Create your own seasonal-inspired floral designs
Winter Botanicals: Capturing the Spirit of the Season in Flowers is an inspirational collection of floral designs, well deserving of a read and continual use as a creative resource. Excited and curious for more? We had a fascinating talk with Julia Marie Schmitt, the creative force behind the book.
In her first book, Julia Marie Schmitt invites 19 international floral designers to share their traditions, childhood memories, holidays and wintertime inspirations through instructional floral designs. These step-by-step designs will equip you with the tools and techniques to create your own seasonal-inspired expressions.
Where did you learn to design?
‘I have been in the floral industry since 2008 when I started working with my Mother who bought a retail Flower shop as a hobby. I became a partner and owner of the shop the same year and began to learn how to design. I had no previous floral experience prior to entering this venture but quickly taught myself to design and began floral education to become an accredited professional florist’, Julia tells us. Today she is a highly acclaimed florist with lots of certificates (ICPF, EMC, CFD, AIFD, PFCI) and her own flower shop Busy Bee Inspirationals – Home of Flowers by Julia Marie.
How did you come up with the idea of making your own book?
‘I have for a long time wanted to publish floral books that were educational and embraced the beauty of botanicals. This is why I have focused on pictorial step by step instructional books that will help and inspire anyone insterested in floral art and design. My goal is fundamentally sharing education and knowledge who fellow enthusasists and professional florists.’
With Winter Botanicals, you will take a walk in the woods where bare branches will inspire you to create natural focal pieces for home and office.
In the book – the name says it all – you focus on an interesting yet familiar subject: winter. What feelings do you have about this season?
‘I believe that nature is at its most honest during winter. We experience a ‘striped down’ version of what lies at the core of mother nature. There are many textures and inspirations that are unique to this season that sometimes can be taken for granted. It also always seems to bring out that inner child in each on of us thanks to family holidays and traditions which fill this time of year.’
‘For floral artists, winter offers distinctive natural materials and opportunities to express their creative visions that are not available in the other seasons.’
Which role do flowers play for you during the holiday celebrations?
‘Flowers are a piece of nature that we can bring inside during a winter’s day, to fill a home or a private space with life and a touch of the wonderful outside world. To me, they are the crowning jewel for any family get-together, any gift to a loved one and a wonderful representation of how nature affects all life events. It is my hope and prayer that we can continue to share the message of the beauty of botanicals to everyone we come in contact with and pass down this passion to the future generations.’
What kind of flowers and other materials do you like to work with?
‘I love working with any textural type materials. This element adds so much interest to the a floral expression. Also, I have a fondness of working with any type of wire. There is something challenging about trying to master this material by molding it in a structure or construction. Sometimes it is literally this material that inspires me and then I compliment the piece with flowers. Where flowers are concerned, I love any flower. Especially something unique and different that adds interest to an everyday arrangement or that can stand up on its own as the only floral component within a construction.’
I want this book!
Do you want to make the most beautiful floral designs for winter? The most festive decorations for Christmas? Winter Botanicals helps you get started!
This book is for everyone from highly skilled floral designers to novices who love to work with their hands and create flower arrangements. No matter how much experience we may have, we can always gain a new idea or learn a new technique from our peers.
