D Lauren B Florals is giving the flower industry a new spin with their paper flower creations
BABYLON, New York -- When it comes to having a green thumb, Long Islands Daphny Lauren Bravo is not your average gardener.
Bravo creates elaborate bouquets all of kinds, but the only difference is these arrangements are hand-crafted from paper.
The idea of having something beautiful that isn't going to go anywhere, change shape or color intrigues people, said Bravo. We love fresh flowers, but they do not last a whole lot of time. I think those are the two big things kind of just an initial wonder and then ease of maintenance.
For about 10 years, Bravo was a handbag buyer at Macy's, however even though she was very successful her job was not bringing her joy.
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She longed to do something more.
After her son was born, she decided to step away and take some time to dive into something else.
"I started to play around with flowers, but more importantly, I started noticing flowers everywhere," said Bravo. "I started seeing paper installations in windows, more and more. Don't know why it caught my eye, but it caught my eye enough."
Bravo ended up buying 100 sheets of paper and taught herself how to sculpt and construct paper flowers.
After she made 100 of them, she was not sure what to do with them, so she decided to start leaving the flowers with a positive note for people to find around Long Island.
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Soon after, people started to inquire on how they can buy more before Bravo even had started her business.
The demand became soo high that she went all in and created D Lauren B Paper Florals, creating custom orders of all kinds.
"People will come to me with ideas and say I don't know if you can do this, I don't know if this is too much," said Bravo. "I think it's that moment of wonder, the moment when you deliver it and it's exactly what they sent you and you've been able to translate that. There is so much passion into everything that I make, that to see that passion acknowledged and translated into someone's reaction is truly just the magic for me."
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