Elena Borg

Tepee Sauvage

Flower designer

©Tepee Sauvage

Walking on the wild side

Elena belongs to a new generation of flower designers
She launched her studio after living in Australia for one year
In her arrangements, she mixes modern and wild elements

There is a turning point in everyone’s life. For Elena Borg, it was the year she spent in Australia after studying communication, press and graphic design in France. Living abroad gave her the opportunity to discover herself. When she went back home, she still didn’t know that she would become a flower designer, but she soon realized that she would rather work by herself with nature and creativity than in an office. One year later, her atelier Tepee Sauvage was born. Elena took a course to learn the basis of floristry, then she attended many workshops both in person and online, learning from French and American floral designers. Today, Elena specialises in weddings and events, both in the Landes region where she lives, and the surrounding regions.

Interview

©Tepee Sauvage

©Tepee Sauvage

Did Australian culture influence your style?: Definitely. I love the way Australians mix modern and wild elements in anything they do. In my arrangements I try to do the same: even if my style is still evolving, changing along with my personal interests, I always combine wilderness with a contemporary twist.
Is your style traditional?: Quite the opposite. The floral industry has been moving really fast in the last few years, with young flower designers creating a new, exciting dimension. As for me, I love original things: that’s why most of the time I work with unknown and untraditional flowers.
Can you describe your creative process?: I’d rather improvise than do sketches: I decide what to do when my flowers are in front of me. For inspiration, I follow a lot of colleagues on social media, but many ideas come from everyday life, from food, design, nature, magazines and especially travels.
Do you have a favourite flower to work with?: People would say my speciality is dried flowers, but I love to mix them with fresh ones, too. My favourite are proteas, bougainvillea, magnolias and sweet peas. And of course banksias, a native Australian species that I discovered when I was there.

Elena Borg is a rising star: she began her career in 2016