The Story Behind Paperific

This article was originally printed in “Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft” magazine, volume 18-08.

Twenty four years ago, an Australian event was born from Stacey Apeitos’ love of papercrafts. Since then, the event has successfully grown into what we now call Paperific. There were plenty of tears and smiles at that time, so Cassie Bellemore spoke with Naomi Swan and Roby Sainsbury-Vale to find out more.

Melbourne Paper Arts was first held in St Kilda Town Hall in 2000 and was the vision of Stacey Apeitos, who was the founder and manager of the expo. Five years later, the name changed to Paperific to avoid confusion with other papercraft shows in Sydney and Brisbane. Since 2008, Paperific holds at the Melbourne Showgrounds.

Stacey owned, managed, promoted, and ran Paperific for the first nine years of the expo and also had a retail stand at the event with her business, Studio Astarte. She designed and manufactured polymer unmounted stamps and sold them along with other products that she often imported from the USA. In the year 2000, unmounted stamps were new to the industry, and Stacey felt there wasn’t an avenue for promoting and selling these new paper arts products, so the expo was born.

American-born Stacey was a quirky, friendly, fun-loving, artistic, generous, and genuinely happy person. She was involved in loads of creative pursuits, including felting, stitching, making miniatures, jewellery making, art dolls, and even writing two children’s books. She was a deeply spiritual woman, looking for a connection between her spiritual life and artwork. She was a voracious reader. She also loved the theatre, singing, and performing, which she did many when she was in college. She could also shop till she dropped!

Stacey, with papercraft being her first love, Paperific began – first in her heart, then in reality. Initially, it was not a business, but a showcase about the art of paper; combining everything and knowing each stand would inspire and capture the true paper crafter. Her best friend, Roby Sainsbury-Vale, helped Stacey with the expo over the years. “Stacey was always out on the floor of the expo, wandering around greeting her exhibitors and her patrons, many returning years after year,” Roby reminisces. “She was a friendly and fun person who knew exactly how she wants her show to run. To this day, customers refer to Paperific as the friendliest show they attend.”

Stacey was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, thought to be beaten through a lumpectomy, bouts of chemotherapy, and radiation. She was in complete remission for just over five years until she was diagnosed with secondary cancer in her lungs. She underwent several operations on her lungs and resumed chemotherapy. Unfortunately, cancer took hold and spread to her liver and skeletal system. She sold Paperific to Naomi Swan while still in good health and had a ‘girl’s trip home to the United States with Roby in Dec/Jan 2010/11. She passed away in September of 2011.

Paperific staff members were friends of Stacey’s long before they became employees due to their involvement in art groups and everyday life. They were all in shock for a little while, as Stacey became critically ill very quickly and went from walking around laughing to leaving us for good in a matter of five or so days. Her ‘celebration of life’ service was a beautifully spiritual tribute overflowing in attendance by friends and family.

Naomi acquired Paperific in August 2009; She is a registered nurse and a passionate papercrafter. Naomi’s background in the craft industry began when she lived in Canada and discovered stamping and scrapbooking through Stampin’ Up!. “Paperific staff continue to be involved in the expo because of Naomi and her wonderful, generous spirit and ongoing vision for Paperific. And they are all mad papercrafters as well!” Roby beams.

Naomi’s first Paperific was the November 2009 expo. Roby has also been helping Naomi with running the event. In August 2010, the 10th anniversary was celebrated with remarkable new concepts; they gave away 10th birthday shopping bags to the first 200 people each day and introduced a new giveaway of prizes with the Paperific Prize Patrol. “These ideas were so popular that we have continued both the shopping bags and the Paperific Prize Patrol since the August 2010 expo,” Naomi explains. “There are many ways you can win a prize bag at Paperific: random prize draws, mystery shopper prizes, and the Paperific Pop Quiz.”

Paperific is dedicated to paper arts; therefore, every expo is a showcase for a wide range of papercraft retailers they can attract. Exhibitors come from all over Australia and sometimes from overseas to exhibit at Paperfic, as do attendees. Of course, because of their popularity, scrapbooking and stamping are the two crafts that are always best represented, but the variety of products is incredible. Paperific provides retails products, classes, and free demonstrations to the general public. “Our free ‘make and take’ projects offered by many businesses are what sets us apart from other expos, along with the fact that we have been running for over ten years now,” Naomi explains.

Naomi strives to uphold Stacey’s vision for Paperific with the motto ‘Heaven on Earth for Papercraft Lovers.’ Paperific has been rebranded with a new logo to reflect Naomi’s personality and vision for the expo. The new logo was named “Stacey” to honor the founder of the event.

“We hope to see you at our next Melbourne Paperific Expo!” Roby says with a smile.