Jessie Chui
We were thrilled to catch up with paper ower cutter Jessie Chui,
ahead of the launch of her brand-new book
J
essie lives with her
husband and young
son in her hometown of
Mississauga, near Toronto,
Canada. She grew up there and
then later, worked there at a
full-service law rm practicing
family law. After seven years
working in law and having just
started a family she left to focus
on raising their son. Just prior to
her son’s birth, she explored
a few creativeeven pursuing a Bachelors of
Fine Arts in Graphic Design.”
However, Jessie soon realised
that the course wasn’t for her
and ended up graduating with a
Bachelors in Arts in Psychology,
and then with a Bachelors of
Law degree.”
Throughout her
life, Jessie says
she’s been lucky
enough to have
had opportunities
to explore various
traditional artistic
mediums, such as
drawing, painting,
working with clay and
sculptures and photography,
but never found the right
medium until she began working
with orals and oral sculptures.How did you fi rst develop an
interest in paper fl orals?
I rst discovered paper orals
as a child, making a rosesfrom twisted crêpe paper. In
2015 I returned to it to make
my bouquets and centrepieces
for my wedding, it just felt right.
For one, I had always been
drawn to owers and botanicals.
Also, creating something
intricate my hands felt
incredibly comforting
and familiar. In
2016, I began to
seriously explore
the art. I quickly
found my artistic
aesthetic once I
let my tastes and
preferences guide me
rather than doing things
the ‘right’ way.How would you say your craft
has developed over the years?
My craft re ects my personality
and my tastes/preferences that
have always been consistent. My
art is re ned and romantic, uses
unique colour combinations,© Amber Ellis of Creating Light StudioJessie Chui
outlets and ultimately discovered
her passion for making owers
from paper and mixed mediums.
She says, “Throughout my life,
I’ve always been very crafty
and resourceful. I’ve been
lucky enough to
attend many art
camps and became
pro cient with Adobe
Photoshop very early,“ roughout my life, I’ve always
been very crafty and resourceful”
“My favourite
thing about what I
do is being able to make
real what I can only
imagine in my mind”
Crafted to bloom
Paper Flower Art by Jessie Chui,
GMC Publications,
RRP £25, available online
and in all good bookshops