- Long Lunch founder Polly Green shares her journey from criminal defence to creating sculptural paper flowers, turning a self-taught practice into an independent creative business.
- Combining traditional handcraft with social media marketing and AI-assisted business planning, she explores the balance between slow traditional creative methods and efficiently building a business with tech.
- From reusable installations to her Hire & Refresh service, Polly discusses an approach to commissions that puts longevity, adaptability and lasting client relationships at its heart.
For someone discovering Long Lunch for the first time, what do you create, and who do you create it for?
We create sculptural paper flowers for design-led interiors, hospitality spaces and events. Each flower is entirely handmade. They’re craft objects and pieces of art in themselves, but they also offer a lasting alternative to fresh flowers.
We work with interior designers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, event stylists – really, anyone who has a hand in making a space memorable and beautiful.
You moved from criminal defence into creating paper florals. How did that transition happen?
It’s funny being asked this by Mishcon, because it really all starts there. I had an amazing team and really exciting work, but something felt a little off. I’ve always loved making things with my hands and having a finished, physical thing to feel proud of.
One clue was how excited I got about the flowers arriving every Monday. They were beautifully curated by Kristina and one of the most impressive features of an already beautiful office. Everyone talked about them. I was always taking photographs.
On Fridays, we could take them home before they were cleared away. So I’d be on the Tube to East London carrying flowers in those little plastic bags for wet umbrellas, bringing them back to my housemates. They were beautiful over the weekend, but by Monday they were usually past their best. I kept thinking: why does something so beautiful have to be so fleeting?
Then I spotted some crepe paper flowers on someone’s desk. I went home, looked them up and ordered the paper that evening. I’m completely self-taught; I just started practising in my spare time.
When I decided to leave, I began making more and sharing photographs on social media during my notice period. People immediately started asking, “What are these? Where can I get them?” The more I made, the more I saw a business case: flowers people could enjoy without constantly replacing them. Some of my earliest ones from years ago have moved house with me several times and still look exactly the same.
What draws you to paper as a material, and what can you achieve with it that you couldn’t with fresh flowers?
People often remember crepe paper from childhood arts and crafts, so they’re quite surprised when they see what it can become. I’m completely in love with it. It’s so malleable, surprisingly durable, and responds beautifully to all the things I throw at it.
I use watercolour inks alongside natural dyes like beetroot juice, turmeric and coffee. How the paper stains changes depending on how wet it is or how hot the water is, which makes for fun and unexpected results.
Natural flowers are extraordinary in their own way. With paper, I can take inspiration from them and put my own spin on them, making something entirely bespoke to a place. I dye the paper, shape each petal and use wire stems that can bend into quite sculptural forms.
I also heat coloured scraps from old projects in water to extract their pigment and dye new paper. I love that a little of one project can find its way into another.
Your work sits somewhere between floristry, sculpture and interior design. How do you approach creating a piece for a particular space?
Because the flowers are going to stay, I give them the same consideration you might give a piece of art or a light fitting. Spending time in the space and understanding its story is really important. Why has it been created? How should people feel there? What are the flowers there to do?
At Corinthian House, the interiors took inspiration from the site’s tailoring and brewing history, with grain and deep wine tones. That became my inspiration too. I wanted defined lines and structured flowers that picked up on the precision of tailoring.
Then I’m thinking about the whole room: how the arrangement sits alongside the furniture, the light and the rest of the palette. It all has to work together.
Where do you find inspiration for your colours, forms and compositions?
Everywhere, honestly. My walk to the studio takes me past garden after garden, and in summer they just come alive. I’ve got a whole folder of flower photographs on my phone. I’m looking at how petals interact, the negative space between them and how their stems are entangled with their peers.
In Oaxaca, Mexico, I saw rugs being woven that told family stories through embroidered branches, birds and animals. That later inspired a private home installation: 22 flowers representing 22 family members, including two babies on the way. A suspended family portrait.
Composition is quite intuitive for me. As I’m making, I’m already thinking about how everything will sit together: the petal sizes, the length and strength of the wire. The making and the final composition develop together.
Could you talk us through a recent commission, from the initial idea to the finished installation?
Long Lunch’s first wedding was at West London Synagogue, which was an extraordinary setting. The bride wanted something vintage-inspired, timeless but unexpected. She also hated the idea of excessive floral waste for a ceremony lasting just over an hour. Music to my ears.
We developed the concept over summer. After a site visit, I began dyeing paper in burgundy, deep pink and wine tones. On the morning, we installed over 150 handmade flowers on the chuppah, with suspended blooms and petals bringing movement to it.
I stayed for the ceremony, and seeing the couple underneath something I’d made was really special. The bride said it surpassed her wildest dreams. I don’t think a client at Mishcon ever gave me quite that sort of feedback, so that felt like validation of the career move.
She’s keeping a small bouquet as an everlasting memento, and the remaining flowers are back in my studio, ready for their next event.
What makes your work particularly suited to hotels, restaurants and other hospitality spaces?
They bring atmosphere, they’re bespoke to the space, and they stay. They can be a small cluster on a table or something grand that spirals through an entrance. They stay put but are also modular: places can invest in a collection to display for a breakfast bar and restyle for a dinner table.
Also, they look delicate, but they’re surprisingly durable. I cycle around London with a large bunch in my hand blowing in the wind and arrive to meetings with them looking exactly the same. Fresh flowers could never!
There’s no watering or weekly replacement, just an occasional light dusting.
How do you design arrangements that can be enjoyed for longer and refreshed over time?
Our Hire & Refresh service is like having a florist on retainer, at a slower, seasonal pace.
It’s a continuous conversation with the client about what they like, what they’d change and whether there are upcoming events, palettes or moods we should respond to.
Then I look to my existing collection to rework arrangements and make new flowers where needed. Clients get an evolving floral presence, while the flowers can come back to the studio and be used again.
Has your legal background influenced how you run a creative business?
Definitely. It gave me confidence to approach prospective clients and take business development seriously. You can’t just assume that if people like what you make, they’ll come and buy it.
It also taught me to think commercially, particularly about pricing my time, and to consider the client’s experience throughout the process. Building trust and doing what you’ve promised matter just as much here.
I also became interested in AI as I saw it beginning to change legal practice. I use it a lot for strategy, planning and admin (never for the creative bits!). At this early stage, it lets me do things I couldn’t otherwise do or afford, and frees up more time for making.
What would you love to create next, and what would your dream commission look like?
I’m always looking to go larger and more sculptural. I’d love the work to become increasingly abstract, focused on the paper and the form.
I’m also experimenting with bringing light into crepe paper, whether as a lighting object itself or alongside an installation. A dream commission would give me the space and freedom to explore that. Lots of experimenting and lots of fun things ahead. Watch this space.
How Mishcon de Reya can help
We provide next-gen creators with essential support to help them succeed. Our services include corporate governance and regulatory advice, contractual advice, negotiation and preparation, intellectual property protection and enforcement, dispute resolution, and reputation protection to manage any challenges. Additionally, we support the development of brands to enhance and grow their creative identity.