A Celebrity Florist and a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers, Brad Schmidt is known for his bold and sophisticated arrangements. Watch the video to learn how Brad began his journey, what inspires him and his creative process.
Brad Schmidt: I’m a floral artist. I’ve been in the business for almost 25 years. One of my friends, she was a famous floral designer. She took me under her wing and took me to Tokyo and we became this little team and I really got into the floral part of it and the Christmas part of it and started traveling to Asia. Then, I really just blossomed from that. What excites me about the design process is something that’s new and fresh. Every year is so different. It’s like I get challenged with a new, different palette or color direction. It’s very exciting for me to try to color outside of the box and do something different.
My design process looks something like, I build from the beginning. I get the idea, I get the concept. I talk to the vendor or the buyer and they gave me an inspiration. Then, I built the first sample. Then, we just go from there. Usually, it just comes to fruition after I see and feel the actual inspiration. I’ve been working with Balsam Hill for about five years. The thing I love most about decorating Balsam Hill products is it’s always new, it’s always fun. It’s either simple or over the top. It changes all the time. We can do anything from extreme with a lot of ribbon, or keep it real simple on the beautiful trees and still make it look wonderful.
My favorite Balsam Hill product that I’ve designed, there’s been quite a few, but I would say the newest one that I did is the Apple cider, which I just think is so fresh and reminds me of my hometown in Sycamore, Illinois, like the apples and ducking for apples. It brings that fall look together.
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Beauty at Every Turn
Brad has been a contributing designer for Balsam Hill since 2013. His distinct decorating style features his beautiful ribbon work and technique of clustering ornaments from top to bottom of a Christmas tree.
Brad went for a classic color palette of red, green, and gold with vintage-inspired touches for this Christmas Cheer Christmas tree theme. Brad decorated this Silver and Gold Christmas tree theme with metallic ornaments, gold picks, ribbon accents, and an angel topper. Brad decorated this Silverado Slim artificial Christmas tree by layering ribbons, creating ornament clusters, and using floral picks as accents
These stunning Christmas trees all showcase Brad’s signature style. They are filled with ornaments and decorations that have interesting details, but the overall looks are still clean and elegant.
Creativity with Inspiration
What Brad loves and finds most exciting is coming up with new and fresh designs each year. He constantly searches through numerous places from magazines to social media for inspiration. Trade shows are another strong source of innovative and other Christmas home décor ideas he can use to create his amazing pieces.
Brad’s design process begins with sketches, tear sheets, and mood boards. He then closely coordinates with suppliers, traveling frequently to visit manufacturers to check up on the products he designs.
The partnership has produced popular collections, such as the French Country Foliage and Apple Spice Foliage.
Go to our site for featured foliage and floral arrangements and other Christmas décor themes designed by Brad. Be sure to show us in the comments how they look in your home!
2 Comments
Looking for a Payment Plan for your nutcracker. How much for total purchase and what would a monthly payment be?
Hi Lillian,
If you buy today, you can grab it for $399, down from $700. Please check the product page for more info.