ANDREW DAVIES Banksia Design Group
Andrew Davies is a creative person with vast experience in the landscape industry and show garden events. Andrew has extensive knowledge of horticulture, construction and the council documentation process. With a background in graphic design combined with years of experience in building and managing landscape projects, Andrew is able to offer many creative ideas to his clients.
BARBARA LANDSBERG Landsberg Garden Design
Barbara Landsberg is head of Landsberg Garden Design, a Sydney-based garden design practice.
She has lived on four continents and travelled on all but Antarctica. This has fed her fascination for the world, its people, how we live together, how we express ourselves, how we are expressions of our environments, and how we interact with our environments.
Barbara studied Horticulture at the English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London and Garden Design at the London Inchbald School of Garden Design. On returning to Australia in 2006 Barbara worked on garden maintenance teams, learning hands-on the Australian flora and environment while studying the same at Ryde School of Horticulture.
She says, “I work with my clients to understand their needs, interests and wishes. I work to create for them an environment that fulfils these needs, develops their interests, fills their wishes – but this is not enough, the gardens I make for them transform, delight and heal. My job is to bring the needs and wishes of my clients together with the needs of the earth - to heal and restore balance and beauty. Every client is different, every site is different; I aim to sensitively honour and nurture both”.
Barbara’s favourite places are in her gardens, at her drawing board or very high up a mountain.
MICHELE SHENNEN
Michele Shennen has been designing and installing gardens for over 35 years.
Following a degree in Graphic Design, Michele worked as a creative director in the advertising world,
during which time she completed a horticultural degree, her other passion.
‘It is just a different area of design where you are using three dimensional pencils’.
This then lead to her owning and running three respected garden centres.
Michele Shennen’s in Balmain, Willoughby and Avalon (later smaller outposts in North Sydney, Noosa and Terrey Hills).
All the time though, she was designing gardens based on her criteria of Lifestyle, Architecture and Aesthetics.
‘To make a garden look beautiful is relatively easy but to make it function and sustainable for the people who live there, is the real art’. She has hundreds of gardens throughout Sydney but she has also worked on vineyards and other country
properties.
Now out of retail, she concentrates on designing and creating gardens that her clients want to spend time in.
‘I love designing gardens for different generations to enjoy, especially children’.
She has showcased a client’s garden in the past but this year she is showing her own new garden ‘A garden just six years young'.
LUCINDA AND MATTHEW McMANUS McManus Design
A husband and wife from the Inner West in Sydney, we design, build and garden together. Our passion is growing beautiful and bountiful things in simple, welcoming spaces. Bringing our skills as an art director and computer engineer to the home, we design both landscape and lighting as a team. Food, family and friends are a huge part of our lives. Our gardens are where we grow veges and herbs for the kitchen – and where we cook, eat and relax with the people who matter most.
MARY SCANLAN Diamantina Design
Mary Scanlan is the founder of Diamantina Design, a small company that integrates the design of landscapes, interiors & colour. She believes that there should be a natural flow from the interior of a home to the landscape and sees the landscape is an extension of our interior visual space. "The elements and principles of design are the same no matter what you are designing" she says
Originally from a small country town in south east Queensland, then as a teenager moved to the coast. Later, moved to the Northern Territory, and then travelled extensively around the world. She has an natural affinity for warm climate plants and outdoor living.
Mary completed Landscape Design at Ryde TAFE in 2013. "A wonderful experience that draws science and art together" she says. Since then she has designed numerous landscapes with an emphasis on practical spaces that connect to the style of the home and the local environment.
CATHERINE GARD Branch Out Landscape Design
Catherine Gard is an award winning landscape designer and director of Branch Out Landscape Design. Her interest in gardens began at an early age, growing edibles and flowers in her childhood home. Over the years her interest developed and culminated in a career change from Optometry to Landscape Design. She is passionate about creating outdoor spaces that respond to the local environment in both a sustainable and beautiful way. With a deep understanding of families and how they interact, she brings intelligence and a sense of harmony to each project. Thoughtful consultation with clients, along with the vision to see possibilities in each new situation, enable unique designs that reflect the brief and respond to the landscape. Catherine’s ability to create timeless and integrated outdoor spaces is paramount to her success. Most of her work is in residential gardens with a secondary focus on playground design.
TIG CROWLEY
Tig Crowley Designs
Tig Crowley is a designer with ecological experience and knowledge in urban and public space landscapes; as well as coastal areas and the extreme climate of inland Australia.
He works with clients to design individualised and functional spaces that are ecologically, socially and economically enhancing.
Tig’s expertise is a result of being raised in a rural environment, managing his own farm and designing landscapes, gaining structural and horticultural knowledge. This enables him to personalise each design specifically to a client’s brief.
Passionate about designing and managing unique landscapes, Tig works to create interesting spaces which stimulate the senses, enhance ecosystems and provide food and shelter areas for social connections. He works closely with his clients and contractors to ensure the designs impart positive environmental outcomes and deliver a result enhancing property and lifestyle.
MICHAEL BATES
Bates Landscape
Michael Bates started his career at the grass roots as an apprentice at Swanes Nursery and went on to study horticulture. He was mentored by Japanese master landscape architect Masayoshi Uchiyama before founding Bates Landscape in 1992 - now one of Sydney's leading landscape businesses.
He has created over 1,000 gardens in collaboration with the best of Sydney’s architects, designers and builders, bringing his trademark experience, energy and commitment to each and every project.
Michael’s own two gardens reflect his love and mastery of landform construction, his passion for seamlessly blending indoor and outdoor spaces, and his ability to create rich green havens in the heart of a city.
Michael is also the author of The New Australian Garden, an insider's account of the journey to design, construct and plant 18 landmark gardens that represent a new movement in Australian landscape design.
KEN LAMB Imperial Gardens
Ken Lamb is the founder and chief designer of Imperial Gardens Landscape. He has over 30 years of experience specialising in the design, construction and project management of Oriental gardens and water features.
Ken began reading Zen at the age of 18, which led to the exploration of the history and philosophy of the Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian traditions in China and Japan. He holds a bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of New South Wales, majoring in modern landscape painting and abstract steel sculpture. After working as an artist for 10 years, and having successful shows in Sydney and Colombo, Sri Lanka, he embarked on the journey of discovery of Japanese gardens.
Ken became a inaugural director and board member of the International Association of Japanese Gardens in 1998, and hosted the 7th International Symposium of Japanese Gardens in Sydney in September 2012.
RICHARD UNSWORTH Garden Life
Richard Unsworth is a leading garden designer and owner of Sydney’s renowned garden store Garden Life, based in St Peter’s.
Having grown up surrounded by nature in the North of England, Richard Unsworth developed a love of gardening from his parents and from an early age earned pocket money by working in the family garden as well as friends and neighbours.
After he moved to Sydney over twenty years ago he furthered his love of urban horticulture with formal study and started his first business focusing on inner-city garden design, Apartment Garden Living.
In 2001 he opened the first Garden Life store, located in Sydney’s Darlinghurst and continued to hone his natural talent for design and widened his design practice to work in larger spaces both in the city and further afield. In 2008 the move to larger premises in Redfern was made, and in 2015 the current store in St Peters opened
Richard’s love of travel and adventure takes him to places far and wide to find inspiration in discovering new and old wares and Gardenlife is a celebration of natural, unique and contemporary pieces and plants sourced both globally and locally.
LUKE BALDWIN Formed Gardens
Luke is a Landscape Architect and founder of Formed Gardens Pty Ltd.
While studying in Canberra he also worked for a residential design and construction firm which allowed him to gain practical experience and be involved in the implementation of his own designs.
The satisfaction taken from seeing concepts evolve into real garden spaces was a huge motivator for him.
Having always lived on Sydney’s Northern Beaches Luke moved back there after finishing his degree and working in a Sydney firm for approx. one year.
In 2009 he started his own Design and Construction practice which has been happily growing ever since.
Luke and the team at Formed Gardens are focused on using sustainable design principles to create personalised outdoor spaces that sit well within their environments.
The Longueville garden is a great example of this.