the electric urban orchard...

Exciting new show news!!!

We are chuffed to bits as we have been invited by the RHS to stage an urban front garden at the London show in February 09. We are to be one of three gardens - the others being a group from Capel Manor and another designer yet to be announced from a competition run by the Society of Garden Designers. As you can see, we are in exceptional company, and excited doesn't even come close.

The design has been evolving for a couple of weeks now, and I can now do a little reveal of the concept of the design and a wee sketch...

'the electric urban orchard' is a sustainable front garden with a difference. It recognises the fact that people have vehicles and parking is at a premium (especially in London), but also that paving over a front garden is hugely detrimental to the environment, both on a spiritual and personal level, but also with regards localised flash flooding. A successful front garden should be able to incorporate all needs of the user and be sustainable in all terms.

Therefore, a sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) is included, made from bound recycled glass and illicit CD chips, to allow two electric scooters to be parked at the front of the house. These scooters are charged via sockets in the bottom of recycled plastic planters, placed beneath the window for security.

The design is simple and graphic, with lines taken from the facade of the house into the horizontal of the garden. Ribbons of planting continue from the ground up the facade into a green wall module system, physically linking the two planes together.

The planting scheme echoes the graphic simplicity of the layout, being mostly made up of herbs such as rosemary, sage, lavender and thyme, but an unexpected twist comes with the inclusion of three different forms of apple - espalier, steopover and standard. 'the electric urban orchard' is intended to be a modern garden, with a nod to traditional formality, and also a place to park.

Let me know your thoughts...

only in brighton...

I was born and bred in Brighton, and am jolly proud to say so. Believe me - proper Brightonians are a little thin on the ground here, so we are becoming a rare breed...

Anyway - Brighton has long been famed for seedy nights, dirty weekends and being the gay capital of the UK, (all of which is great by the way) but Brighton is so much more than this. We have a crackin' Festival every May, we are close to the sea and the Downs, we have the Royal Pavilion, the Dome, the new Jubilee Library, the old Lanes and the North Laines (yes they are spelt differently - a laine is an old measurement or something for a field), fantastic Regency architecture, a vibrant music and arts scene, and so many wonderful independant shops that you would never be able to shake a stick at them all in a lifetime.

Plus, it is a city of randomness. I love random things - out of place, odd, surprising. Random things make me laugh, and fortunately good old Brighton delivers every time I venture in from the 'burbs.

So to celebrate this mesmerising randomness, I will be posting a few piccies under the banner of 'only in Brighton...'. And tapping into my obsession with skeletons, here is the first:

a posed skeleton with googly eyes in an old hearse. bloody genius.

don't give up the day job...

Having just finished reading the latest Garden Monkey entry on Quentin Blake, I began to think about the fantastical tales of Roald Dahl, most of which Mr Blake so wonderfully illustrated.

And, as my brain was wandering about, I remembered this little poem I wrote and illustrated many moons ago, inspired by good old Mr Dahl:

'If butterflies were made of butter,

would they drip instead of flutter?'

I'll leave you with that thought...

heroes...

Designers are often asked where the get their inspiration from, and recently I have been thinking about who inspires me. Plus, one of my favourite games is the 'Dinner Party Game' where you take it in turns to choose your ultimate guests for an imaginary soiree (except I was disqualified once for wanting Charles Darwin, who is obviously no longer with us - surely this is part of the point???)

Anyway - this little series will be a brief intro into people who I admire (for many different reasons)...

And the first candidate is... Sir Paul Smith...

Yep - the man who made multicoloured stripes fashionable. He has a massive fashion empire across the world, perfumes to his name and has a particular pull in japan, who go mental for him.

So, for a person who generally dislikes large industry, loves the handcrafted and not mass produced items, why is Sir Paul one of my heroes?

Well, one of my favourite books of all time is by Sir Paul Smith, and is my personal mantra - 'You can find inspiration in everything, and if you can't, look again'. Find a copy and read it. All of it. Then read it again. It is an insight into PS, his life, inspirations and aspirations and is a wonderful addition to a designers bookshelf.

He is also the true English eccentric, having a 'stockroom of silly things' which random people send him for fun and for inspiration. From stepladders to snowboards, they all collect there. I once made and sent him a Paul Smith Snatie - a snake made from an old tie, and I received a wonderful letter back, thanking me for the donation to the stockroom.

Despite his success, he seems to be down to earth, and regularly works Saturdays in one of his shops, alongside the part time assistants. He is connected to his roots.

He also breaks the ice at overseas meetings by pulling a large rubber chicken from his briefcase when he gets bored. I think he is close to a genius.

And in design terms, he is the king of the hidden detail - different colour buttons, inside pockets that flash lime green or neon orange -seemingly random yet utterly British. This covert design is wonderful - and really inspires me...

So - find the book and read it, or read this interview.

Sir Paul Smith - a British design eccentric...

bonjour mon petit chou fleur...

firstly - apologies for the written french above - it is probably wrong, but I'm sure you all know what I mean.

Yesterday we went to Boulogne on a daytrip. It was last minute, and free (other people had dropped out...) so we would have been fools not to go.

Travelling was by ferry, which my stomach was not very happy about, but after munching a few select pieces of ginger, and staying cold by being out on deck, I was fine. I even walked about without any hitches.

The day was cracking - blue, cold, quiet. The best. So - we went to Boulogne, ate some lovely mussels for lunch, drank some lovely beer. Then we had a wander about the old walled section of the town, which appears to be receiving some well deserved attention in the form of preservation and landscape redeveloping.

I think the french are much better at us with regards public landscaping, as they pay attention to places that we would just overlook. Some of it is not to my taste, but at least plants are there instead of concrete.

Pleached trees, clipped box and yew - the typical french bits were there, but also spotted some fantastic railing designs, highly considered paving lines and copper topped street lights that I wanted to smuggle home.

A lovely section was a large clipped yew pyramid, slightly offset yet perfectly reflecting the form and mass of the monument in front. Nice...

Then went to a terrible hypermarket where we did not buy booze, but stocked up on frenchie foods we love - good mustard, a huge and stinky smoked garlic plait and a box of my favourite things in the world - jewel like mini macaroons.

ah - j'adore la france...

mystery object revealed...

it suddenly occurred to me that I did not reveal the use for the random object I posted a little while ago.

well - just to remind you all, here is the object again.

and what is it I hear you cry? why did you use it as a girl guide???

I admit, they are slightly redundant nowadays, but the mystery object is... a tent post hook strap.

when camping (in an old tent I hasten to add, with proper ridge and central beam posts) you would strap this little gadget around a vertical post in the tent, the hooks would splay and hey presto, somewhere to hang bits and bobs away from the damp ground. clever eh?

I don't live in a tent, so what am I using it for?

being lucky enough to live in a very old house, we have a few vertical beams, including an old oak post section with lath and plaster panel in the bathroom, so we have strapped this around the post (therefore not penetrating the timber with screws) and we hang our towels from it.

remember - nothing is redundant, you just need to think hard on how to reinvent it...

well done america...

well done america.

here are some nice poster images that were used for the campaign by an artist called shepard fairey (i think)

change is a comin'...

crunch day for the world...

i've been looking forward to this day for a while.

and even though I can do nothing about the result, i am glad that a certain George is being shunted off the stage.

lets hope that the americans do the right thing - they should (and who knows, maybe they did) have done it eight years ago.

what a different world we would be living in if Al Gore had rightly been given the presidency...

yuletide is a comin'...

the first weekend in november is very special in our house, as this is traditionally the time when we pick our christmas tree.

and before you ask, no - we are not one of those who put up decorations in september and live a year round crimbles. but, we do always have a real tree, and most importantly, a local and sustainably grown British tree.

so, the first weekend in november sees us tootling off to Wilderness Wood (a traditional working wood and education centre) in Hadlow Down, East Sussex to pick and reserve ourselves a tree for the yuletime celebrations.

this weekend was perfect - a bit chilly and misty, yet with the watery sun bursting through to warm the face. we arrived on the second day of reservations, and bought our tags at the barn (already up to number 100), before heading down to the plantation field which holds Douglas Fir, Nordman and Spruce.

we always have a Douglas Fir - a beautiful christmas tree for in the house if you can find one - they have fragrant, almost fluffy foliage, don't drop too much (as long as you keep well watered and do not put into a sub-tropical centrally heated room) and also transplant very well once the decs are down.

like the children in the field, we ran about shouting 'what about this one?' 'oooh - this one' 'I've found a good one...' you get the picture.

after a little while we chose our tree - and here he is...

he will sit here until december, when we will go and dig him up and bring him home.

back to the barn for a mug of sussex tea and a slice of homemade carrot cake, then back home, filled with the promise of yule...

visit http://www.wildernesswood.co.uk/ for further info on the trees available this year, or visit www.bctga.co.uk/ where you can find other British christmas tree growers near you... reduce those miles and buy local...lets all have a greener crimbles...