Garin Baura, 44, started his career as a floral designer, opening his own event design business in 2006. Baura now specializes in creating fresh, edgy branded environments for clients like Univision, AOL, Estee Lauder, and A&E Networks, often incorporating elements that marry design and technology, such as custom iPad walls, LED serving trays, or lighted metal-frame highboy tables that run on solar-powered boat batteries.
“Of course we listen to what the client is looking for, but I like to take it a step further in terms of design and figure out how we can create something new, even if using the simplest of tricks,” he says.
Case in point: his performance-art-style centerpiece for last year’s 50th anniversary party for Dior Nails (pictured), inspired by Holten Rower’s layered, colorful poured paintings. “We came up with the idea of serving flowers in the same way that [Rower] pours paint colors,” Baura says. As the various courses came out, staffers also served platters of brightly colored blooms, layering them onto the all-white table. “People were taking flowers and throwing them around—it loosened things up and made the dinner experience more playful. It was simple, but it felt fun and new.”
