We recently connected with MELISSA MELLO and have shared our conversation below.

Hi MELISSA, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’ve had quite a few meaningful projects during my years as an origami-flower-artist, which makes it really hard to pinpoint one. I must mention a recent project because it is directly linked to the reason why I decided to become an Origami-Flower-artist.
I made a bunch of flowers to gift to my father’s nurses and doctors at the hospital where he treated chemotherapy for 6 months last year – it was his 3rd cancer battle – and thanks to their care and attention my dad beat it again. My dad actually presented them with the everlasting flowers, with a thank you message from our family.
Besides that one, when I try to think about all of my projects, I notice a common characteristic on the ones that come to my mind.
First of all, the fact that strangers trusted me to create their keepsake Bouquet for a very special meaningful event in their lives.
These were all extremely personal, like the wedding bouquet made out of pages of a book written by the bride’s grandfather;
The 25th wedding anniversary bouquet I created as a replica of their original wedding bouquet…
The bride who met her husband in their high school origami club, who asked me to create origami medicinal flowers to decorate her wedding and gift her guests.
These were all so unique… I feel unjust choosing one favorite over the other.
I can tell you that a lot of others come to my mind, but if I were to list them all this question wouldn’t make sense.
And as I said before, they all trusted me with the task of creating something totally unique to them, for a very special occasion, without knowing what the final result was going to be like… and that trust, to me is priceless.❤️

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hi, I’m Mel. Former architect, mother of two girls, supervisor of two cats, and avid crafter.

Back in 2000 when we first moved to the U.S, I began volunteering at my kids’ schools and would always find myself helping the teachers with all kinds of creative art projects.

Crafting has always been a therapeutic outlet for me, and as an architect origami is particularly intriguing and fun. I found myself spending most of my free time making origami flowers to give to friends for their birthdays. I wanted to make flowers nonstop to donate at retirement homes and to cancer patients.
But the time and dedication to make one single rose made me realize I couldn’t mass produce them, I wasn’t going to be able to reach everyone I wanted, which made each flower I gave even more special. One day, after giving some of my roses to the office ladies and teachers at my daughter’s school, I was told I should start selling my flowers online.
And that’s how Bee Mello came to be!

I’m fond of creating color pallets for my flowers that don’t necessarily match what you’d find in the natural world because I believe art and making are rooted in exploration and expression. But if my clients crave a traditional array of colors, I’m thrilled to make those too, as their happiness and vision are always my top priorities! To me, it’s not about racing to finish an order and move on to the next, it’s about infusing love and care into each piece I make.
When I start a new project I don’t really know what the final outcome will be. I love the process and how it develops and evolves as I create them.

It starts with collecting as much information as possible from the client’s wish list and style, then I let it simmer in my head. I start playing with paper shapes, with traditional models to create my specific variations from them and mix with Masters’ models I’m authorized to replicate.
I like to work with a few specific brands of art paper, which one would say to some extent limits what kind of flowers I can create, but the paper texture, weight and colors have to look and feel right to me.

A gift of live flowers is fleeting, but a Bee Mello origami flower is a lasting keepsake. My most cherished presents have always been handmade custom gifts. Origami flower arrangements & bouquets take many hours and a lot of love to craft, and I think that says ‘thank you’ or ‘I love you’ better than any real flowers ever could.

If you have an idea or project in mind and require a helping hand to bring it to life, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I really love collaborating with my clients and aiding in their vision.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As a creative being I confess I have tried and experimented with a lot of different art mediums in my adult life.

Even today, if I spend some time looking around other artists accounts on social media, I’ll either realize that I have a lot more to learn in my niche, or I’ll find a different art medium that I really would love to try ‘playing’ with.

That struggle I think is part of who I am.

But I decided some years ago I was going to stick with this one, for many reasons…
Besides the mental benefits that I felt when learning and memorizing new folds, the fact that it was easy to carry around with me anywhere, the support and comradery I found within the Origami community was extremely rewarding.

Some years ago I was approached by an origami enthusiast asking me how had I acquired authorization to sell some model of flowers from a Master who’s known to not authorize the sale of his models.

That was the first time I learned about origami copyrights.

The fear of doing something wrong or unlawful stopped in my tracks and I felt like my dream had been shattered.
I wanted so badly to share my creations, expand, grow, and make a lot of sales to be able to give back where it all started, in retirement homes and cancer treatment centers.

But even though my intention to giveback felt wonderful, without the sales part of being an artist, I wouldn’t be able to sustain it and keep it going.

It took me about six months to get back serving my clients creating bouquets & keepsake items.

Thanks to the support of fellow origami-flower-artists, some Masters and creators, a lot of reading and reaching out to other origami enthusiasts, to get the authorizations I needed, and most important of all, industry knowledge and confidence in myself.

I realized I needed to trust my instincts and create folds for myself, without fear or the need of approval.

Looking back I can see how much I have learned and at the same time I know there are so much more for me to learn and try.
I am not where I want to be, but I am happy with all that I have learned and achieved in these past 7 years as an origami artist!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

With so many projects and creative ideas that I want to bring to life, I would often suffer from overwhelming-paralysis. Nowadays, I try to take one day at a time, telling myself to let go, avoid overthinking and create whatever comes my way, one day at a time.

During the pandemic I was approached by a few companies to start teaching and sharing my knowledge of what I had learned all these years… Online virtual group events was the best thing the pandemic presented to me. Hosting these events has been extremely rewarding.
I absolutely love the exchange and interaction when meeting new people curious to give origami a try!

I hope I never stop learning and experimenting with new ways to play with origami. With that said, I have a few goals in mind:

– To one day create huge pieces of wall art – these I have been visualizing for years, but for some reason have yet to bring to life.
– To keep sharing what I know with anyone who wants to learn it.
– To serve my local community better. I believe we all struggle to find meaningful keepsake gifts for our loved ones. I am here to help them with that, we just need to find each other.
– Keep giving back. I love dropping a flower here and there in a park around town for someone who needs a ‘pick me up’. I hope with that to share the joy and hope I feel by being here.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beemello.com
• Instagram: BeeMelloFlowers
• Facebook: BeeMelloFlowers
• Linkedin: Bee Mello Flowers
• Twitter: –
• Youtube: Mel Mello Bee Mello
• Yelp: –
• Other: Pinterest: BeeMelloFlowers

Image Credits
All images are mine. Origami models shown are either traditional, my variations, or authorized. Rose by Jordi Adel Vanilla flower by Fendi Tong Lily by David Shall