Twelve-time Emmy award winner Cristina Saralegui admits her expertise is news, not design.
But this Cuban-born Spanish- language TV star also considers herself “a frustrated interior designer.”
For fun, Saralegui studies design through its cultural and historical facets, which is how she landed a fast-growing home furnishing brand. Pair that with her relatively new property in suburban Miami’s exclusive Pinecrest community, where she tests an array of new Casa Cristina products, and Saralegui seems poised to become the Martha Stewart of Spanish-language TV.
Speaking recently from Florida, this woman Time magazine dubbed one of the “25 Most Influential Hispanics in America” talked about how Hispanic multiculturalism shaped the look of Casa Cristina products.
Q: Why home furnishings, and why now?
A: About three years ago, my husband, who is also my business partner, said that after 18 years on the air and 15 years publishing a magazine, ‘We have a media brand … do you want to expand it?’
“Next year I turn 60, so this is my third career. My hobby is history, and I really enjoy studying the background of design in all of our 23 countries of origin. All Latinos in the U.S. basically come from the same part of Europe. For me in particular, I’m interested in design from France and Italy, because my Basque family still lives there, in the Pyrenees.
Our first license was with Pulaski Furniture. This year we launched our third collection with them, which is based on the Basque country that I love. Pulaski’s Casa Cristina furniture is more masculine. The new line of Casa Cristina bedding for Kohl’s is more about nesting. … This is not flamingos in Florida and chili peppers on the West Coast. When we say (a look is) ‘colonial,’ that’s all over Latin America. It’s a lot of terra cotta and wine colors, because that’s what we’re about.
Q: What else can we expect from the Casa Cristina brand?
A: After Pulaski came CBK. They’re in the gift business and sell in 33,000 stores. With them we did rugs, then we did lamps, then did mattresses with little guardian-angel prayers sewn into them.
What is coming is more home stuff – all the bathroom curtains and the articles for the bath and dishware and flatware. We also have candles.
The important thing is that design does not have a dollar value. What I did before was always sold in specialty stores (like Woodley’s Furniture, Kacey Fine Furniture and EMW Furniture Company). Kohl’s gave me the chance to reach a much wider audience.
Casa Cristina spring bedding and furnishings arrive at Kohl’s in March 2007.
