This shop is the outward sign of a unique business that is over 100 years old.

Making artifical leaves and petals, Shirley Leaf and Petal Co uses every material imagineable, including: flameproofed parchment, taffeta, cotton, card, velvet, leather, etc. and even the "waste" gets used as "seaweed" by stage and set designers. Their recent work, exported all over the world including Germany, USA, Australia and Japan, includes: supplying all the national theatres, petals for fashion designers to create outfits from, shop decorations including animated ones for Christmas, a stage of geranium heads to support opera singers, chiffon leaf trails for the National ballet, olive leaves for Oberamagau, leaves for the Disney film Pocahontas, trees for the millenium dome, rose petals for a Steven Spielberg film, dahlias for Glyndebourne, leaves for children's T.V., etc.

A John Galliano dress made from leather leaves.

The picture on the left shows the inside of the shop, whilst the one on the right shows samples of the leaves supplied for the film "Pocahontas". One of the largest objects they built is the "singing tree" shown below, made with over a million leaves and incorporating hidden seating for a choir, it is currently touring the world.

All of the tools and machines they use are original and they are home to a fascinating museum. Like to visit the museum?

For more information on Shirley Leaf and Petal Co., contact:
Shirley Leaf and Petal Co.
58a High Street
Hastings
TN34 3EN U.K.
Phone/Fax: +44(0)1424 427793

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