KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pink, glitter and sugarplum fairies: Glitterville brings a little bit of Christmas magic year round and the man behind the shiny décor is Stephen Brown. This year he got his biggest job yet—decorating the White House for Christmas.
Brown is originally from Rockwood, but he took his love of creating to Roane State Community College and the University of Tennessee Department of Theatre to capitalize on his crafting. He started making costumes for UT productions which led him to New York City, where he designed costumes for soap operas and eventually Maria Carey.
"I flew to New York and started working on soap operas, 'As the World Turns,' in costume design," said Brown. "That was kind of crazy and then I started working for Mariah Carey and doing some of her movies and making ornaments. At the same time, people said, 'Oh, my gosh, you should you should sell those ornaments.' And then since that time, Glitterville today is sold in every country around the world."
Stephen has always loved crafts and Christmas. When he was a little boy, he would never ask for toys for Christmas.
"I was always asking for Christmas decorations and one of the things I always asked for was a life-size set of reindeer," said Brown. "It's pretty interesting that now today the reindeer that I made with my hands are now soaring over everyone at the White House," said Brown.
When Brown got the call that First Lady Dr. Jill Biden wanted him to decorate rooms at the White House, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"It's a very secretive project. The theme each year is very secretive. And they tell only like three people in the world what the theme is at that point. And that's a hard secret to keep. And people are wondering, 'Where are you?' 'Why aren't you posting on Instagram?' 'Why are we not crafting?' And you're like, 'I can't really—I'm working on a project.' So, you don't know exactly how you land there. But when they call? You know, it's such an honor, because, you know, it is the White House," said Brown.
You can watch 10News Anchor Abby Ham's full conversation with Stephen Brown here.