Meet Stephanie Fishwick, Illustrator & Calligrapher, Virginia

Define bad taste in interiors?
That lacking passion, confidence, or imagination! I used to own a very old Mercedes Benz. It was a beautiful old lemon –no air conditioning and a broken radio. On my first (of too many) trips to the local speciality repair shop, I was struck by the humble but amazing waiting room just off the garage. These guys had coffee, chic leather seating, a Beni Ourain type shag rug, and plants surrounded by old car advertisement posters. It looked like someone had carved the space out in the 70’s- it felt so nice, cool, clean, and made me want to sit down and enjoy a styrofoam cup of gross Bunn coffee! Not my style specifically, but I was engulfed. Hospitality, comfort, imagination, and a sense of place came together to make a really nice and memorable waiting room, of all places.

What is your favourite address for decoration?
Estate sales and antique shops – we live in an area rich with antiquing treasures.

Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?
My husband and I adore used bookstores, estate sales, and record shops. There are so many wonderful period juxtapositions and genres we’ve collectively forgotten. I am always hunting old books, leafing through old books and digging for new collage materials in scanned public domain archives. I will see a peculiar flower, textile, or a little creature I like and it gives me an idea of a moment or a habitat. Most of my collages are fantasy worlds spun up from playing around with clippings: flowers, creatures, bugs, and any other motifs that I’m drawn to at that moment, or that my clients have asked me to include.

Ever wanted to bring back something from a hotel or a restaurant?
The perfectly-sized, vintage martini glasses at our favourite bar, The C&O.

What is your favourite hotel in the world?
Truthfully I haven’t stayed in many hotels – or the really nice ones I should say. Growing up our one annual family trip was to a tiny seaside town in Delaware called Bethany Beach. Our large extended family would rent two old clapboard cottages next door to one another – across from the ocean, yes, but very rustic. Mom would bring along our cotton sheets from home, our own pillows and we cooked most of the meals (except for the famous local pizza ) and it felt – and still very much feels – like a home away from home. It wasn’t until I was out of college that I began travelling and that was always on a shoestring. I will say, since getting married, my husband and I have stayed at a few very special hotels. We loved our stay at The Bowery Hotel in New York City. A wonderful former client of mine, who has stayed in the greatest hotels all over the world, told me his favourite is The Bowery. We bonded over their chic and comfortable rooms, wood floors with natural wool area rugs and large bright windows that you can crank open for fresh air. The downstairs is a cosy, casual place to hang out in, and the experience overall was more like being in a really nice apartment than a hotel—I guess that makes me kind of a homebody, ha!