Working Designer Wednesday: Magazines To Inspire

During the years I was running a floral design studio, I had very little extra time for learning and finding inspiration. Somehow my days seemed to be gobbled up with meetings, phone calls, paper work, designing and taking care of my family. I had to be selective with my time when it came to reading and hunting for ideas. You know how time can slip away from you when you get engrossed in surfing the web and reading magazines? In the blink of an eye…4 hours gone! I decided to buy just three magazine subscriptions to read on a regular basis…hoping it would be enough inspiration to keep me going, but not so much reading that I got overwhelmed. Here’s what I chose…

Florists’ Review is a great trade magazine for keeping up with trends in the industry and getting advice on the business aspect of floral design. FR features new flower varieties and ads for suppliers. I also enjoyed reading about other florists and their shops. The ‘Fresh Flower’ page was my favorite. This page features a different flower each month with a picture of the flower and important information about the flower…origin, care, availability and vase life. I bought a separate binder for these pages and kept them in alphabetical order. Once the binder was full of these reference pages, I had a great resource for vital information that was quick and easy to use.

  Martha Stewart Weddings is essential for wedding trend watching…in my opinion. I was never disappointed with an issue of this magazine in all the years I subscribed. In fact, I was giddy with excitement every time I received a copy and read it cover to cover without missing a single page…even the advertisements were inspiring. Year after year, MSW inspired me. I kept every issue and referred to old issues time and time again. So classic…the florals rarely look outdated…even 5,6,7 years later. I no longer have a subscription, but you bet I pick it up while waiting in the grocery store line or having a cup of coffee at Barnes and Noble. It’s still exhilarating to read…

This one may surprise you. Veranda has the most amazing floral arrangements and botanicals of any design magazine I’ve seen. Some of the arrangements are small and simple…on a bedside table or in a kitchen window. Others are large and extravagant…on a dining table or entry table. I found a steady stream of inspiration for wedding and event work among the pages of Veranda.

There you have it…I chose an instructional magazine geared toward floral designers, a trend-setting magazine geared toward brides and a home and garden design magazine geared toward chic homeowners…

Here are some other magazines worth checking out…

…Flower…

…Bloom’s World…

…The Flower Arranger…

…Fusion Flowers…

…Floral Design…

…Wedding Flowers…I had nearly every issue of this one, too…beautifully photographed and organized in color palettes…

…The Bride & Bloom…a beautiful  magazine full of inspiration…

…Fleur Creatif…

Which magazines do you read? Do you subscribe to any magazines? Which magazine provides you with the most inspiration? I’m anxious to hear your recommendations!

Hope you have a great Wednesday…