Hi, I'm Yulia Brodskaya

I 'draw' and 'paint' with paper instead of on it. 

This is my Story...

My parents sent me to an art school when I was just about six years old, so I was deeply involved in creative practices long before I had any conscious idea of what I wanted to do with my life. I grew up believing that creativity—in one form or another—was simply a natural part of living; that’s how life was supposed to be.

Originally trained as a graphic designer and illustrator, I created my first paper artworks as part of a self-promotional project to impress potential design clients. When I spelled out my name—YULIA—using strips of paper, I had no idea I was stepping into a traditional craft that I would eventually reinvent. What began as a simple idea turned into a full-blown passion, and now, thanks to years of dedication to this medium, paper quilling is enjoying a modern revival.

Soon after discovering this unique approach, my work began attracting international attention. In 2009, Creative Review named me the “breakthrough star” of the year, and since then, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating on over 200 projects with clients ranging from Neiman Marcus and Hermès to Issey Miyake, Wimbledon, Paramount Pictures, and Balvenie, among many others. In 2016, I was honored to design a Forever® stamp for the United States Postal Service.

Alongside commercial collaborations, I’ve continued to challenge myself creatively, producing increasingly intricate, personal pieces. Over time, I shifted my focus entirely toward portraiture and natural motifs, using edge-glued paper strip techniques that allow me to ‘draw’ and ‘paint’ with paper—rather than on it.

This approach is at the heart of my Painting with Paper strips signature method of imitating brushstrokes with tightly packed strips of paper. By combining different colors in a way that mimics mixing paints on a palette, I developed a technique that gets as close to traditional painting as possible, but with the added quality of a third dimension.

Through my work, I hope to share my deep love for paper as a medium. My latest paper artworks hover between paper quilling and impressionist-style painting, proving that paper can express emotion, movement, and feeling just as powerfully as any medium already celebrated in the world of fine art.