Who?

Who designs at Bespoke Gardens?

Andrew Marson (M.A.): a graduate of the Pickard School of Garden Design.

Living in central London I relish the challenge of designing for small city gardens where every inch counts. Designing for tight city spaces presents an intellectual puzzle, as there are often competing requirements for the space. On bigger canvases, out of town, the challenge is knowing how to limit the choices, and to make the space cohere - a process I find just as enjoyable.

I believe that I bring into my work the influences on my life from my Arts background and some of the images, experiences and sensibilities of ten years living in various parts of continental Europe. Since Britain has such a fantastic gardening heritage with possibly the world's most favourable climate for gardeners there is no more rewarding country to be based in.

To some extent, we are a magpie culture, taking the best in design, style and gastronomy and making it our own, and it is certainly true that influences on garden design have down the centuries been reaching our shores from Italy, France, The Netherlands and even the New World to mould and inform our ideas. But we can boast our own home-grown design, with the English Landscape Movement in the 18th century recognised as perhaps the only novel art form to have been born in England. I too am alert to new fashions and styles in garden design, but am guided more by a sense of what will work and provide pleasure over the longer term than by rigid adherence to design fads.

I firmly believe that the most important part of good communication is listening. Without the ability to listen to what people are telling me and the sensitivity to understand what they are saying, no real communication can take place. I do listen to what people tell me regarding their hopes, desires and needs for their garden, and aim to ensure that I have acquired as complete a picture as possible of both the garden and its owners before beginning the design process. With my earlier long-standing interest in and professional experience of languages and communication I trust that clients will find that I am able to grasp their ideas fully, and articulate my own effectively. I would also be more than happy to conduct my business with you in French, German, Danish or Swedish if you would find that a help.