Episode 4: Providing Color Solutions with Jodi Duncan

In this podcast, we are in conversation with Jodi Duncan of Design Master. Design Master is a company that provides colour solutions to the fresh floral industry. Internationally, they are associated with Oasis-Smithers.

Jodi herself has years of experience as a fresh floral designer and she is very well known in the fresh floral industry. Her knowledge about the colour products is astounding. At the 2019 Masterclass, she demonstrated how to use Design Master products on both fresh and paper flowers.

We love using Design Master spray paints because they come in a wide spectrum of colours, are light weight enough to sit on top of the crepe papers, and dry in a few seconds, so we are excited to hear from Jodi that our paper flower community is now on Design Master’s radar.

Listen to Jodi as she talks with Quynh, Jessie, and Priscilla, about her involvement in Design Master and how she believes her products can help our community.

Let’s get to know Jodi and Design Master first:

1. We know that Design Master has been around a long time. Can you tell us the history and how you got involved with Design Master?

Mark Addison created DM. The idea was born around a kitchen table in 1961. Mark was an art-loving accountant who saw a need and an opportunity and Design Master was born. He is very much retired but he is still active and can be found around our headquarters in Boulder, Colorado from time to time. Design Master was born to serve florists who needed colors that were unavailable. In 1961 distribution looked much different than it does today.

Design Master was born as a color solution and remains so today across multiple diverse surfaces. We create color for the floral artistic community. Attributes of our products include: Multi-surface. Fast-drying. We work with chemists to develop our formulas and our Color Tool formula was the original. Our founder Mark was passionate about education and we are still to this day very much interested in supporting color education for artists in multiple mediums.

I started doing stage demonstrations and hands-on classes for Design Master in 2008. I was a fierce floral competition designer and won many regional, state, and national titles. That put me on their radar so they began to ask me to travel and teach and do programs for them nationwide.

I began to develop relationships with the great team at Design Master and they found out I was more than just a designer & speaker, but also could help with marketing, social media, and product development. So it was & is an evolution. Now I have a retainer contract with them and I’m on board for all kinds of creative color endeavors with the fantastic team at Design Master.

2. Can you tell us the proper way to use your spray paints?

We have basic common sense info on the can as well as our website, dmcolor.com.

Ventilation. Don’t spray around the flame. Common sense. Check the label. Non toxic when dry. The application part needs attention. There are certain ways we use ALL tools. For instance, don’t run with scissors!

3. Any precautions we need to be aware of and how to store the spray paints?

Just avoid temperature extremes. Nothing above 120degrees. It lasts 20-30 years in the can so it does not get old...just shake vigorously.

4. You have so many beautiful colors of spray paints and tints and we want to know if you have a plan to expand your color line?

Yes, they will be released in July! We are so excited to show you the new trends in colour that we have been working on bringing to the market. Gretchen and I are very aware of the color trends and hyper aware of what is happening with color and how it develops as well as consumer responses to color.

5. Are there any colors that you are retiring? 


We have several colors that are still available but retiring. Coral Bell and Platinum are about to go away. Modern Metals is also about to disappear, as is Cherry Wood Tone. Aspen Yellow is going, to be replaced with a new yellow. Almond and Terra Cotta are also being retired and replaced with fresher versions. Fashion does not stay the same and neither does the color world!

6. Also, is there a spray that will help us preserve the colors over a long period of time?

We are looking into that with our team of chemists.

7. We love that you support the Paper Flower Community so much by highlighting so many amazing paper florists’ works via Instagram and Facebook. If a paper artist wanted to get a feature on your IG and Facebook feed - what’s the best way to tag you to get noticed?

Just tag us and give us permission to share the posts and projects. We love user-generated content! Bring it ON! Send us a DM or just tag us.

8. What other ways does Design Master support the community?

Our ways of supporting the paper community are as fresh as the community itself. We underwrite many educational endeavors and workshops for paper florists and look forward to being a part of the growth of paper florists. We are always excited to develop relationships with distributors to get our cans in your talented hands. We are always at Creativation and showed paper floral in our booth and had a tremendous response in January.

9. What are some questions that you might have for the paper florist community?

What are the avenues of growth you see for your products? Home decor? Nursery? Commercial displays? Weddings? Other directions on the horizon?

Do most paper florists operate with tax license? Or as an enthusiast?

10. What are some things that you would like people to know about Design Master that we haven’t already covered?

Our emphasis is about color on surfaces. We are not just an aerosol. We are not just hardware store paint. We are of diverse color. And we are color education.

11. Finally, where can we find your products?

We have a diverse distribution channel that serves the consumer market with Michaels, AC Moore, Ben Franklin, and regional craft chains. We have on our website different options for places to purchase online. If you have a TAX id license you can buy professionally at floral wholesalers across the country.

Here is Jodi’s Ted Talk on Flower Powered:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD15Jst02xo