STEM STUDIES

THROUGH HER PAPER FLOWER COMPANY, UNWILTED, ARTIST LIZ CARTER HAS CULTIVATED A GARDEN THAT'S ALWAYS IN BLOOM.

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The first time you set eyes on a creation from Unwilted, expect to do a double-take. Each handcrafted rose, peony, sunflower or dahlia is a delicate display of bewildering, trompe l'oeil beauty. That makes sense when you learn that company founder Liz Carter was, in fact, a florist in a past life. Now she's shaking up the industry with forever flowers that merely require the occasional dust-off with a blow-dryer. Interview by Jacqueline Kehoe.

MWL Unwilted's bouquets are so realistic. How did you get to know flowers so well?

LC In Boulder, Colorado, I worked a little retail job at a flower shop in my 20s, just for fun. I ended up buying into that shop and helping run it for a number of years. Boulder is big for destination weddings, so many days were two weddings deep. And it burned me out. I came up with this little phrase: I was just “so wilted.” Then one day, I'm scrolling Instagram, and I stumbled on crepe paper flowers.

I thought, I know exactly how flowers are constructed. I've been looking dead into their faces for 20 years.

MWL Wow, imagine if you hadn't been on Instagram that day.