I’m not talking about the sample piece of artificial turf
courtesy of namgrass, which my ten year old creatively utilised in his Lego ‘Hagrid’s
Hut’ installation, nor the Toro light pen, which is annihilating our house in
its laser gun guise assumed by my youngest, but as a industry novice and
inspiring garden designer I wanted to share a relatively serious comment on
this event and its relevancy to my new career path.
FutureScape is in its infancy, the second annual single day
event occurred on Nov 19th 2013 at Kempton Park Racecourse, and
given the exponential growth of visitors from its inauguration last year, it is
sure to need re-housing in the near future. It is aimed at both designers and
landscapers, delivering product stands, seminars and expert Q&A sessions across
a variety of related subjects.
Following a quick tour of the product stands and brief site
orientation, the first stop on my schedule was a seminar presented by James
Hewetson Brown of Wildflower Turf Ltd discussing (you guessed it) wildflower
meadow installation, which I am finding to be an increasingly desirable and
requested ‘look’ even in domestic gardens.
Personally, I have not experienced planting a meadow from
seed, but had heard the process to final establishment to be a long and arduous
one. James certainly argues the case for turf vs. seed very well, providing
strong arguments and clear visuals in favour of his products on establishment,
cost and performance. I guess like lawn grass, if you want the look quickly
with a higher success rate you will probably lay turf, and if you’re of a more
horticultural bent, who enjoys the consuming challenge and arguably the higher
reward of nurturing your meadow in its entirety, then seeds’ for you.
Often, it is best to leave it to the experts and with over
30 years experience in turf development and 10 of those specialising in
wildflower varieties, James certainly has exemplary credentials which are possibly
reflected in his enviable client list, which most notably includes providing
installations around the 2012 Olympic site, and the iconic British countryside
display in the opening ceremony, not to mention some sets for the Harry Potter
films. His business has developed a number of standard variants, also providing
bespoke products dependent on scale, and a new retail garden border style due
for release next year.
With the requirement for increasingly bio diverse
environments and the onset of carbon offsetting benefits, you are certain to
see the demand for this product rising further, both commercially and
domestically, and in an increasingly competitive market. My advice to those
looking to buy, always choose a specialist supplier, they’re called that for a reason.
Next stop was lighting. Until now I’ve not focussed too much
attention on how to best to light a garden. Obviously with aspirations of
producing desirable garden designs, I have never been an advocate of flood
lighting the entire garden, and have always understood the importance of
showcasing specific plants, retaining an element of mystery and accentuating
distance and space.
One of the key skills of good design is extending your
entire living space by successfully marrying the internal and external
environments and this certainly shouldn't stop as soon as the sun sets. So
whether you’re directly enjoying your garden during one of our infrequent balmy
summer evenings or indirectly admiring the view from various internal vantage
points in the depths of winter, lighting plays a significantly important part.
David Atkinson of DALD Ltd brings a wealth of lighting
experience from working in the fields of theatre, film, music and architecture,
which easily transfers to the world of landscaping and garden design. His
passion and enthusiasm is undeniably clear and the 45 minute presentation
showcased a distinguished career built upon thorough research and significant
knowledge. The visuals clearly demonstrated the importance of investing time
and energy to the correct installation of lights and providing me with
increased knowledge of how and what to my already well recognized why.
A small sample of good tips included:
- Use high quality products. Water ingression can destroy all your efforts in a number of months.
- Understand the correct use of temperature. Bright to display natural plant colour, warm for back lighting.
- Optical angles. Narrow for highlighting single larger specimens and sculptures, wide for border displays, boundary walls and outbuildings.
- Water features. Trial and learn how to best bounce and refract light, and working with submerged lighting.
- Play with different creative effects when lighting pathways and driveways. A simple down light often doesn’t do the space justice.
I left the seminar room slightly overwhelmed, but the overriding
piece of advice David left me with was to keep it simple, don’t overdo it, use
all the tools carefully and sparingly, retaining intrigue while introducing
space and new perspectives. His recommendation of using a long cable and single
fixing to test scenarios will certainly be introduced to my future surveys.
A quick spot of lunch, more product browsing, literature
collection and the opportunity to quiz experts further preceded the next
seminar and possibly the main motivation in my FutureScape attendance – Adam
Frost Live.
Adam Frost hadn’t really appeared fully on my radar prior to
a TV interview staged amongst his greatly admired gold winning RHS Chelsea garden for Homebase this year. I was
immediately struck by his openness and his insistence that he is not creating
art, but simply that he understands the importance of creating outdoor spaces
to enjoy. This once again raises the question of what constitutes art…...
From years of appreciating the UK show gardens and following their
creators, Adam does strike me as different, not in a Diarmuid Gavin 'controversial' design way, but in his persona. He’s not the typical designer you
would find at RHS Chelsea ,
playing down his obvious abilities and displaying a warming candidness.
As the room filled, Adam was showing a
certain amount of nervousness at the ensuing proposition of imparting his
wealth of knowledge with the awaiting audience, eagerly exchanging a spot of
banter with some of his friends and colleagues present. He needn’t have
worried, with gentle and assured Parkinsonesque questioning and listening
skills from Jim Wilkinson the event organiser, he fluently recalled his life
and career history.
Dragged to the SW England countryside by his relocating
parents aged 15, he struggled adapting to the change from his North
London roots. His schooling suffered and after a period of
‘Parklife’ he cites the late widely admired Gardeners' World presenter Geoff Hamilton as providing
stability and inspiration, working for him over a number of years prior to
establishment of his own landscaping business. His desire to spend ‘more time
in the pub’ and out of the cold prompted his move to design.
Whilst I feel after years of hard graft he is now extremely
comfortable with his elevated position and the trappings that brings (as we all
would be), he is genuinely at pains to point out his incomprehension of the
comparative respect he is now afforded post show success and indeed how a former
‘little toe rag’ cut through the formalities associated with RHS Chelsea. All I can
offer is that hard work and genuine talent will always shine and with his
continued frankness and delivery of award winning designs his following will continue
to rise.
Adam continued by describing 2013 as a turbulent year,
encountering very close family bereavements and too much time away from his
wife and children, which only heightens my admiration for his ability to
deliver a gold winning RHS Chelsea garden and his establishment of the Homebase
academy; a very real employment programme providing opportunities for young aspiring
horticulturalists and landscapers. Inspired I presume by the importance a
considerate mentor played in his own early development and his requirement to
give something back.
Further questioning uncovered his own future aspirations,
and with the undertaking of Homebase RHS Chelsea 2014, including managing the involvement
of those participating from the academy, further private design commissions
both in the UK and internationally and a book in the pipeline, I’m afraid time
together with the family will continue to be limited.
During the audience Q&A session I offered the Adam the
opportunity to share some insight into the inspirations for his design. A
question I assume all established designers dread, but all novice ones want the
answer to. He responded with his familiar stance, a desire to create a real space
or landscape you would like to immerse yourself in, with plant selection and
distribution playing an essential part in the entire design process. He added that
surveying generally begins at the view from the kitchen kettle and inspiration
often appears at the bottom of a nice glass of red - priceless. I stupidly
omitted asking for a grape recommendation!
The audience included David Dodd the founder of landscaping
business The Outdoor Room, who has provided construction to an enviable list of
show and private gardens having established excellent relationships with a
number of designers. Subsequently I have learnt from an article in
ProLandscaper that David has recently announced his decision not to continue
working with the popular Love You Garden TV series, stating that whilst he
thoroughly enjoyed his time and colleagues during its production, he did feel
that the speed and delivery of the show format did in some way undermine the
true qualifications, skills and abilities of designers and landscapers alike.
He mentioned that he would be keen to work in TV in the future adding a
keenness to do this in partnership with Adam to produce a show of substance and
humour. I agree, this pairing in a Grand Designs format would certainly make
compelling viewing.
Another coffee and an opportunity to review my newly
acquired knowledge before my final session of the day - The Detail Is In The
Design Q&A. The designer panel (or should that be ‘panel of designers’) JoThompson, Ian Drummond, Tracy McQue, Andrew Fisher Tomlin and Kate Gould
provided insights into their careers, including personal thoughts on
inspiration and future desires.
Some key points of particular relevance to me were; on
announcing to her friends and family her decision to pursue a career in garden
design, Jo was greeted with shock and disbelief ‘you don’t know the first thing
about gardens!’ I’ve experienced similar if slightly less direct remarks,
retorting ‘but that’s the point, isn’t it? The journey is the fun bit.’ Now with
four successful RHS Chelsea gardens under her belt and a thriving design business, Jo has certainly
silenced her doubters. Equally inspiring, Tracy
provided sound advice, insisting that establishing designers should stand firm
on their pricing and truly believe in their value.
Whilst the majority of them agreed in not liking or being
totally satisfied with elements of their work, (the curse of most creatives)
Ian went so far as to say that he often had to revisit his work a few weeks
later, just to reassure himself of his ability. Andrew provided strong opinion
throughout, quickly rebuking the question of ‘who should earn more, designer or
landscaper?’ as not worthy of an answer, and reassuringly adding that no one
should accept the common misnomer that financially sustaining a career in
garden and landscape design is impossible. Of equal worth and very warmly
received by both panelists and audience alike was his declaration of
intolerance to the evidence of elitism creeping back into the industry, (no
names mentioned) ‘I thought we got rid of that!’ It’s heartening to hear a
regular Chairman of Judges for the RHS, making statements to this effect; after
all we should always critique the installation rather than the installer.
One thing echoed across the panel was the principal
importance of establishing a strong relationship with a landscaper. There must
be a mutual respect; both parties must combine with clear communication
channels to produce the perfect creation.
Day over for me, I must just state that I attended less than 25% of
the seminar sessions available and found the event very rewarding. It is a
perfect opportunity for products to be marketed directly and established
experts to impart their knowledge, build networks and meet up with industry
friends. For novice designers like myself all you need do is soak up the all
the information you can, its not often that such a breadth of knowledge is so
compactly contained and with such ease of accessibility.
Right, I’m off stick my head into John Brookes Garden Design Book, much knowledge to acquire, thanks for the tip Andrew.
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