Album Isn’t Just Another E-Commerce Platform

When Cortney Bishop isn’t dreaming up award-winning projects like Charleston’s free-spirited Ryder Hotel and residences with irreverent touches across the U.S., she’s frequenting art and design fairs like Salone del Mobile and Art Basel Miami Beach “where the artists push the boundaries of what can be created,” she tells Introspective. “I attend them to remind myself to be bold enough to mix things together and to go with what drives me.” Proof of concept: Album, an e-commerce destination she’s launching today that cleverly mixes the worlds of design and music. 

Album injects fresh new energy into the design e-commerce experience with product drops presented in music-inspired photoshoots. Each month, the platform will drop a shoppable “tracklist” of eclectic design objects handpicked by Bishop and curator Wills Baker, and themed to a corresponding song. The duo will situate each piece within a styled virtual setting that could easily double as an album cover. “It’s a creative outlet that, as a designer, allows me to play in a way that differs from the project work we’re doing as a firm,” Bishop says, explaining how each piece offers a glimpse inside her mind.

The first drop, which launched Friday at 11 AM EST in time for New Music Friday, features 13 objects whose arrangement is themed to Moby’s moody classic “Extreme Ways.” In tune with the song’s seductive strings—and perhaps the otherworldly desert pictured on the cover of its album, 18—Bishop envisioned a sandy, florid setting for the shoot that mirrors the “extreme places that never see any light” Moby sings about. Each object intends to heighten the mood, whether a one-of-a-kind Yves Boucard accent table, lighting by Mexico’s Studio Tezontle, a handwoven rug by Amadi Carpets, or an original Togo sofa by Michel Ducaroy. 

“We want people to visit Album to discover something they won’t find anywhere else—a provocative piece of art, a highly collectible classic, or an object that’s just plain rad,” Bishop says. Up next: a members-only subscription service fittingly called “b-sides” that offers “off-the-record” access and perks.