Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindi Smead.
Hi Cindi, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Cindi Smead and I have been a semi-professional artist since I was 9 years old. My parents encouraged my artistic side and I learned everything I could about every medium that interested me. My parents opened a garden center and 2 flower shops when I was 12 and I grew up learning about plants, trees, and flowers, learning about how to use a case register, how to give exemplary customer service (which was learned by making many mistakes along the way), and gradually over the years I learned about all aspects of running a business. I was a fine art major in college and used my degree in almost everything I did. I continued to refine my training in floral design and worked alongside my parents in their flower shops and acquired management skills as well. When my children were young I opened a stained glass studio, and I learned a lot about being a “gypsy” by selling what I made at art shows in 11 different states up and down the east coast. Six years ago my husband and I moved into our current home and met our new next door neighbors (Eric and Jill) right away. Jill had also grown up in her mother’s flower shops and we started doing wedding flowers out of the glass studio in my house.
On November 1, 2025, we opened our brick and mortar store, Wild Blooms, which is a creative, funky, unusual, unique and inspiring. It is the unique blending of a full-service flower shop and a fine art stained glass studio. Jill and I each have 52 years of experience in the flower industry and I have 32 years in stained glass. This store is definitely not your run of the mill, average flower shop with white walls and lace doilies! Our walls are cobalt blue with accents of lime green and peacock blue, and when customers walk in for the first time they simply stop and stare! They are blown away by the bright colors, the ribbon lights that back light the stained glass windows that are displayed along the two long side walls, the tree we built that holds our seasonal stained glass ornaments, and the fact that we design and make 99% of the items displayed here. We have a strong connection to our families and we have incorporated them into this store. My parents were arborists so we built the tree in honor of them. Jill’s mom adored sunflowers so we put one in our logo, in all our marketing materials, and we even have large silk sunflowers that decorate the store!
As I mentioned, we do things differently here. We want our customers to be part of the gift they are giving, so we design the floral arrangements and stained glass gifts right in front of them, on work stations located right inside the front door. We don’t hide the messy parts of this business. We prefer to put stools in front of our design benches and invite our guests to experience how a flower arrangement is made. They get to choose the flowers used and become part of it all. They seem to love that interaction and many have made comments that our shop is one of the most exciting places to be!!! In addition to that, we also give classes in both flower design and glass. We have many plans for the future and look forward to seeing them come true!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all! We hired a contractor to do the build out and unfortunately he became very ill the day we were to start work and had to bow out. We couldn’t find another contractor who had open time at the drop of a hat, so we became our own contractors. The store location we chose was formerly an ax throwing bar so as you can imagine, we had many, many cuts and slices in the walls to repair! We did our own building, repaired the floor which was badly damaged by a gym that had been here before the bar was, removed reflective film from the windows, paid an electrician to add outlets to the room and a plumber to fix some issues, built a store room, designed and built chandeliers made from pallets and pendant lights, built a tree inside the store and a planter around it to help it stay standing and keep people safe. When it came time to move in, we created scale drawings of everything we would need to place in the store then used those drawings to physically locate the display cabinets, work stations, floral coolers, glass studio workbench, and glass cabinet in the right spot. We had trouble with the water heater and the A/C that had to be repaired, however, overall we are very pleased with what we did.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I greatly admire the beauty and elegance of the world around me. I know it sounds simple but I find that simplicity speaks the truth. I love the colors in the mountains and trees in the National Park near my home. I love the patterns that birds make when they chase each other through the twilight sky. I love the way light plays on water running through a creek. The world is amazing, beautiful, and meaningful and my art follows that lead.
I love the idea of incorporating found objects into my work. It is exciting to me to find utilitarian objects that are often rusty or bent and help them become part of an artwork, as if they have a new purpose in life.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
My art, whether it is a one-of-a-kind stained glass sculpture or a voluptuous vase of flowers celebrating one of life’s occasions, invites the viewer to stop, linger, think, absorb, and experience something out of the ordinary.
Pricing:
- $14 – $38 for earrings
- $68 – $78 for framed tumbled glass artworks
- $500-$1600 for original stained glass windows
- $50-$85 for plants or dish gardens
- $75-$350 for vase floral arrangements
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wildbloomsfloralevents.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/wildbloomsandfireflystudio
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/wildbloomsandfireflystudio
