Recently I came across the term ‘Niwashi’, a Japanese title that is related to our western term, gardener, but goes further to describe; “a person who engages in a dialogue with the natural world, a special profession entrusted with expressing through plants, stone and water.” This resonated with me and I’ve immediately adopted it to describe my approach as a garden maker.

A student of garden culture from around the world and across time, I’m fascinated with the different ways people engage with the natural world, and how they express themselves through the garden form as an individual, or, as a cultural manifestation that develops over centuries.

Of all the approaches, it is the Japanese way that speaks closest to my heart and, when you get beneath the surface aesthetic, provides the most practical wisdom when it comes to engaging with space and the natural world - principles that can be translated anywhere; a reverence for nature, engagement with the unseen world, the garden as an expressive art form, and a place for contemplation and communion.