sandra gaestel

Picture
Photographer- Olivia Kenney



Hi!
So happy to have you here and welcome you into the world of paper & preserved sculptures. Here at Harley Rose we LOVE the forgetful, the busy, the artistic, and the imaginative ones who want to live their lives but come home to something warm, welcoming and full of life...with little to no maintenance because who has the time?

Over 5 years ago, owner and designer Sandra (AKA Harley), began creating beautiful, custom coffee filter flower designs as a favor for a friends wedding and it was love at first cut. Having never heard of crepe paper flowers before, it was something that immediately sparked her interest and curiosity.
Growing up, Sandra was constantly immersed in nature and would help her mother with all sorts of art projects, which now reflects in all of her work today. Being taught to appreciate and respect nature exactly how she is without disruption or destruction, translates into Sandra's crepe paper flowers and floral designs. Nothing is forced or over worked but is left to move beautifully on its own, as if it were still in nature.
Sandra is self taught with years of studying, perfecting her craft and challenging herself every day to create blooms that mimic live flowers. Combining both crepe paper flora and live greens she can create bouquets, arrangements and back drops that make you do a double take and question . . . . "Are those real?".

This constant want and need to be surrounded by flowers organically transitioned her into the wonderful world of weddings and events, further expanding her knowledge and techniques of working with both live flora and crepe paper flora to bring an incredibly special, piece to keep long after your wedding day is over.

Harley rose blooms

The life of every Harley Rose flower begins with high quality Italian or German crepe paper. The paper will typically go through a process of being painted, naturally dyed or chalked to bring dimension and life to each petal. Following this step, each petal gets hand cut, shaped and molded. Once all these stages are complete, the assembly can finally begin and this is when your flower really starts to come to life.