Founded by Lera and Viktor Komskii, CENTÁ is a Lisbon-based multidisciplinary studio renowned for its creative and artistic direction, specialising in food styling, floral design and botanical brand imagery. With a portfolio that includes collaborations with prestigious brands like Loewe, CENTÁ transforms everyday objects and natural elements into extraordinary visual narratives. Their work emphasises the beauty of nature and the importance of creative freedom, making each project a unique journey of artistic exploration.
hube: Your work conjures magical narratives through various elements. What’s the key to your visual wizardry?
Lera Komskii and Viktor Komskii: We have an ongoing partnership with Loewe. It is an absolute blast as the trust and feedback we get are something we could not have dreamt of. We genuinely appreciate the creative freedom we’ve been granted here. We love how Loewe makes nature its main storyteller by using all possible creative twists for visualisation. We are inspired by this idea and do our best to convey it. Have you ever noticed that there are no ‘ugly’ colour combinations in nature? Everything is just perfect – created for people to absorb its beauty. Some types of mushrooms become flowers once they touch water, so why not find a perfect match for it? Exploring outdoors always gives you a chance to come up with the most unexpected frame and composition, playing around with all aspects of the surrounding environment.
h: If we consider food and floral design as art, it seems that it resembles theatre, dance, or even performance. It encompasses the feeling of the moment, improvisation, transience, fragility, and precise planning. How does your creative laboratory work?
LK&VK: Ironically, all these beyond-beautiful metaphors usually simultaneously face the reality of tight schedules, budget restrictions and crazy requests. Again, it’s about balance and transparent communication with the client and team. A decent time frame for exploration and creative development is key. We prefer to work over the brief to see how we can approach it – hence meeting the client’s expectations while staying as authentic as possible. Having tons of pieces of this creative puzzle is the moment when we can start refining the idea.
Images, books, museums, music, architecture, nature, travelling – all types of inspiration work for us, though with the exception of researching other artists’ work. The direct references are something we are not fans of.