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THE PRACTICE

Nurture By Nature is a curatorial design practice founded by Kate Swanson, based in Burlington, Vermont. We run a gallery that presents collectible design and contemporary craft, and bring that same sensibility directly into the interiors of a small number of private clients each year.

The gallery comes first. It leads everything. It is where we find the makers, test ideas, and develop the eye. The studio extends that curatorial intelligence spatially - to rooms, to collections, to the full arc of how a space is built and lived in over time.

We do not separate design from curation. A space conceived by Nurture By Nature is not decorated - it is composed around the work of specific makers whose aesthetic we know deeply and trust completely. The gallery is where you first encounter their work. The interior is where it fully unfolds.

A woman with dark hair and a tattoo on her arm, wearing a sleeveless black top, standing indoors, with soft natural light and blurred surroundings.

image 003, Kate Swanson founder & creative director. photo: CharLIE SCHUCK

THE EYE

We are drawn to work that evokes nature without depicting it. The feeling of a forest without a single leaf. The weight of stone in something that has never been quarried. Objects that feel grown rather than made - even when the craft behind them is exacting, deliberate, and deeply human.

The makers we are most compelled by are often mid-career artists who also fabricate - people whose hands are as involved as their ideas, and whose material knowledge is inseparable from their creative vision. We look for practitioners working at the edge of their medium, where the object begins to behave in ways that feel slightly outside the rules of the natural world it references.

When a piece from the gallery enters a client’s life, it often becomes the generative object for a larger interior. A light fixture suggests a kitchen. A table implies the room around it. We follow that logic — collaborating closely with the maker, expanding their language from a single object into a full spatial experience. The interior becomes an extension of the work, with all the coherence and authorship that implies.

Palette is always drawn from nature - across its full range, from the mineral darkness of deep soil to the particular green of lichen on wet stone, from bleached bone to the bruised sky before a storm. A refined palette is a lifelong practice. Nothing is chosen for contrast alone. Everything earns its place in relation to everything else.

Modern kitchen with gray cabinetry, a dark countertop, a window with green foliage outside, and a vase of purple flowers on the counter.
Water splashing against a dark-colored wall with green leaves in the background.

image 004 and 005, STUDIO + gallery AND SHELBURNE VT PROJECT KITCHEN photo: CHARLIE SCHUCK AND LINDLEY RUST

POINTS OF ENTRY

The practice operates at variable scale. Each engagement draws on the same maker relationships, the same curatorial methodology, and the same commitment to the whole. The difference is scope.

  • A single, fully developed commission created through our maker network.

    You share the space and parameters. We identify the right artist, develop the brief, and manage the process through to final delivery and installation.

  • An ongoing relationship for clients who want our eye, access to our maker network, and our full design intelligence applied to their space over time.

    We work continuously across sourcing, specification, commissions, and procurement - shaping the space as it evolves. Each decision builds on the last, creating a cohesive and considered whole.

    Structured as an active engagement, this is a long-term curatorial relationship that adapts alongside the life of the space.

  • A complete interior - whether a new build, full renovation, or a singular space that calls for total creative direction from the ground up.

    We conceive, direct, and oversee every phase: interior architecture, material and finish palette, custom furniture and lighting, maker commissions, and final installation.

    This is the fullest expression of the practice. It is rare, selective, and requires complete alignment from the outset.

Let’s work together:

A room under construction or renovation with a blue textured wall, a green ladder, a black doorway, and an unfinished countertop with construction tools and materials.

image 006, in process collaboration with anderson wise and osm construction

PROJECT ARCHIVE

  • Living room with wooden staircase, white walls, black sofa with beige pillow, white armchair with purple pillow, and light-colored furniture.
  • Wooden dresser with a glass vase of white flowers and books on top, with a bathtub visible in the background near a window
  • Interior view of a modern home with wood-paneled ceiling, black cabinets, a dining table with chairs, a small sitting area, and a workspace with a desk, bookshelf, and office chair.
  • Interior of a dining room with a wooden table, six brown upholstered chairs, a vase with flowers, two lamps on a sideboard, and a black-and-white abstract painting of a river on the wall.
  • Inside the elevator with wooden walls and a control panel on the left side.
  • Modern kitchen with wooden cabinets, a stainless steel refrigerator, microwave, and dishwasher, a small dining table with leather chairs, open shelving with alcohol bottles, and a black hanging pendant light.
  • Bathroom with a large window showing snowy mountains and a blue sky, white bathtub, gold fixtures, a gray vanity, and a mirror.
  • A wooden sideboard with geometric patterns on the doors, placed against a plain white wall with sunlight casting a shadow. On top of the sideboard are a small vase with a flower and a stack of books. A closed wooden door is visible to the left.
  • Interior view of a modern home staircase with wooden handrails and metal balusters, sunlight casting shadows on the wooden flooring, stone wall in the background, and ceiling windows letting in natural light.
  • Modern kitchen with dark blue cabinets, a vase with purple flowers, and a copper range hood.
  • Interior view of a modern living space showing a white wall with framed artwork, a wooden staircase, a potted plant with dark green leaves, and a ceiling with exposed wooden beams.
  • A bedroom with a bed featuring a wooden headboard with black cushioning, white bedding, and a decorative pillow. Next to the bed, there is a wooden nightstand with a glass carafe of water and a glass.
  • Modern white kitchen with an island, built-in oven, microwave, and a black coffee machine, with natural light from windows.
  • Modern conference room with a wooden table, leather chairs, glass-paneled door, bookshelf with decorations, and a wooden ceiling.
  • Interior view of a modern home with a wooden dining table, gray upholstered chairs, and a kitchen with wooden cabinets and stainless steel appliances. A large wooden carved wall art with tribal motifs is on the right side.
  • Modern kitchen with dark wood and gray cabinetry, marble island with sink, large window, pendant lights, and dining area with chairs.
  • Modern black house with metal roof near water, surrounded by trees, during sunset, with illuminated windows.
  • Kitchen counter with a vase of green leafy branches, three muffins on a white stand, and hanging black pendant lights, with a window and cabinets in the background.
  • Empty modern staircase with wooden steps and black metal railings, viewed through a partial blurred foreground wall inside a house.
  • A kitchen countertop with a rustic ceramic jar and a brown bowl filled with eggs, with white cabinets and tiled walls in the background.
  • Modern bathroom with a white marble countertop, black cabinet with black handles, brushed metal faucet, and a built-in shelf with rolled white towels and a potted plant.
  • Modern conference room with a long wooden table, black placemats, leather chairs, large windows, and a ceiling light fixture.
  • A bedroom with two beds separated by a small wooden nightstand. Each bed has white sheets, multiple beige and cream-colored pillows, and a plaid beige blanket. There is a framed mountain landscape photograph hanging on the wall above the beds, and a small vase with white flowers on the nightstand.
  • Interior of a modern living room with large floor-to-ceiling windows showing a snowy mountain landscape outside. There are four white armchairs arranged around a coffee table, with a bottle of wine and glasses on the table.
  • Entryway with a wooden chair on a white sheepskin rug, light wood flooring, paintings leaning against wall near a white door with a black handle, and a built-in light wood closet.
Private portfolio request

THE PROCESS

Every engagement moves through the same arc. The scale changes. The rigor does not.

  • Every engagement begins with a real conversation, not an intake form. We want to understand how you live, what you’re drawn to, and what you’re moving toward.

    This is also where we decide, together, whether there is genuine alignment.

  • Most projects begin not with a brief, but with an object - a piece from the gallery, a maker we’ve been following, a material we can’t let go of.

    That object becomes the thesis. Everything else is built in response to it: the palette it implies, the maker it introduces, the emotional register it sets for the space around it.

  • We work directly with makers, not as vendors, but as creative partners.

    When a maker’s work enters a project, we often return to them to think beyond the object - how their material sensibility, process, and aesthetic logic might extend into other elements of the space.

    A light fixture becomes a language. A table becomes the beginning of a room.

  • Execution, with full design advocacy.

    Drawings, specifications, procurement, and production oversight - the structure that keeps an ambitious idea intact as it moves from concept into the world.

    We remain the single point of contact between client and maker throughout.

  • The final act is placement - a piece in a room, a room in a house, a house in a life.

    We are present for it. Then we step back, let the space settle, and remain involved - because a home built with this level of intention continues to evolve, and so does our relationship with the people who live in it.

Decorative table lamp with a stone base, fabric cover, and exposed light bulb, placed on a wooden surface.
A person with dark hair leaning over a table illuminated by candlelight, with candles, a notebook, and utensils on the table, against a brick wall background.

image 007, 008, STUDIO + GALLERY, THE THINNING VIEL EXHIBITION: CHARLIE SCHUCK

WHO IS THIS FOR

Our best relationships share a few qualities: curiosity, a willingness to trust the process, and a sense that the space they inhabit should reflect something true - not a trend, not a renovation, but a considered way of living that deepens over time.

We are drawn to collectors building slowly and deliberately. To those who want a home that feels rooted rather than imported. To spaces that may already be resolved, but are missing the right eye applied at the right moment - the right piece, placed with intention. And to those who have spent time with the gallery, understand what we’re building, and feel the pull of it.

If you are looking for someone to execute a brief, we are likely not the right fit. If you are looking for someone to help define it - and see it through, completely and without compromise. We would welcome the conversation.

welcome to our world, won’t you come on in?

Art gallery with wooden sculptures, ceramic vases, and bookshelf against brick wall and large industrial windows.

image 009, STUDIO + GALLERY, Unknown FrieNDS EXHIBITION: CHARLIE SCHUCK

A clear glass vase with a branch inside, placed on a wooden surface, with green leaves partially out of focus in the foreground.
Image of water splashing or flowing against a wall with a plant with green leaves nearby.
A photograph of a wall with decorative vases, partly obscured by a wooden object in the foreground.

everything

STUDIO & GALLERY

EXHIBITIONS

A round black metal coil resting on a white paper on a green surface, with a wooden desk in the background.
White ceramic dove figurine with painted flower on a wooden table against a brick wall.
Small ceramic bowl with a black, red, and white floral pattern, placed on a dark wooden surface.

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INFO

JOURNAL