The Fisherman Aesthetic Is One of 2025’s Hottest Design Trends
Here’s a funny thing about the internet: It can’t seem to resist a good design trend moment. For the longest time it seemed everyone was obsessed with cottagecore—so much so that TikTok started to feel like one big Calico Critters convention. (For the record, we will never tire of this cozy and layered look.) Then the “grandmillennial” movement, which championed chintz and storied antiques and anything needlepoint, hollyhocked its way into our hearts. Soon after, the coastal grandma aesthetic had us all wearing ivory linen pants and channeling our inner Diane Keaton. Most recently, more-is-more decor, also known as maximalism, has been dominating the design conversation with talk of pattern drenching and ornate accents. Frankly, these trends now come and go so much that they can start to feel fabricated, like they’re being pushed out by a PR team or an influencer hoping to break through.
Until now. When we noticed something called the fisherman aesthetic* spiking on Pinterest, we immediately fell hook, line, and sinker for this design style that feels like a hybrid between an English country house and a cozy Maine cabin on the waterfront. After all, we have long had a soft spot for lake houses and river homes and cozy cabins, not to mention fishing collectibles, muddy earth tones, and knotty pine walls, so this look is right up our aesthetic alley—or creek, so to speak.
Steve McQueen understands the assignment.
If you, too, are tempted to take the bait, we’ve rounded up ten staples of the Fisherman Aesthetic to help you get your sea legs. Carp Diem!
*Fisherladies also welcome
10 Elements of the Fisherman Aesthetic
1. Waxed Canvas Colors
An earthy soft sage feels right at home in an Alabama river cottage.
It likely comes as no surprise that the Fisherman Aesthetic prioritizes warm and earthy neutrals—think dark green, sage, rich brown, khaki, putty—or what we refer to as “waxed canvas” colors (think the colors you’d find in a Barbour retail store or your favorite vintage barn jacket). Muddy undertones are key, as is an immersive and saturated feeling. Instead of, say, green walls and a crisp white ceiling, consider painting the ceiling in the same color. “Enveloping a whole room with one color, like rich green, can have such a cozy, immersive effect,” says designer Heather Chadduck Hillegas, who has decorated her fair share of lake houses and river houses.
RELATED: The Top 100 Paint Colors For Every Room in Your House
2. Copious Cable Knits
Officially adding this image to our Fisherman Aesthetic mood board
Hailing from the Aran Islands of Ireland, the humble hand-knit fisherman sweater, which became an unexpected economic boon for the rural fishing community in the late 1800s, is an important element of this aesthetic. In addition to the sartorial statement, you’ll find cable knit pillows, cable knit blankets, and other intricate rope and cable designs outfitting homes. (Cable knit wallpaper, anyone?) Fun fact: The designs have long been rumored to carry hidden meanings, but the myths were actually dreamed up by German textile historian Heinz Edgar Kiewe in the 1930s.
LL Bean Heritage Soft Cotton Fisherman Sweater
Aelfric Eden Oversized Knit Sweater
Amazon Essentials Fisherman Sweater
3. Stone Finishes
A stone fireplace complete with a model boat is peak fisherman aesthetic, as is the ship wheel light fixture.
Natural river rock and fieldstone materials—on a fireplace, as a backsplash, on a shower surround—take priority over sleeker tile. “Stone lends a more organic look to these spaces,” says Country Living Senior Homes and Style Editor Anna Logan.
4. Wood Paneling
Wood walls reinforce a cozy cabin feel.
The Fisherman Aesthetic trend happily intersects with the comeback of knotty pine walls and unpainted wood paneling. (Knotty pine is a piece or plank of pine with visible imperfections that were gained as the tree aged. Dark and oddly shaped, knots in wood are a quirky reminder of the once-living tree.)
5. Tweed and Tartan
A tufted tartan ottoman lends a refined feel to a New England living space.
You know those iconic wool fisherman’s caps? Any pattern (herringbone, tartan) or material (tweed, corduroy) you’ve seen in flat cap or skipper cap form is likely just right for a Fisherman Aesthetic interior. Tweed fabric can almost act as a solid when it comes to upholstery (try it on a sofa or wingback chair) while tartan makes a bolder large-scale statement (try it on a footstool or accent pillows). Tip: In either case, stick to earth tones as opposed to bolder royal blues and reds. (See “Waxed Canvas Colors,” above.)
6. Woven Textures
Keepin’ it creel: A collection of woven antiques lends texture to a planked green wall.
Wicker and rattan will forever have a place in this aesthetic, and it’s largely because anglers have long had a soft spot for the woven intricacies of fishing creels, which have been documented as far back as the Middle Ages but fell out of everyday use once catch-and-release laws were introduced in the 1950s. Handwoven from split willow and reinforced with leather by Oregon tanneries, baskets from the 1880s through 1930s are quite valuable—they can fetch close to $3,000 when associated with known leatherworkers such as A.E. Nelson. Fortunately, simpler creels from later decades don’t skimp on charm, and can be found for between $50 and $300 each. Creels can be displayed en masse on a wall or cleverly utilized as catchalls for incoming mail or seasonal door decor.
RELATED: These Vintage Fishing Collectibles Are Worth a LOT More Than You’d Think
7. Porcelain Fish Plates
An assortment of plates makes for an eye-catching display
Whether outfitting a wall, hutch, or table, these porcelain pretties provide a decorative foil to this aesthetic’s rustier and crustier elements. You’ll notice trout is a particular popular motif, and for good reason. Perhaps the most popular freshwater sporting fish, trout are sought out by anglers coast to coast because they thrive in a variety of cold-water environs and put up a sporting fight when hooked on a line. (It also doesn’t hurt that certain species make the “catch” portion of “catch-and- release” a beautifully speckled spectacle.) Enshrined through transferware on porcelain plates, their likeness typically fetches between $15 and $50 apiece depending on age, size, and maker, but serving platters and hand-painted pieces can ring up more than $100.
RELATED: The 100 Best Places to Shop for Antiques and Vintage Online (Coastal Curiosities Included!)
8. Motley Mudrooms
Another hallmark of the look: A motley and collected mudroom
A mudroom has to work particularly hard in the home of an outdoorsman, which is why these spaces are a necessity, not a novelty. Similar in spirit to the English boot room, the Fisherman’s mudroom stays stocked with hats, jackets, waders, fishing poles, creels, and other odds and ends (binoculars, fly fishing nets, the latest copy of Field & Stream…). These spaces rarely look pristine—rather, they feel piled-on and collected and—gasp!—may in fact have a little mud. That’s kind of their point.
RELATED: 30+ Ideas for a More Stylish and Functional Mudroom, According to Designers
9. Minnow Buckets
You haven’t fully embraced the Fisherman Aesthetic until you’ve purchased at least one vintage minnow bucket.
A natural part of the fish food chain, live minnows have helped orchestrate the perfect catch for centuries. The containers used to corral them became factory produced during the Industrial Revolution, and two-piece galvanized metal styles were de rigueur by the 1920s. Designers often employ them as rustic containers for unfussy floral centerpieces, although they can also be used to corral other odds and ends, too. Today, buckets made in the 1940s through ’60s by brands such as Mit-Shel and Lucky Waters can be found between $50 and $100, depending on condition and rarity of design.
10. Rope Accents
Just as woven textures and jute and sisal feel at home in this design aesthetic, so does utilitarian rope. Whether it’s used to hang lighting, employed as a stair handrail, or put to use as drawer pulls, the hardware store staple has no shortage of interior design applications.
Rachel Barrett is the Editor-in-Chief of Country Living. She can’t pass up a vintage seascape, drives an ’89 Woody Wagoneer (that is, when it’ll start), and hopes to buy you a lemonade at a future Country Living Fair.
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