After radiating a warm smile and hug to greet me, the very fit and chisel-faced 44-year-old, showed me the new project in plaster he was working on with eager eyes and the excitement of a little boy.
"I am feeling that I am doing what I love to do," he bursted.
Just three years ago, Hernandez became the owner of his own design company, Fancy Shelters, where he has done work for well-known New York City hot spots such as the Max Mara and Sportmax stores, the Socialista lounge at the Hotel Riverview in the Meatpacking District, the Oscar de La Renta boutique on Madison Avenue, and the Cipriani Hotel on Wall Street. Apart from this, he is contracted for his work at ASR where he has been a crucial foundation for the past 15 years.
Hernandez' innate creativity and artistic ability was born at a young age. His mother would often find him making little dolls out of clay all by himself in his native Caracas,Venezuela. Seeing his natural talent emerge, she immediately enrolled him in Cristobal Rojas Art School.
At 28, Hernandez had a brief stint in the Army where he found himself evangelicizing rather than fighting, as he used to be a Seventh Day Adventist. But a year later, Hernandez moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he went back to his roots and began making a living as a painter. His exhibit, "Recuerdos de mi Madre" ("Memories of My Mother") were displayed in a gallery there, but after two years, he felt he had reached his growth potential and was pulled to try his luck in New York. And so it was that he found himself in Manhattan.
"I didn't know any English," said Hernandez from the kitchen of ASR - the office and workshop of which is now located in Brooklyn. Dressed in his work clothes, smeared with white plaster dust, he reminisced how he would try to find people who could speak Spanish.
"When I was very lost, I would start walking and walking and walking," he said.
One day, he stumbled upon ASR when it was located on Lafayette Street in Manhattan.
He described it as one would have described meeting their other half - love at first sight.
The owner, Euclides Pagan, who usually spent his days working off location at the workshop, happened to be there that day, and also luckily spoke Spanish.
"I told him I was a painter from San Antonio, and Euclides told me he was looking for a mold maker," said Hernandez.
Hernandez took on the challenge, and that was the beginning of a lifelong career and friendship.
Today, Hernandez is no longer a Seventh Day Adventist, but more of a spiritual guru. He speaks enthusiastically about how each project brings a different journey and energy.
"Everything in existence has something to teach you," he said. "You can think, 'Can I do it?', but instead think, 'Wow! What a project!'"
Hernandez is an example of how following your heart can make your biggest dreams come true.
"The dream I had as a child was to be a successful artist and to share - to be bright enough," he said.
As of February, Hernandez is no longer working at ASR, but his mark will live on forever there. He plans on moving on to conquer his next challenge.
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