This month, we sat down with Sandra Ovando of
Ovando Design and Production to get a behind the scenes look of how she and her team craft their legendary arrangements and events.
Sandra Ovando
With clients like Hermes, Dior, Park Hyatt, Max Mara and more, Ovando has become NYC’s floral design hot spot since Sandra launched her first West Village luxury floral boutique in 2003. Sandra’s flair for design started well before that though, in Mexico City. Born to Spanish and Russian parents and raised spending countless weekends gardening with her mother, Sandra developed a fascination with the beauty of flowers and bright colors, and loved to spend hours mismatching different shapes and blossoms. As she grew older, she discovered unique exotic flowers, plants, and fruits on her travels throughout Europe and Asia. She began incorporating those into her designs, crafting her signature style today of dynamic compositions and beautifully unique installations.
An Ovando wedding ceremony set up
The reception set up for the same wedding
So what’s gotten Sandra to where she is today? “People are attracted to Ovando for our dynamic, trend setting designs. Our team’s mindset is to view the world around us with open eyes and draw inspiration from fashion, nature, art and architecture, not just flowers,” says Sandra. “We focus on WOWING our clients.” Her focus on the ‘wow factor’ has led her to create some out of this world events and installations, like Ovando’s 2014 project for Coach. “Our team created, sourced, and fabricated the design for over 380 stores nationwide, so it was a big undertaking,” explains Sandra. “Over 3.3 million blooms went into Coach’s spring window design for the shape of their classic ‘C’ logo. Each and every bloom met our highest standards, and each flower’s color matched our designated Pantone specs exactly. It was pretty amazing!”
Coach, Spring 2014
For another event, a private client asked Sandra and her team to design a space for a special event using more than 25,000 roses. “We had only 72 hours to do everything, from creating the design to sourcing and sorting the roses,” says Sandra. “I was so proud of my team, not only were they able to source the product quickly, but the quality was flawless. We were able to create the arrangements and design the space on time and our client was thrilled. It was such a magical moment.” Watch the video,
25,000 ROSES – 72 HOURS – 1 EVENT. It’s not only about flowers. One recent event from Ovando was inspired by raindrops. By designing a space utilizing over 3,000 hanging glass tear drop lanterns filled with glowing tea lights, and fabricated black wall treatments, the Ovando team completely transformed the original (bright red) space to a glowing, low lit dinner party. You can re-create the look for yourself with Jamali’s
Hanging Glass Ball Votive Holders and our Glass Droplet Tea Light Holders. These votive holders work beautifully with flameless
LED lights, and even double as vases for hanging oversized blooms.
Suspended glass balls & teardrops with LED tea lights, make this glowing ceiling.
A close-up of the glowing orbs suspended from the ceiling.
Ovando now has two boutiques, their original West Village location, now on Christopher Street, as well as a second location on the Upper East Side, and a 2,500 square foot production space and recent release of a luxury candle line. For more information on Sandra, her team, and Ovando Design and Production, you can take a look at Sandra’s top trends, tools, and new arrivals (below) or visit their
website. SANDRA’S TOP TRENDS
Sustainability “We have strict processes in place to ensure our carbon footprint is minimal, and continue to work toward making our office and events green. This is a trend that will continue well into the future as we find more effective ways to be sustainable in this industry.”
Technology “Over the last year we have been hard at work developing our own software that will help streamline our order, production and installation process even more. With technology moving ahead at full force, incorporating it into all areas of event design is a must, from planning tools and design renderings to virtual presentations and device engagement. This will allow us to continue to exceed our client’s expectations.” SANDRA’S MUST HAVE TOOLS “I would say the most important thing you can have in your tool kit is a thorough and comprehensive plan that makes everything as seamless as possible. A close second is having multiple backup plans and the flexibility to think on your feet.” “For actual products, we can’t live without a measuring tape, different gauges of wire, appropriate
tools for cutting, drop cloths,
water tubes, cleaning products, and a variety of adhesives. We really try to prepare for anything that could arise; preparation is key.” SANDRA’S NEW ARRIVALS “On our retail side we have expanded into home fragrance with the launch of two luxury candle collections,
Recuerdos de Mexico and
Souvenirs de Paris. I wanted to create a sensorial journey inspired by various chapters of my life, starting with Mexico and continuing into my time spent in Paris. It has been so amazing to share my memories of these beloved, magical places. Our collections can be found at
Barneys New York,
SpaceNK, and at
Ovando.”
Recuerdos Collection
Souvenirs Collection
