Get to know designer Matthew Mead

This article appeared in NH Business Review on October 6, 2023

Author, designer, photographer and entertaining expert Matthew Mead is one of the original influencers. As a groundbreaking creative entrepreneur, he successfully built his career in publishing from studios in New Hampshire well before anyone uttered the phrase “remote work.” Although publishing has changed significantly in recent years, Mead’s styling and photography appear regularly in magazines and ad campaigns including Country Home, Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple, Upstyled Home, New Hampshire Magazine, Omaha Steaks, Dove Chocolate and L.L. Bean. His social media followers are captivated by his imaginative work.

Early on, Mead travelled back and forth to New York City to work with clients. He quickly surmised, however, he could run a business in his hometown for far less money and with fewer complications. During his 25+ years working in the lifestyle industry, Mead has become a decorating and entertaining icon. He inspires countless people with his distinctive aesthetic and practical tips to use what’s in your cupboard and the grocery store to decorate and entertain.

He is especially known for seasonal inspired ideas. New Hampshire has proved to be the ideal setting. He explains, “As my work developed, I became known for seasonal things so magazines would contact me and want me to produce for them. Because we had the distinctive four seasons, I would work a year in advance for many of the magazines.”

Mead’s creativity was nurtured by his mother, who he says set him on an artist’s path. His talents were further developed at UNH where he was an English major. “My mom just passed away and she was very influential in helping me with a path. I was a kid that kind of didn’t have a lot of friends. I didn’t really feel like I fit in well and I think my mom knew that. When I was probably 16 or 17, she’d bring me home these coffee table books. They were very popular in the 1980s. There was something about those design books that just spoke to me.” Mead’s fascination with the group of people writing the books, including Martha Stewart and Mary Emmerling, led him to write letters and create proposals that captured their attention. “Thanks to my education, I was able to express myself. I was lucky enough to realize what I wanted to do and have had people who were succeeding in the field that were happy to be mentors and make connections for me.” His relationships with the authors led to an introduction to publisher Clarkson Potter, a subsidiary of Random House. Serendipitously, that was the first publisher that he wrote a book for. “I feel very fortunate to have entered my career at that level.”

While the magazine spreads and Mead’s own books look highly polished, the artist shares that he is not a perfectionist, and his work involves pure experimentation. “If I’m working on a photoshoot, for example, I start accumulating props, ideas and color palettes. I may even create a still life I can constantly look at and work on to curate and edit.” He continues, “I make these studies that will lead the way to what I ultimately create. It is a thoughtful approach to an end result.” Mead says that magazines and advertisers often come to him with an inkling of an idea – for instance, they may want to do a story about pumpkins – but are looking for him to take a fresh approach that people haven’t seen before.

Having his own studio to create vignettes and hone his photography skills has been instrumental to his success. Usually, the photographer has the studio not the stylist. Having control over his own space allowed him to accomplish a lot in a given day and positively impacted on his bottom line. “Because I had the studio, and I could own the props for the projects for a fraction of what I could rent them for in New York City, it just made sense.”

Mead’s entrepreneurial spirit has him exploring ways to adapt some of his existing work to create something entirely new. He’s not ready to reveal exactly what it might look like; however, abstract art and his love of photWhatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.