Live in fairytale.
We began by designing therapy offices with a focus on creating calm, beautiful spaces centered around nature.
After becoming obsessed with interior design, we found that most homes and offices are pushed toward sterile walls with generic paintings and manufactured furniture—none of which inspire creativity or calmness. In fact, it is that lack of beauty that is mistakenly associated with peacefulness and cleanliness, but in actuality, it stimulates no emotion or brain activation.
So we created Swan&Burl with the aim to live creatively by adding unique beauty to the spaces around us.
About Us
My husband worked really hard one day and gave me a silver wedding ring. It didn’t fit very well and I had to squeeze it so the metal stayed on my finger. By the end of recess, when all the second graders were called inside, we gave up on it and put the, now misshaped, metal band that held his pencil eraser away. By fourth grade, my father’s military career would take me away from Florida, where Matt and I loved playing with all the bugs, toads, and wild things. We didn’t speak again until after college as complete strangers, but it was as if we had never been apart.
I know this story doesn’t pertain much to our business, but as much as I try not to be, I’m a bit of a nosey person and like to know these things. Long story short, he gave me a real wedding ring and we found a true love for creating together, with our projects centered around nature, bugs, toads, and wild things.
The artist & designer
Samantha Lister
I’m a self-taught artist with a love for carpentry and nature. Unlike most artists, I did not draw very much from elementary school through college. In fact, though I harbor no resentment, most art teachers and I would not get along in school— to the point of them smashing some of my clay designs or mocking my sketches. It wasn’t until well after college when my husband and I bought our first home that I picked up a paintbrush. I fell in love with painting small animals, trees, and flowers in an aesthetically pleasing palette to fit in a home. A bit of a perfectionist, I put a lot of detail and love into my work with the hope of uplifting people’s hearts and sparking creativity.
The carpenter & craftsman
Matthew Lister
I work as a technical lead for a large MSP and do carpentry and mechanics in my spare time. From a very young age, I followed my dad, an engineer, around everywhere. He taught me circuitry, mechanics, and building. Which, I’m afraid to say, led to me constantly stealing his tools as a boy, always trying to build something, from forts to small electronic devices. I took that information and expanded it into woodworking and project design. I build things to be incredibly solid and designed to last even if it is well loved or dropped several times. With a passion for building and restoration, I love the challenge of new projects.