Behind-the-Scenes of our Outside Spaces Spring 2020 Catalog

Every year, we celebrate the arrival of spring with our Outdoor Spaces catalog—it’s our opportunity to unveil the new furniture collections, home décor, planters, and other warm weather essentials we’re most excited to show you. These gorgeous catalogs are truly a team effort, from furniture buyers to art directors, creative photographers to creative stylists, there are so many talented folks who make each one come to life. Below, we’re sharing thoughts from some of the folks on the team who put this year’s catalog together.

terrain: Hi Danielle! This season’s catalog is beautiful. Such inspiring work! Can you talk to us a bit about the beginning stages of the catalog making process?

Danielle Palencar, art director: Because of the coordination required, catalogs can be a lot of work, but working with our creative director Greg Lehmkuhl on concept, and our graphic designer Justin Speers on layout, made this one in particular a lot more fun to make. Greg and I met last summer to begin quilting together inspiration we had been collecting–spanning beautiful images of gardens and homes, textiles and prints, printed pieces, and our own experiences travelling and spending time in outdoor spaces. Research doesn’t have a finite beginning or end for us, and in many ways terrain is always on the brain, so it becomes a bit of an organizational exercise pairing ideas with the season and assortment we are charged with presenting.

terrain: Hi Laura! We’re so impressed with the incredible photography in this catalog. We’d love to hear how the shoots came together.

Laura Harris Twilley, art director: We shot the catalog in September 2019 with a scrappy team of five people, each of us bringing our own particular talents to the table so we could best execute Greg’s concepts and translate his vision to real life. This was our first time shooting the Outside Spaces catalog from scratch as a cohesive whole. It felt great to shoot from design, to know how each page fit within a hierarchy and to have an understanding of pacing.

terrain: Hi Adelyn! We’d love to hear a fun behind-the-scenes moment from the shoot if you have one to share.

Adelyn Duchala, creative photographer: Oh yes there are so many and that’s what makes this process fun (and keeps us on our toes)! Some of the furniture scenes were shot in late fall just as it was getting chilly and there were leaves covering the ground (I won’t say which ones!), so we had quite a bit of cleaning up to do. There was also a day that we shot in close to 20 mph winds and we couldn’t keep leaves from flying on the set and the plants wouldn’t stay standing, everything just toppled over! So right before I was getting ready to take the picture, there were five of us that had to sprint out as fast as we could and re-set everything back up for a quick shot.

terrain: Hi Beth! What do you think made this year’s catalog so special?

Beth Clevenstine, creative stylist: This year we really took our brand’s high level of quality and design and pushed it further with unexpected pops of color and pattern. I’m so excited about all the bright tones and textures, from the preserved stems to the yellow planters. I’m definitely inspired to add these pops of color to my own garden and home.

terrain: Hi Kerri! We know you spent a lot of time developing our new furniture collections. Is there one in particular you’re most excited about?

Kerri Polak, senior buyer: The Grayland Collection was fun because I spent a lot of time with Greg, Danielle, and Beth Brewer lounging on our first sample when it arrived to the home office. It was this interaction with the product that made us decide it needed to be layered with all those extra pillows. It’s our most luxurious and comfortable collection! 

Looking for more spring inspiration for your home and garden? Check out our Spring Cleaning Landscape Tips, our Spring Container Planting Recipe, and our Garden Structures Pairing Guide.