Interviews, Podcasts, and more.
Canvas Rebel
(March 2022)
Alright, Stephen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I’ve been continually learn the art of making realistic paper flowers over the last 6 years. I started with some online tutorials and YouTube videos that were very helpful for me, personally. I have quite a few paper flower books now that I reference often, and I’ve even created my own versions of most of the blooms I create. When I first started, paper flowers were even more niche than they are now, and there wasn’t a lot of reference material. (Read more!)
Greenwood Rising
(June 2021)
On June 2, 2021, I was fortunate to collaborate with 6 other paper florists to install over 500 white Casablanca Lilies in the new Greenwood Rising—Black Wall Street History Center, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Paper florists from around the world created and shipped hundreds of lilies for this project. Quynh Nguyen of Pink and Posey headed up the team of paper florists on the ground in Tulsa. Ashley of ibleedheART, and Nicole, Faith, and Abigail of The Flowers of Faith were integral team members who helped make this happen. For more information regarding Greenwood Rising, click here.
Paper Talk Podcast: Episode 69
“Stephen Brooks talks about the many facets of running a paper flower business: how to take great photos, which craft shows to enter, how to trademark your name, and more. If you’ve been lucky enough to see pictures of Stephen Brooks’ amazing paper roses, you’ll know why we were so excited to have him on the podcast as a guest. We love the aesthetic of his paper flower business, which was strong enough to carry over through a business name change. We’ve been following his work for years now, and he is an admin of our Paper Talk Facebook group. In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted with Stephen about his recent business name change and the steps he took to trademark that name to avoid legal trouble in the future. This is a topic that we ourselves have wondered about, and hearing how someone else has navigated it was enlightening and encouraging. Our conversation also covered many aspects of running a paper flower business, including pricing and craft shows. Stephen has lots of experience in this area, and we loved seeing the flower cart he had made to sell his paper flowers at shows.”
Indianapolis Monthly (November 2019)
“Folded paper petals created for Stephen Brooks’ pregnant wife gave birth to The Paper Peony. Brooks wanted to give his love a bouquet of Juliet Roses in honor of their newborn girl’s name. But these flowers are very expensive, so he crafted a crepe paper spray instead. Little Juliet is now 2 and growing as fast as the The Paper Peony (Indiana Paper Co.) which sells arrangements in stores and a dozen varieties by the stem online.” -Cathy Kightlinger
PATTERN Magazine (October 2018)
Stephen Brooks’ business The Paper Peony is a unique one: he makes hyper realistic paper flowers. Though he’s only been doing so for a year and a half, his work has gathered lots of interest on social media for how real his paper flowers look. He sells individual flowers on his website and makes custom arrangements for weddings and events.