June 2016
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eceiving enquiries – for single<br />
pom poms as well as for whole<br />
flower installations.<br />
Her following grew rapidly and<br />
she was commissioned to make<br />
party decorations and window<br />
displays for other shops. That’s<br />
when the Pom Pom Factory in<br />
its current form was born.<br />
The breakthrough for Karen<br />
came when a merchandiser<br />
from a French clothing brand<br />
noticed her work and placed<br />
an order for 600 pom poms for<br />
their Paris flagship store. That<br />
was her first big commission.<br />
Soon after, she gave up her job<br />
at the store and ever since has<br />
made pom poms for a living.<br />
Because it’s a simple creation<br />
and the only product of the<br />
Pom Pom Factory, every<br />
When making<br />
the flowers my<br />
head is always<br />
free – and that<br />
feels very<br />
creative<br />
element of it needs to be<br />
perfect. “You can’t really cheat.<br />
It’s paper.” Karen says.<br />
To make the pom poms,<br />
she takes a bunch of tissue<br />
East London makers<br />
paper, layers them and folds<br />
them into an accordion fan.<br />
She then ties the middle of<br />
the fan with wire and cuts<br />
the edges round. By carefully<br />
unfolding the accordion and<br />
separating the sheets of the<br />
flimsy paper, Karen brings<br />
the flower to blossom. She<br />
works quickly and is very<br />
precise. If there's enough time<br />
at hand, though, she prefers to<br />
work more slowly.<br />
“Pom pom-making is very<br />
therapeutic," she explains. "I like<br />
the repetitiveness of it. When<br />
making the flowers, my head<br />
is always free and that feels<br />
very creative”. Maybe it's in her<br />
Asian genes, she suggests. Her<br />
Asian friends feel the same.<br />
Often they come over to her<br />
place for pom pom-making<br />
after a stressful day at work.<br />
“We sometimes laugh and<br />
call ourselves Chinese factory<br />
workers.”<br />
Karen’s friends in Hong Kong<br />
can’t believe that she is still able<br />
to make a living out of her paper<br />
flowers. She is not scared of<br />
running out of work doing her<br />
ornaments. “If this happens, I’ll<br />
just look for something else to<br />
do. I just let it happen,” she says<br />
light-heartedly.<br />
It seems like Karen is the living<br />
proof that pom pom-making has<br />
a calming and positive effects<br />
on one’s state of mind.<br />
thepompomfactory.co.uk<br />
A tunnel of red paper flowers: Selfridges Forest Restaurant & Bar<br />
LOVEEAST JUNE <strong>2016</strong> 15
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