We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina DeMatteis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.

Gina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

What has been best source of new clients?

The editor of Charleston Magazine contacted me and asked if I would be interested in being featured in the April 2024 Home and Garden issue. I was flattered and honored to be included in the magazines Flower Power article, including a ‘How To Make Your Own Botanical Keepsake’ section with my method of flower hammering.
People who saw the article reached out to sign up for my workshops at local establishments. Selling my art and doing pop-ups has also gained me some great followers and local recognition.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have loved creating art since I was a child. Nature was my preferred palette. Painting clouds and sunsets, arranging homegrown flowers, even drying flowers with my mom to frame. I studied graphic design, photography and communications in college. Throughout my nearly four decade professional career, I wore many hats. I feel very fortunate to have experienced the positions I had and worked with some amazing mentors. From the beauty and retail industry, PR and Ad Agencies, to hospitality and a 100 year old family-run Garden Center. While raising my three daughters, I had my own design business and took on whatever art challenge was in my path. Painting faux murals, verses on ceilings, Captain America on a child’s wall, canvas floor cloths, even animal patterns on children’s ice-skates and Burberry plaid on Dr Scholls! Working for real estate businesses, Dean and DeLuca, Marriott International, traveling to coordinate photo shoots all over the world, a wedding photographer as a second shooter and album designer, and most importantly being a room mother for all my daughters’ teachers and having the gift to do all the art projects with their classes!

As you can figure out, I don’t stay still very well. I want to share my passion for imagination with my followers and clients. The importance of exploring your own mind to create artwork can benefit your mental health and outlook – this is my sweet spot. Flower hammering is “beauty and balance” – gathering your blooms to hammer triggers the dopamine in our brains. Simply put, it makes you feel better. Creating art is an incredible tool for expressing ourselves – even just 20 minutes reduces cortisol which decreases stress. It’s also just plain fun!

I want my followers and clients to take a moment to enjoy the world’s natural wonders. I sell DIY hammering kits with full instructions, my own dried flower art framed in vintage frames and placed on repurposed silver or pewter trays with a glass top. Bridal bouquets look beautiful as a vanity tray for the bride to admire her flowers forever. I also do mono printing with our homegrown wildflowers. Life is just A Whisp of Time, so have fun and enjoy it!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I moved from MD to SC for a new job opportunity as a Creative Director branding a start-up liquor supplier. Fast forward two years and the company went under— in the founder’s words, “I put lipstick on a pig.” I won’t get into the nitty gritty but pivoting my career at 59 years old in a new state where I lacked any sort of professional network proved to be extremely difficult. I applied and interviewed for a year and had no luck. The current job market is not for the faint of heart with the implementation of AI in the application process. The opportunities you used to have to meet people face to face and give that first impression just aren’t there anymore. Not to mention my age, which I believe played a big role.

I finally took a step back and went where my heart took me, which has always been art and nature. Working full time over the last 12 years had put my artistic side on the back burner and finding my way back to it had a major benefit on me mentally. Re-grounding myself birthed the idea to start creating wildflower artwork and thus, A Whisp of Time. I have always loved the outdoors, being around and caring for plants, growing flowers…it just felt like the perfect time to jump feet first into my own company. Maybe the job rejection was the directional shift I needed to finally create my own destiny.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I do my own social media. My daughter Maxi helped me introduce A Whisp of Time to the digital world, which was a huge help. They used to say in the design industry, never create your own logo… I needed a perspective of someone who knew me well enough to introduce me to my target audience. Trying to keep it up on my own is a lot of work, just keeping current of algorithms is a challenge! But I want to be real with my followers, I don’t want to follow the trends, although I know that is how you play the game. I do reach out to Maxi and my two other daughters constantly, who are all in creative fields, to make sure I am on point! My boyfriend Banks is a massive support – he helps grow my wildflowers and suggest what images to take (he’s an art director at heart but doesn’t know it)! He is featured quite frequently on A Whisp of Time, giving tips on growing sunflowers and how cotton is harvested. One day I may need to hire someone who is more patient with Meta than I am to keep me in the limelight!!! But for now, it’s me, myself, and I.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://awhispoftime.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awhispoftime/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/awhispoftime/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-dematteis-8548b229b/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@awhispoftime