sarah's space LOG

1999

In the beginning . . .

I have been involved in the production of show gardens since 1990 and although I have missed a year here and there I have essentially been a regular exhibitor.

My theory is - you either love it or hate it!  The hours are long and the stresses high, but the rewards are huge.  Not only the acclaim when you do well but the delight in seeing works of passion come to life.

I have never experienced a burning desire to build a show garden that arises from some abstract concept which I feel I must share.  I have always been fortunate enough to be approached by a sponsor with an invitation to design and exhibit to a mutually agreed brief.

I see myself as a marketing tool, seizing the challenge to sell the sponsors’ concepts and ideas to the general public via exhibition, rather than seeing sponsors as financial backers to my creative genius!  This approach (and some success) has allowed me to work with large and successful corporations worldwide (L’Oreal, Mattel, Mercedes Benz, Euro Star and the Daily Mail to name some).

It never ceases to amaze me what a leap of faith these companies adopt, trusting a garden designer that they have never heard of!  It has indeed led to some very amusing situations which I shall no doubt share with you through these chronicles.

So this was a first.  A concept for a garden bursting to come out and be made live - but no sponsor.

The concept for the garden was the result of a life long fascination with the universe - a mix of philosophy, astronomy and an interest in the unknown.  The millennium seemed the ideal time, looking forward to a new era, the advance of science, our concern over man’s interaction with nature and life processes.

Little did I realise how difficult it would be to secure a sponsor this way.