At the heart of Carey Garden Design Studio are Joe and Laura Carey , whose singular backgrounds meet to make stunning garden designs .
After turning to professional garden design in 2020 , Joe and Laura won the All About Plants category alongside a Gold Medal at their first - ever RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2023 , give themselves amongst the UK ’s elect designers .
Join us as we talk through their collaboration methods , the challenges they front , and what separates their studio apartment from others like it .
Can You Both Share A Bit About Your Journey Into The World Of Garden Design?
“ I have always loved growing thing , especially from seed or press clipping , ” Laura reflect .
“ This is how I came to sympathize horticulture – through doing . When we bought our first house , we had a very foresighted garden that was full of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . Over the short clock time we live there , we transform the infinite largely through planting , as we did n’t have circumstances of money for hard landscaping at the time .
“ It was through this that I fell in love with the process of curating and contrive an out-of-door space . As an Art & Design graduate , I knew I had an eye for interior space .
“ It was only through owning an out-of-door quad that I could learn to utilize the same principles of color , social structure and texture to a garden . ”
“ I had teach design for over a 10 , often in carnal knowledge to products or visual graphics , ” Joe adds .
“ Similarly to Laura , it was when we had a garden of our own that I discover this whole unexampled playground for ideas . Any excess moment we had in the day was spend in our garden .
“ I am fairly sure-footed in carpentry , so I begin manufacture pergolas , elevate beds , benches and decked walkway . Soon I hazard into the universe of cast concrete and eventually got lost in a humankind of outdoor ovens and sculptural walling .
“ Combined with Laura ’s specific middle for planting , we created something special in our garden , so began to search the alternative of designing for others . ”
What Inspired You To Start The Carey Garden Design Studio?
“ Through a process of making our own plan , doing a couple of gardens and many weekends expend design for booster and family , Joe and I realised that our accomplishment were forthwith linked to one another , ” Laura explains .
“ Although we have always worked well together on various project , it seemed that with a garden , everything worked at its impregnable and we were uniquely suitable to this manufacture .
“ It made of lot of sense to set up the business together , even though at the metre we were both in full - time utilisation elsewhere . It was an escapade and we have never look back . ”
“ We both felt like we had ‘ abridge our teeth ’ in the excogitation industry , albeit in completely different area , ” go forward Joe .
“ We need the freedom to state our creativity in a way that mean we would n’t idle .
“ Gardens are always change , and every project brings a raw client and young environment . Trends , fashion and creation are constant in garden innovation and we thrive on this cognitive process . ”
Joe, You Have A Background In Teaching Design. How Has Your Teaching Experience Influenced Your Approach To Garden Design?
“ I essentially spend many years problem solving , ” he shares .
“ didactics is all about voyage problems , perceptions and obstacle in lodge to bestow structure and function to a concept .
“ If you also add into the mixture the social aspect of education ( budgeting , managing and impossible deadline ) then it perhaps evidence a more obvious link between pedagogy and garden figure .
“ I in particular delight the quislingism when corroborate students with design labor . It observe me on my toe , having to always have more than one root up my sleeve . ”
Laura, You Grew Up In Coastal Wales Surrounded By Lush Greenery & Native Wildflowers. How Has That Environment Influenced Your Work?
“ I am never really settled unless I can see something of nature , ” Laura elaborates .
“ In my piece of work as a Garden Designer , I have the double-dyed exclusive right of curating and showcasing some of creation ’s finest elements and am always in reverence of the breathless variation in colouration , texture and complexity in even the tiniest of details .
“ It ’s not a garden until the plant go far . ”
“ We do work well together and each task is different , although we tend to have our areas of expertise ( me on plants and gardening , Joe on materials and construction ) , ” says Laura .
“ Our physical process is fairly elementary : one of us starts to define the spaces or elements of the plan and then walk out . The other one will come and refine it ( or change it completely ) and then we continue the secret plan of ‘ conception tennis ’ until we are both finalize on a concept .
“ We each make a typeface for our decisions , always referring back to what the client has asked us to attain . ”
“ Through an iterative process of constant refining , we set down on something that has [ an ] equal balance of input from the two of us , ” Joe total .
“ Although this might be hard to believe , we have spend over a decade together , so we [ each ] know how the other thinks .
“ This make it much easy to contrive in tandem bicycle ; when we reach a stumbling block that neither of us can see preceding , then we down dick and go for a walk on the beach and come in back to it .
“ We seldom lose momentum , as one of us is usually able to beak up where the other has leave off – the garden is always the full for it . Two head are better than one . ”
What Are Some Other Challenges You’ve Faced In Your Work And How Have You Overcome Them?
“ We are battling with climate change which might sound like a cant , but really as Garden Designers , we are seeing the impact of strange unseasonal weather taking its toll on plant and wildlife , ” explains Joe .
“ We are operate on how to grapple this ourselves , but it ’s interesting to see how design is switch and there is a lot we can be doing in the industry to be better . ”
Can You Share A Project That You’re Particularly Proud Of?
“ It would have to be RHS Chelsea and our Gold Medal - win ‘ Best In Show ’ garden for Talitha Arts , ” Laura shares .
“ This was just a delight to work out on , and it took us over two years from start to ending . It was a Brobdingnagian personal investiture and we also had babe phone number two in the process , so I am especially proud of our achievements both professionally and personally . ”
“ Yes , Chelsea was amazing and we were bodge by by the response to our show garden , ” continues Joe .
“ We knew it was particular to us , but to have such a great chemical reaction from the press and general public was wonderful . ”
What Sets Carey Garden Design Studio Apart From Other Garden Design Companies?
“ We are completely unique in our approaching as a invention duo , ” Laura aver .
“ We influence on projects we handle about and believe in . Often you will find a Designer with a exclusive focussing on one element of a garden , whereas I really consider that the two of us each bring a degree of item that would be tough to ascertain elsewhere . ”
“ It ’s not just the combination of two head , it ’s the specific collaboration of our individual breeding and experience that enable us to transform a outer space in a mode that others ca n’t , ” explains Joe .
“ I ’ve articulate it before , but I also believe that Laura is on another layer of genius when it comes to her agreement of people of colour and planting design . ”
What’s Coming Up For You Both And The Studio?
“ I have a busy planting season ahead of me , ” Laura share .
“ We lean to hold off over the summertime months . as this is n’t the best time for getting new gardens plant . The autumn is a great time for this and I ’ve gottens of thousands of electric light to get into the groundtoo . ”
“ We also have a range of talks and seminars delineate up – once a instructor always a teacher ! ” jokes Joe .
“ It ’s exciting to be able to speak on various subject and projects . ”
