwest who relocated to Kiawah Island. The architecture, with its elegant country house crossed with a fairy tale cottage feel, nods to the work of C.F.A. Voysey, an English architect and designer influential in the Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth century.

In designing the interiors, Bishop followed suit. Maker-made pieces, period-appropriate patterns, organic materials, and earthy colors correspond to the handmade sensibilities of that era. The muted palette feels at ease with the landscape, melding with the woods, marsh, and tidal river. "We took a craft- and nature-inspired approach in which the natural surroundings informed every choice," she says.

Past the swooped roof of the covered porch, a door with a Moorish arch leads into the foyer and open concept living space. A mammoth fireplace with a simple, Old World charm anchors one side of the space. Its plaster form has heft but doesn't impinge upon the room, while its limestone hearth weaves it into the arrangement. "Instead of typical bookcases, we created a massive hearth that you can sit on and enjoy," Bishop explains.