Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. My guest today is Katie Smaglinski. Hi, Katie.
Katie Smaglinski: Hello.
Toni: How are you?
Katie: I’m great, thank you.
Toni: Welcome to the Project.
Katie: Thanks for having me.
Toni: Katie, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Katie: I am born and raised in Berks County, lived here pretty much all of my life. I went to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, so I left for a brief stint, but came back to the area. I met my husband, who I’ve actually known since about fifth grade or so. We got married and have three children together. I am a graphic designer, and we also have a floral business called The Rustic Bunch.
Toni: Thank you for showing up for the Project.
Katie: Thanks for having me.
Toni: What does inspiration mean to you?
Katie: Inspiration to me is something that stimulates you emotionally, physically. It’s almost like a feeling that you get from something. I think it stems very deep into connections, whether it’s a spark in your mind or a feeling in your gut or a twinge in your heart. I think it’s all very connected.
Toni: Can it be separate? Can you know that you’re inspired by the physical, or is it a mental thing, or could it be all of it?
Katie: I think it could be all of it. I think it gets to the core of your being, almost. It’s hard to explain. It has a lot to do with who you are and where you’ve been, and your experiences, past relationships. I think in a way it’s almost nostalgic, whether it’s something that strikes a chord or just gets into your soul in a way.
Toni: Katie, do you know when you’re inspired?
Katie: I think so. Like I said before, it’s almost like partially a physical feeling. You get that ‘ah-ha’ moment.
Toni: Let me put you on the spot. When was the last time you felt that, where you knew and you said, “Wow! That’s it!”
Katie: I think I feel it regularly. I feel it in my work, whether I’m creating something, if I’m in the field. Nature really inspires me, so I get that ‘ah-ha’ moment or where I’m amazed with something – colors, textures, anything.
Toni: So when you get that way and you are inspired, how do you put that into practice here in Berks County?
Katie: I think creating something special for someone, whether it’s in my design, if I’m helping someone celebrate a moment, an event, an occasion. I think it’s all very linked to emotion for me. Same way with flowers – people look to flowers to express feeling. They’re sending them for something special, to let someone know they’re thinking about them. I think that’s how I am putting it into practice. I’m creating something for someone, putting it together, trying to take all of those feelings into consideration when I’m doing something.
Toni: Let’s say it’s me – and I absolutely love flowers – do you have to know what inspires me with flowers in order to match that? Do you have to understand what somebody’s inspired by in order for you to be inspired to create it?
Katie: I think sometimes it’s a sentiment. If I’m working with a bride, for instance, I will try to find out what’s important in their relationship or something that has personal meaning to them so I can take that all into consideration. I don’t have to know you personally, but I might look for something that triggers something in my mind or a connection.
Some people will tell me something specific. I had a bride that I did flowers for, and her grandmother had irises in her yard, and she had really wanted to use them in her wedding. When we got to the time, some of mine had already bloomed, and I was worried, “We might not be able to incorporate those.” I was very excited when the day before I had a second wave of them open, and I was able to put them in her bouquet, and that meant a lot to her because of that connection with her grandmother.
Toni: Were you inspired that they had opened the day before you wanted to use them?
Katie: Yes, definitely. I felt like it was meant to be.
Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?
Katie: I’m involved in different committees – Arts Festival of Reading, for one; I think being part of that creative environment where everyone is working together to make something happen. As far as specific people, Penny Golden, for one. She’s the Chair of the committee, and she took me under her wing years ago. I used to work with her at the Art of the Craft at the Museum. She inspires me in the work that she’s done in the community and with the arts, and just being part of creative community where everybody is giving a little bit of themselves.
Toni: And that inspires you.
Katie: Yes, definitely.
Toni: What do you want your legacy to be, Katie?
Katie: That’s the toughest question for me. I think knowing that I’ve touched someone in some way with something I’ve done, whether it’s design work or florals or that they can feel that emotion that I’ve put into it. That’s mainly it.
Toni: People get hung up on the legacy question, because they think, “Well, I don’t really know what people are going to think about me with my legacy,” but what I’m hearing, the way you describe inspiration, what moves you, and how that impacts your work, I would imagine you’re living your legacy as you’ve just stated. Thank you very much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Katie: Thank you for having me. I’m thrilled to be here.
