During the pandemic, Richard Christiansen sensed a vibe shift. The owner of a creative agency based in NY, with three offices internationally, retreated to his seven-acre farm in LA, Flamingo Estate and began delivering fresh produce around LA, complete with recipes. The produce, sourced from small, local farms gave him a connection to the natural world and helped him reimagine life, while the idea has grown into a natural, luxury lifestyle brand and includes candles and pantry staples – all of course, with elements sourced from the garden.
Flamingo Estate is described as a ‘a home for radical pleasure’. When did you realise that you were a pleasure seeking individual?
Yes, I like to say Flamingo Estate is a home for radical pleasure — a place to bathe, eat, and bask in nature’s most precious gifts. To relish the slow dive, the deep breath. The bees asleep in the mallow, the drizzle of olive oil on a soft-boiled egg. These are the moments that foster joy.
I grew up in outback Australia, so there was always an undercurrent of simple pleasures: a hot bath, a great meal, the open blue sky. I believe pleasure is a human right, but I had lost sight of that. Working for 20 years in New York had left me exhausted, and out of alignment. COVID gave me the chance to change that. My whole life crumbled, and I got back to the very thing I had been running away from. Now I police my own pleasure seriously – food, sex, music, the garden, hot baths, a good glass of wine. It’s a radical thing to stand up for your own pleasure.
How does this feed into working, and collaborating with, the natural world?
I like to say mother nature is our doctor, therapist and friend. What started as my own garden has grown into a network of 110 regenerative farmers. Together we are making everyday essentials from the garden – 150 in all from soap to olive oil. In my old life we worked for almost all the luxury brands. And now while I have been making these products I’ve now come to think that Mother Nature is the last great luxury house. And the things we grow and make are her most precious goods. If you want to own luxury, this is the new frontier of it – radical intimacy and hyper-localization of the things you use on your body and in your home.
How would you like to change the world, and the way we consume it?
I am building Patagonia for your kitchen and bathroom. So I hope we learn to think of our relationship with the natural world not as consumption but as an exchange that can and should be mutually beneficial. Last year we published 7 books for Flamingo Editions by my heroes: Jane Goodall, Michael Pollan, Terry Tempest Williams, Alice Waters, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and the collective folk wisdom of the iconic Old Farmer’s Almanac. Each of them has moved me greatly, and my dream is that Flaming Estate becomes a home for all those with Green Thumbs and Middle Fingers.
"Flamingo Estate is a home for radical pleasure — a place to bathe, eat, and bask in nature's most precious gifts."
Have you always been interested in the natural world and regeneration? Or is it something that has come to you as an adult?
I grew up on a farm in rural Australia, so that part of me has always been there. But it’s something that had gotten away from me and I had to come back to. At the start of the pandemic, when we began selling farm boxes, I met with small, family-run farmers, who saw first hand how climate change and industrial agricultural practices were affecting the land. They showed me the beauty of employing regenerative farming techniques, bringing on an intimacy with nature, removing heavy machinery, focusing on the health of the soil, and employing ancient wisdom. When we take care of Mother Nature, she takes care of us.
Do you see yourself expanding the school of thought that you practice at Flamingo Estates, I’m aware that it already includes other farms, but would you want to implement it on a bigger scale?
My dream is that we, everyone, support regenerative practices and continue to expand our thinking to be more holistic in our approach. But I don’t think there are any short cuts here. It’s about only selling things grown the right way to support more and more farmers and makers implementing these practices.
What’s your proudest achievement?
That I was able to see my old life crumble. And then re-build a life I love, surrounded by people I love. I’ve spent the past couple of years learning to shift my focus to essential things – the garden, good food, a smaller circle of friends, my dogs, my partner, creating intimacy, privacy, building a home (not a house). I deleted my personal Instagram. I started saying no to people. This is an up-hill battle. In a world that profits off our numbness, it is a radical act to wake up one’s senses.
Finally, what is your message for the readers of More or Less?
Take your own pleasure seriously.