Where Nature Meets Luxury, Flamingo Estate
When we visualize natural products we don’t immediately think— luxury. Perhaps this is because many eco-friendly, non-toxic brands take an earthy approach to their branding. Many consumers get a whiff of this and are immediately averted, finding it to be that undesirable niche of hippie or simply unfamiliar. But Flamingo Estate has taken a completely different approach to its brand identity. This earth-centered company puts a luxury lens on nature’s gifts.
Its founder, Richard Christiansen, also the founder of NYC-based advertising agency Chandelier Creative, runs Flamingo Estate from his one-bedroom property in LA which boasts 7 acres of surrounding garden and a small bee farm.
After acquiring the property unexpectedly just before COVID, Christiansen found it to be a place of grounding compared to his fast-paced life in New York City, likely evoking memories of his childhood on a rural farm in Australia.
I find the birth of Flamingo Estate to be a beautiful series of organic events too fated not to mention. The company's timeline began when Christiansen realized that his luxurious bathing products were harming the garden. Since his bath and shower water flowed directly into his plants, he found that the chemicals in these products were killing them.
It made him think, If his plants were dying, what was he really putting on his skin? Subsequently, he began making candles and soaps at home using natural ingredients. At this point, he was still running his creative agency, but everything changed when COVID struck. Suddenly, the agency was losing its clients as many companies began to conserve their budgets and stopped hiring groups like Chandelier.
Around the same time, Christiansen connected with a farmer who grew produce for restaurants and was about to lose her farm due to restaurant closures during the pandemic. Reminded of his parents and the tragic loss of their farm, he teamed up with the farmer to sell farm boxes out of the parking lot of his creative magazine store that opened just a few months earlier. They sold 300 boxes at the first carpark distribution, and their popularity continued to explode
Christiansen brought in his team from Chandelier Creative, who were accustomed to shooting fashion, and challenged them to apply their skills to produce. Safe to say, they succeeded. Flamingo Estate now sells skin, hair, home, and food essentials made from ingredients sourced from his property. Additionally, he partners with select regenerative farms to sell products like medicinal grade Manuka honey from New Zealand and local olive oil. Don’t worry, the farm box initiative is also still thriving, continuously evolving and expanding.
Flamingo Estate is genius from both a health and environmental standpoint and a creative one. The team continues to produce and market products with the same seamless, sophisticated approach they employed with high-fashion clients. Utilizing deep colors, abundance, and decadence, Flamingo Estate reminds consumers about the significance of top-tier ingredients while showcasing that it can be achieved with opulence. I couldn't be more enthusiastic or inspired by a brand, its philosophy, and its visual identity. At this juncture, they might as well hire me. Please? ;)
Check it out at… Flamingo Estate
Flora’s Pick
Fridays From the Garden Cookbook
Christiansen’s background as the creative director for a variety of magazines evidently influenced the development of his cookbook which mimics a high-art zine filled with wholesome, healthy, and innovative recipes that sits in my house as a coffee table treasure. I love the variety of chefs that contributed to this book making it anything but boring and providing something for everyone. Somehow though, it is still a cohesive collaboration of which every recipe (that I’ve made) is exquisite.