My love is like...a paper rose? Filipinos look to save on Valentine's Day

[February 13, 2019]  MANILA (Reuters) - Two Philippine entrepreneurs have been using origami skills to woo cost-conscious lovers ahead of Valentine's Day, offering bouquets of roses, sunflowers and lilies made of paper at a fraction of the price of real flowers.

Savers seeking a novel way to impress that special someone see the origami flowers as a statement of undying love, at half the cost of the real thing.

"I see that it's really well made and that its craftsmanship is so complicated," said college student Byron Bueno, as he picked up a bouquet.

Half-a-dozen paper roses fetch 450 pesos ($8.64) through online purchases, compared to about 800 pesos for fresh flowers at the main market in the Philippine capital, a price sellers expect to climb still higher on the big day.

Ann Rodrigues, a doctor, and partner Alex Castro, a lawyer, have been flooded with orders since they decided to turn their hobby into a small business on Facebook.

The couple spend three hours folding and arranging each bouquet, and have stopped taking orders for Valentine's Day because they can't meet the demand.

"The thing about origami flowers is that it never wilts so once you give it to a person, they can keep it forever," said Castro.

(Reporting by Ronn Bautista; Additional reporting by Eloisa Lopez; Writing by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)

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