Daniel Valero, Architect, Designer & Founder of Mestiz Studio

Meet Daniel Valero, architect, designer, and founder of Mestiz Studio, the creator of Twenty Petal Flower, our community altar as the centerpiece of Flatiron NoMad Partnership’s Día de Muertos signature program.

1. What is the inspiration behind Twenty Petal Flower?

It really started with the cempasúchil and the whole journey of the flower.

I became very interested not only in the flower itself, but in everything behind it: the people growing it in the fields, harvesting it, and then all these hands transforming thousands of flowers into these incredible altars, arches and monuments.

And the beautiful thing is that they’re temporary. They appear for Día de Muertos, they become these amazing architectures, and then they disappear.

So that became the main idea behind the project: how a flower can become architecture, and architecture can become memory.

2. How does Twenty Petal Flower use traditional techniques and materials?

At Mestiz, we work a lot with traditional craft, but we’re always interested in pushing it somewhere new.

For this installation, we’re working with wicker and handwoven techniques, but at a completely different scale. We’re basically taking this incredible abundance of cempasúchil flowers and translating it into these huge woven forms.

I really like this contrast because wicker is very light, very human, very connected to the hand, but when you repeat it at this scale, it suddenly becomes monumental.

So it’s still craft, but in a way, craft becomes architecture.

3. What do you hope people experiencing Día de Muertos for the first time understand?

I would love for people to understand that Día de Muertos is really about memory and connection.

In Mexico, we approach it with so much life. There are flowers, candles, food, color, families coming together. You create something beautiful for someone who is no longer here, and in a way, you bring them close to you again.

Bringing this tradition into a public space in Manhattan is a real honor for me. I hope everyone, not only Mexicans, can feel part of it, connect with it, and maybe think of someone they would like to remember.

I think it can be a really beautiful moment to share together.

4. What does it mean to bring Twenty Petal Flower into a public space in the heart of New York City?

For me, it’s really exciting because Día de Muertos has this very interesting relationship with public space. Today in Mexico you see it much more in the streets, but traditionally it was something more connected to homes and cemeteries.

So I love bringing that tradition into the middle of New York. It’s a way to connect with the Mexican community, but also with anyone who somehow feels connected to Mexico.

And I love that you can just be walking through the city and suddenly encounter this huge, colorful, handcrafted monument. For a moment, it belongs to everyone.

5. What initially drew you to architecture and design, and how have your experiences shaped the work you do today?

I think I’ve always been attracted to the creative world in general, without really wanting to put a limit on it.

I studied architecture, but I always missed that connection with craft and making things by hand. I grew up in Saltillo, a city in northern Mexico known for its textile tradition, especially the sarape, so this fascination with textiles, craft and the knowledge of making has always been part of me.

Later, studying textile design in Paris brought me even closer to that world, to fibers, color, texture and the hand behind an object.

For me, design is really a bridge between disciplines. It can connect architecture with textiles, craft with art, objects with spaces. I love that freedom, and it’s very much how we work at Mestiz. We don’t really think about where one discipline ends and another begins.

6. Flatiron & NoMad are known for their distinctive architecture and public spaces. Do you have a favorite architectural element in the area?

I mean, the Flatiron Building, of course.

I’ve always been fascinated by it. I love how its shape comes directly from the geometry of the streets, so in a way, the city itself shaped the building. And then you look closely at all the details and ornament, and there’s an incredible level of craft in the building itself.

So having Twenty Petal Flower in this context is really exciting. I love the contrast between this iconic New York architecture and something so colorful, temporary and handcrafted, coming alive in the middle of a public space.

7. Finally, choose three words to describe having your art installation in Flatiron & NoMad.

Emotional. Colorful. Alive.

Header & Thumbnail Photo Credit: Daniel Valero, Mestiz Studio