Meet the designers 2010
Get to know the designers behind this year's show gardens with our profiles on each one, including previous Chelsea wins and their design trademarks.
Chelsea track record: Gold for 2009 Children’s Society Garden as well as five previous gold medals, two silver-gilt and one silver.
Designer Profile: No stranger to building gardens at Chelsea, Mark is one of the most experienced contractors on site. As well as designing and building this show garden, Mark is also overseeing the building of two other gardens, the Tourism Malaysia Garden and the Music on the Moors urban garden.
Design trademarks: Quality landscape construction and detailing are always key features of Mark's designs.
Chelsea track record: Gold and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ/RHS peoples award for best small garden in 2008 for the Shetland Croft House.
Design trademarks: Following a successful career working as a designer in the fashion and textile industry, Sue took a career change to become a garden designer. She qualified in 2004 and now lectures in garden design at Nottingham Trent University.
Design trademarks: Sue designs gardens for a wide range of private clients, from small projects through to large estate gardens. Her style is quite classical often featuring formal areas of hard landscaping softened by pockets of carefully chosen planting.
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Chelsea track record: Won gold for his urban garden Tempest in a Teapot in 2008. Silver in 2009 for the Foreign and Colonial Investments' garden, his first full-sized show garden.
Designer profile: Tom started his career training in commercial horticulture and worked as a head gardener in South Devon, he went on to train and work at the in 1999. While there, he won a scholarship to the south-eastern US to study wildflower communities, kicking off his passionate study of natural plant habitats around the world. He set up his garden design company in 2002 and built his first show garden at Hampton court in 2005, securing a silver medal.
Design trademarks: Tom's design style is the result of years spent studying many different plant habitats. He likes his gardens to fit into their surroundings and plants to sit comfortably in their gardens. He believes this approach leads to a more harmonious effect and results in gardens needing minimal maintenance.
Chelsea track record: Silver gilt Medal for his Chic Garden in 2004, followed by a gold medal and Best Chic garden award in 2006, and two further gold medals for small gardens in 2007 and 2008.
Designer profile: After he graduated from university, he started to study the ‘Ikenobo’ style of Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), and his eyes were opened to the world of flowers. When he was 29, he started selling flowers, it was here that he built up the base of his artistic talent. In 1995 he started his own company and in 2002 started designing commerically. He has been a regular at Chelsea since 2004. .
Design trademarks: He uses the philosophy of traditional Japanese gardens and translates it to contemporary settings. His gardens often feature prominent rocky outcrops and luxurious mossy areas.
Chelsea track record: In 2009 his Cancer Research UK garden awarded silver gilt and the RHS People’s Choice Award, his four previous show gardens were all awarded gold.
Designer profile: Robert Myers is a landscape architect and garden designer running his own successful practice set up in the 1990’s. The practice works on many high profile projects including public spaces at , work on several Cambridge college gardens, a new formal garden at Tregothan in Cornwall and the new rose garden at as well as many private gardens in the UK and abroad.
Design trademarks: Robert's designs are classically elegant and timeless, drawing inspiration from their surroundings and the materials he uses. His work explores the relationship between the formal and informal, and draws inspiration from both the architectural and natural world.
Chelsea track record: As a design team, first timers at Chelsea but met in 2009 where both exhibited at Hampton Court.
Designer profile: Philippa is an award winning designer with three silver gilt awards at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and a bronze at Malvern in 2005. Jonathan is a Victorian gardening specialist, amateur gardener and hotelier. His Yewbarrow House garden has won many accolades and opens for the NGS garden scheme. Jonathan designed ‘ A Beekeepers Garden’ with Nicola Hills, winning a silver gilt at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2009.
Design trademarks: Philippa’s designs are characterised by the use of perennials in bold drifts. She combines plants very skilfully to create attractive colour combinations which work well with both traditional and contemporary designs.
Chelsea track record: Returns after 8 years absence having been a regular exhibitor throughout the 1990s. At Chelsea 2002 he won gold and best in show for his design, Garden Open, that celebrated 75 years of the . Chelsea 2009 saw Roger in the Great Pavilion for the first time where he won silver gilt for A Plantsman’s Palette. .
Designer profile: Roger Platts has been gardening for over 40 years and trained in commercial horticulture in the 1970s. He worked on nurseries in the UK and abroad before setting up his own garden design business in 1989 and subsequently a thriving retail nursery in Kent specialising in unusual varieties.
Design trademarks: Traditional English garden style, think rambling roses, scented lavender, romantic planting and timeless simplicity.
Chelsea track record: This is Darren’s first garden at Chelsea.
Designer profile: Darren Saines is a TV garden designer in Norway, he has popularised gardening with a ‘Ground Force’ style of show. British born, Darren actually grew up in Surrey and visited Chelsea as a child with his grandmother. He always dreamt of creating a show garden. In Norway he leads the industry in innovative design in some of the harshest conditions in the world – having created a garden far into the arctic circle where it is dark for six months of the year.
Design trademarks: Darren specialises in private and commercial garden designs to suit all budgets no matter what the size of the project may be. His work is characterised by the use of wood and hard landscaping that compliments the natural environment. His designs also often feature dramatic lighting around key plants and features.
Chelsea track record: Gold medals in 2004 and 2005. Last year he won silver for The Key, a garden that was also created by the Eden project team.
Designer profile: Paul is a landscape gardener with over 30 years experience in design and construction. He specialises in show garden work and is also currently a consultant at the Eden project in Cornwall.
Design trademarks: Paul Stone and the create gardens that are primarily about empowering people. This year's project involves homeless people and the organisations that support them in a collaboration to design and build the garden. This approach helps people to find their potential, gain new skills and confidence as well as hope for the future. This year’s entry is the largest garden ever built at Chelsea, three times the size of a normal large show garden.
Chelsea track record: Seven previous Chelsea gold medals, including three best in show awards. This is Tom’s sixth garden for his current sponsor.
Designer profile: Tom established his practice in 1998, work since has ranged from large gardens and parks open to the public, to smaller private gardens. Some of his more recent work can be seen at and also the gardens that surround the new glasshouse at the .
Design trademarks: Tom Stuart-Smith’s design practice has an international reputation for making gardens that combine naturalism and modernity.
Chelsea track record:Three gold medals between 2005 and 2007 and a silver gilt in 2001.
Designer profile: Andy Sturgeon has emerged as a leading landscape architect and designer, his practice earning a reputation for creating stylish modern landscapes that are a fusion of contemporary design and natural materials.
Design trademarks: Planting often features heavily and ranges from striking architectural schemes through to soft, naturalistic styles. Lighting, sculpture and furniture are frequently integral to the design.
Chelsea track record: Exhibited a small garden in 2008.
Designer profile: On return from his travels he worked at a garden pottery company where he helped to build their Chelsea display stand. He then set up a design-ware business and after being asked to design the Quilted Velvet Garden for Chelsea in 2008, continued to design gardens as part of his design business profile..
Design trademarks: James designs and creates site-specific steel structures and artwork for architectural and landscape environments. His gardens also often feature bespoke hand built planters and furniture.
Chelsea track record: Leeds have had success at Chelsea since 1997 when their first garden secured a silver medal, followed by silver gilt in 1998, three bronze medals in 2004, 2006, and 2007, a silver in 2008 and a silver gilt last year.
Designer profile: Designed by a panel of people all contributing to the final design. The garden build is project managed by Martin Walker.
Design trademarks: Leeds City Council Parks and Countryside have been entering gardens for Chelsea since 1997. The gardens are built to be enjoyed by Leeds’ residents and visitors, They are themed on local projects and are always recreated back in the area after the show.
Chelsea track record: This is his first time designing for Chelsea but he’s been part of the Fleming’s team for several years winning four gold medals and two silver gilt.
Designer profile: Scott's appreciation for horticulture started early. He was mowing lawns in his local area from the age of 13 and landscaping the family front yard at the age of 16. He secured an apprenticeship as a landscape gardener at the age of 17. Wynd is no stranger to flower shows, having been involved with the for over 10 years, as both a landscape designer and landscape contractor.
Design trademarks: The Fleming’s gardens are always classically Australian with emphasis placed on outdoor living, clean modern lines and architectural planting.
Chelsea track record: Silver medal in 2009 for their Canary Islands Spa Garden. Silver medal at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2008 with the The Burgbad Sanctuary.
Designer profile: James trained in Ethnobotany and has a passion for edible and medicinal plants. David Cubero started his career as an agricultural engineer in his native Canary Islands, where he discovered his enormous passion for their bizarre native flora. He then trained as a floral artist at the Madrid School of Floral Art. .
Design trademarks: Clean modern design that takes it's inspiration from the landscapes of the Canarias and Malaysia. Architectural tropical plants and succulent plants are often a key feature.
The RHS People's Choice Award. Find out more.
Visit the to read and comment on their posts.
Recreate the style of the show and take Chelsea home with the planting plans and guides on the .
Carol Klein shows how you can get expert help with your horticultural questions. Watch the video.
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