Hernando Salazar was born in Bogotá, Colombia, where his love for flowers stems not only from his experience in the luxury world, but his upbringing in the lush terrains of South America. Although, his ambition was to be an architect, by the time he finished college, he became fixated on the world of fashion and decided to work as a lifestyle editor at a magazine.It was there that his skills and expertise he nurtured in the high-end luxury world led him to start his own business as the head creative director of his own event production agency, for the luxury market. Somewhere along the way, he fell in love with the craft, as he would often find himself arranging the floral decorations for various social events and celebrations for new partnerships and gallery openings.
For the past 15 years, Salazar has built a team of passionate and dedicated team members to work under his agency, Imaginario. Together, they have worked with some of the world’s most recognized luxury brands like Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Pineda Covalín. Not to mention, Salazar’s corporate world connections allowed him to tap into designing and decorating for multinational events with clients such as The World Bank, Dell, Intel, Munich Re and Vogue Magazine, among others.
So it’s not hard to see why Salazar’s unique skill and background is truly approachable. His strategy is always to think about the client and how they will interface with the product. Working with him was a natural choice for Enjoy Flowers, given the brand aims to bring a premium flower experience to as many people as possible. We sat down with Hernando to learn how he approached designing the Enjoy Flowers debut line. Go inside our conversation.
You said that the inspiration for the Enjoy Flowers floral design comes from “the proposed color trends for each year. We are passionate about fashion and trends that come with each season.” What Makes you passionate about fashion?
A/ What we love about fashion is that it allow us to see trends that mark each season, the different colors, shapes, textures, styles. We gather all these elements and use them as inspiration for the creation of our floral designs.
What is your creative process? Can you tell us more about how you go from being inspired by a color palette to then turning that into a bouquet of flowers?
A/ The color palette show us colors and contrasts. We then apply those same colors and contrasts to the bouquets, letting them dictate what flower combinations we create.
How long does it take you to conceptualize, design and implement a floral arrangement?
A/ Almost immediately, after seeing the place where the flower arrangement will go and knowing the fact flowers I can use to create the arrangement.
In the fall palette, there are quite a few cool tones, like, Stormy Weather, Biscay Bay, Reflecting Pond, etc. Usually in fall we see a lot of oranges and browns pop up. What do those colors mean or symbolize to you? How did you integrate them into one of the fall bouquets?
A/ Those colors are cool colors, except for orange, which characterizes typical October/November festivities. They will always look good in spaces that are full of light and whose environment is clear, walls and furniture in soft tones.
Beside color, how do you determine the shapes you want to create with the bouquets? What inspires their form?
A/ The shapes of the bouquets and floral arrangements we design come from the spaces that we’ll place the flowers in, as well as the room’s decor. We love to mix sizes, textures and very often include flowers of different sizes to create depth.
What one tip would you give our readers when it comes to finding the perfect spot for their flowers?
A/ Using light, candles; placing their arrangements next to the lamps they use to decorate their home; or placing them near the windows. It’s always great to place flowers in front of a light. Doing so will give prominence and shine to the floral arrangement.
For more amazing visuals from Hernando Salazar, follow his company’s website, Instagram and Facebook Pages.