16 March 2010

burle marx, jarman, gardens everywhere

above: this one's for you, mandi! amazing vertical wall garden. gardens can happen anywhere..









with the weather changing, garden ideas are spinning around in my head nonstop.
just thought i'd share some images of my favorite inspirations for gardens and design new and old.
derek jarman is a longtime inspiration of mine- his stark, arid garden designed in the midst of a nuclear facility near the coast of kent, used found objects in the simplest way. his garden epitomizes my idea of landscape beauty. minimal, low maintenance, and full of bold, dramatic, interesting foliage.
i find his deliberate concepts and use of old metal, stones, and junked wood re-occurring often in my garden and jewelry designs.
for as long as i've been designing gardens, roberto burle marx has had just as much of an influence on me, but in a more abundant and colorful way.
his tropical gardens in brazil are huge, bold, and bright, full of greens, blues, and colorblocked abstract shapes that don't bother with the perfection of geometry, but come alive with the passion and aggression of organic curves and rough,wild,spilling life. i wish i could have the land/yard space to catch up with that side of myself and design HUGE. for now, i have to keep it contained, and that's okay, i think i am on the way to designing a new jewelry collection that uses some of those ideas..

1,2-gardens designed inside shipping containers at this years' philadelphia flower show
3,4-the filmmaker/landscape designer derek jarman at his home-prospect cottage, in dungeness, kent, UK
5-painter/landscape designer roberto burle marx, painting his garden at home in rio de janeiro
6- burle marx at home in 1993
7-portrait of burle marx's estate in rio
8-detail of a burle marx tapestry on view
9-painting of one of burle marx's landscape designs at MOMA
10-burle marx tribute show at the new york botanical gardens on his 100th birthday

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my god, love this post. Totally what I needed as I've been obsessing about finding a way to try and have a garden while living in our apartment without great sunlight and a neighborhood that has a forever long community garden waitlist. Good inspiration. I've been thinking about trying to build/find something like this http://www.digginfood.com/2010/03/salad-tables/ and sneak it up onto the roof of our apartment building.

xo
amanda

sword+fern said...

awesome!you should just grow little herbs on the window sill..not everything needs bright light. or, get a good lamp..
i forgot to put one more picture up:doing it now..

Lord Bison said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lord Bison said...

[eyes closed, fingers on forehead] I can see my non-existent carpentry skills receiving an unexpected test in the near future...

sword+fern said...

deeb, better get a hammer and a nail forthwith


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