THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE
Combining her love of the natural world with delicate papercraft, Suzi Mclaughlin creates exquisite blooms, from single stems to bouquets of buds and blossom
Suzi Mclaughlin creates everlasting blooms through delicate papercraft
After the excitement of the festive season comes a lull – the trees are bare and the colours of nature muted as we wait and watch for the first
signs of spring. But in paper artist Suzi Mclaughlin’s Northamptonshire studio, spring has already arrived. Swathes of delicate white daisies are draped over an oak bed frame suspended from the ceiling, jars of pale peach peonies perch on the windowsill and clusters of soft-pink cherry blossom are scattered across the desk. Sitting in the midst of this floral cornucopia is Suzi, carefully curling cut-out petals around a piece of wire before securing them to a twine stem. She is constructing one of her signature roses, which, with Valentine’s Day approaching, are in high demand.
Few gestures are more romantic than the simple act of giving blooms, and Suzi’s work brings a modern touch to this time-honoured tradition. “The thing that makes paper flowers so special is that they can be kept,” she smiles, slotting another finished rose into a waiting jar. “I’m often asked to make bridal bouquets that can be handed down to the next generation. You can even spritz them with a signature fragrance – the paper holds the scent well.” Her passion for working with paper began (like so many great love affairs) at university, when she was studying textiles in Falmouth. “I made samples out of paper and would end up preferring the practised versions to the real thing,” she recalls. “I love working with it because you can make anything – it’s so versatile.” Having always enjoyed art, Suzi knew she wanted to do something creative, but was never quite sure what that thing was: “I remember my parents saying, ‘You won’t get a job doing art – perhaps keep it as a hobby and do something more practical’”. In her parents’ defence, it does take a special set of skills to turn paper cutting and a hot glue gun into a lucrative career. But Suzi’s innovation, originality and attention to detail set her on a path to do just that.
Simple though it may seem, her talent is an incredibly sophisticated one, honed through years of study. Entirely self-taught, she would spend hours in her partner’s mother’s garden, plucking flowers from the border that she would carefully pull apart in order to see precisely how each bud was formed. From there, she would reconstruct every petal in paper form, experimenting with layer upon layer until the finished product was perfect.
What was originally just a hobby took a more serious turn in 2010, when Suzi made the controversial decision to abandon textiles and create a paper display for her final degree show. Her bold originality paid off when she was selected to exhibit at the New Designers exhibition in Islington. There her work caught the attention of the Gardeners’ World team, who asked her to create an entire garden from paper for their annual event. After that,
commissions came flooding in. “I was so excited, I couldn’t believe it,” she remembers. “I decided I wanted to work for myself, but didn’t know whether it would be possible. Years later, though, projects are still coming in.”
In fact, Suzi’s little flowers have garnered the attention of some seriously big names, including Harvey Nichols, Harrods and John Lewis to name just a few. But the partnership she says she’s most proud of is her ongoing work for Jo Malone, which has involved creating a dazzling window display in the flagship store made up of thousands of tiny white osmanthus. As demand grew, so did Suzi’s need for space: “Flowers would gradually spread through every room in our house until they reached our bathroom. That was when my boyfriend told me I needed to get a studio space.” So she gathered her blooms, transporting them from the kitchen table to an airy outbuilding in the Oxfordshire countryside.
Now living in Northamptonshire, Suzi begins each daywith a long walk through the fields, accompanied by her ‘completely mad’ collie-cross, Huey: “It’s important for me to be outside among greenery, plants and flowers. These are the things that inspire my work, and I’m always in search of fresh ideas.” After stretching her legs, she will complete orders for Notonthehighstreet.com, often crafting roses from pages of poetry or sheets of music for a special touch: “People ask me how I have the patience, but I find it so relaxing. I’m always daydreaming, and I practically work on autopilot. I’m very lucky to get to do this every day.” Her rural lifestyle is occasionally punctuated by exciting trips to London, Birmingham or Manchester to visit shops and meet clients. But Suzi finds that the best thing about going away is returning home: “When I get back, I appreciate the peace and quiet even more. Friends say they couldn’t be alone all day, but I love it.”
While undeniably idyllic, no job is without its difficulties. “Deadlines can be quite overwhelming,” Suzi admits. “If I’m given a really tight one, I know I won’t be sleeping for a couple of weeks, but I do get it done in the end.” During particularly chaotic periods, all the family – plus some willing friends – are recruited to help out – cutting petal after petal until the early hours. “Over Christmas, my partner took all his annual leave to come and help me,” Suzi says. “Crafts aren’t really his forte, but he did really well.” Then there are the health and safety issues: when you’re crafting hundreds of flowers a day, repetitive strain injury is an occupational hazard. Despite this, the sound of scissors snipping through card, combined with the excitement at being allowed to use the hot glue gun, no doubt reminds her helpers of days spent crafting as children. “When I teach my friends, sometimes they tell me they haven’t done these things since they were young,” Suzi says. “At school we all used to do arts and crafts, but when the others stopped I just carried on.”
There’s someone Suzi is particularly excited to teach her crafting skills to – her baby daughter, Ava, born last April as the bluebells and daffodils were blooming. They’ll soon be here again but, until then, inside Suzi’s studio spring always reigns supreme.
To see more of and buy Suzi’s products, visit etsy.com and notonthehighstreet.com.