Life After the Show
Post date: 28 Nov, 2013
Back in May we experienced huge success, supplying to numerous Chelsea Flower Show gardens, and it was with great pleasure to hear the news of Cityscapes’ “Remix Gardens” project. This project was created so that the materials from the Cloudy Bay Discovery Garden could be recycled in such a creative way that they went on to build 5 new garden designs across London.At Chelsea 2013, the medal winning garden designed by Andrew Wilson and Gavin McWilliam and built by Garden Link, appeared simple and relaxed yet with hard landscaping features requiring sophisticated levels of engineering in order to appear effortless. CED helped to source and supply some Gabbro Boulders, Black and Tan pebbles and Golden Amber Limestone, which was cleverly used to build rammed earth walls.
The Remix project aims to highlight the variety of ways a pre-determined set of elements could be reinterpreted and recombined into a variety of different and distinctive forms, and five unique garden installations were created. The project also showcases the afterlife potential of RHS show gardens, through a process of creative recycling as well as promoting the RHS Horticulture Matters Careers campaign, which aims to encourage more young people into the industry.
The first garden in the Remix series was designed by Jon Sims and inspired after visiting the site where the ingredients of the original show garden were being kept after Chelsea. The second Remix garden was designed by Anoushka Feiler with the theme of freedom running through her design. Matthew Childs designed the third garden in the series and incorporated some physical elements from his gold winning Hampton Court “Ecover Garden” into the design. The fourth Remix garden was designed by Daniel Lobb and interestingly uses a shipping container to enclose the garden.
The last variation brings us back to the original designers from Chelsea; Wilson McWilliam Studio. In this Remix garden the design distills the constituent parts embodied within the Cloudy Bay Discovery Garden and explores their evolution and change as the garden went through its various interpretations.
We have been supplying to Chelsea Flower Show gardens for many years now and its always a privilege to be involved in such an iconic show. When we agree to supply materials to these gardens, we have always done so with the understanding that we hope the gardens or products can be re-used or recreated following the end of the show, so it was wonderful to hear of this Remix series during our subsequent talks of yet again supplying to Chelsea 2014. Knowing there is life after the show is spectacular.