Brad Schmidt, AIFD
“In my living room, suddenly, there was this beautiful apparition… this wonderful fantasy where everything was brighter, better, where the world became a joyful place to live. He gave me a new, blissful world I hadn’t imagined” — Tai Babilonia, U.S. National Figure Skating Champion
“It was a grand event. The ballroom was packed. Yet all around, the beauty of the floral design brought an intimacy that made us all part of one event. And up close, the detail of his artistry was exquisite” — Judge Cristina Perez, TV’s “Cristina’s Court”
Brad Schmidt is a floral artist and holiday design genius. He turns the ordinary into spectacular, turns dull into brilliant and achieves it with the ease and grace of a master painter at his easel. One can stand back and watch the apparition take shape.
Just ask Steven Spielberg. Or Denzel Washington. Or a whole list of Hollywood high-enders who’ve experienced Brad’s magic touch with any combination of petal, leaf and stem.
“I always prefer to translate my client’s personality into their floral designs,” Says Brad. “The inspiration for design comes from within, you have to follow your heart, but you also have to transcend that to incorporate the client’s sense of beauty.”
Brad’s floral designs have evolved into an art form that is unique unto itself. Its origins date back to his childhood when he watched fascinated as his grandmother created her own personalized style of Faberge eggs.
Soon Brad was alongside her, absorbing her sense magic and beauty. “My grandma was a brilliant artist,” he says. “The grace and flow of her designs were mesmerising and it was pure excitement waiting to see the finished work appear like a beautiful miracle. I learned everything I know from her.”
It was this aesthetic foundation that brought Brad to the world of flowers, in which he totally immersed himself at the age of sixteen.
For 14 years now he has brought his fresh ideas and inspired design and unbounded enthusiasm to a passion and artform that grows richer by the day.
Brad has taken his rare talent into all aspects of decoration, creating huge floral events for award shows, corporate parties, celebrity functions, showrooms, individual residences and even floral shops.
Other notables who have contracted his services include Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis, Pamela Anderson, Olympian ice skater Tai Babilona and TV’s Judge Cristina Perez..
Hollywood is not the only town to recognize his genius. A leading Asian floral and decor importer regularly flies him all over the world to create the look, color and style for their holiday and Christmas lines.
“Travel inspires your mind and feeds your heart,” {says Brad}. He designs fresh and artificial product for companies in Venezuela, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico, Tokyo and an expanding number of South American countries. A recent display of Brad’s work in the Dominican Republic led to a new association with Oscar De La Renta’s design team.
“I think of design with flowers as a form of traveling,” says Brad. “The process is a journey toward a destination. The finished art is like arriving home”
His worldwide recognition was highlighted when he was tapped by the exclusive home decor catalog Frontgate as a featured designer and cover guy with his own holiday decor collection, and he is now a part of Frontgate’s elite design squad.
Brad is in constant demand on television’s top home design and decor shows. He was the featured interior designer on HGTV’s Designer’s Challenge show and will appear again in the upcoming Christmas Designer’s Challenge.
When he takes on a project,he sets about creating a unique world. The word “APPARITION” is a good description. He leaves behind a fantasy environment that transports all who enter into a more beautiful and, yes, happier place.
Call it…Brad’s World.