Artist Isa Catto shares the inspiration behind the interior design of her Woody Creek home.
Isa Catto inside her Woody Creek studio. PHOTO BY SUSIE BRENNER
Catto fills her home with flowers from her cutting garden. PHOTO COURTESY OF: ISA CATTO STUDIO (SCARF & FLOWERS)
What do you attribute your design aesthetic to?
My mother’s home was designed to pull you in with color. She set a gorgeous table with lots of texture, like mismatched colored glasses, different china patterns and textiles from a souk in Morocco. Found treasures were scattered on the coffee table—a wild turkey feather, a beaded Maasai necklace, a gleaming chestnut. She would use an antique Meissen gravy charger to hold car keys, showcasing high and low side-by-side.
How does your color theory inform your approach?
My interior palettes are guided by instinct and memory. Everything in my home has a special meaning and vibration. Nothing is superfluous. I approach interior design like a painting composition, using color to keep the eye moving but also to off er a place for the eye to settle.
Catto’s pattern-andrepeat watercolor painting in a Bauhaus silk scarf. PHOTO COURTESY OF: ISA CATTO STUDIO ( SCARF & FLOWERS)
Anna French Javanese Stripe print. “I think this pattern has a particular, wonderful rhythm.” THIBAUTDESIGN.COM (WALLPAPER)
Where do you find design inspiration?
Before I built our current home, I created a “sanctuary file” with clippings of rooms, houses, gardens and quotes. I wanted to design a house and gardens that gave respite from the outside world—a place that was colorful, playful, quirky and welcoming. A celebration of creativity.
“I use Ruth Easterbrook vases for my cut flowers. I love how she celebrates botanical imagery.” RUTH EASTERBROOK (VASE)
“The pillows were designed from a painting I did of a medicinal flower called salsify. The chairs are midcentury modern—they’re insanely comfortable and plush.” HOME PHOTO BY SUSIE BRENNER
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