RHS Young Designer finalists announced

Three finalists of the RHS/SGD Young Designer of the Year competition are announced.

The three finalists in the RHS National Young Designer of the Year competition have been announced at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Tristen Knight, Andrew Percival, and Katharine now receive £12,000 from the RHS towards building their garden at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park (July 18-22).

The competition, run in association with the Society of Garden Designers, is open to students, as well as new and established designers, aged 28 and under.

This year’s brief was ‘colour’. Here the designers describe the exciting journey the competition has taken them on: 

Andrew Percival

Andrew (25), is based in Northwich, near Tatton Park. He is a qualified chartered landscape architect and has been working for a practice in North Wales for the last two years. This is the second permanent position he has held since finishing university and has found working with established companies really helpful from a mentoring and experience viewpoint.

Andrew’s garden design focuses on the colour differences of a garden in daylight and at night under the amber glow of sodium lighting, and is looking forward to the Tatton experience opening up new career doors.

Katharine Wills

Katharine (25) finished her design course last summer and has been working part-time with an established design company in London, while setting up her own business. “The experience and support you get from working with someone else has been invaluable,” says Katherine.

Her garden, entitled a ‘A Prisoner’s Garden’ explores the idea that colour can affect mood. Although there is no scientific study to reinforce the concept, it is generally accepted that certain colours are more calming than others, so there’s lots of green, and light indigo blues and then uplifting spots of yellow. “Exposure at Tatton will help me launch my business, through meeting people and networking,” she says.

Tristen Knight

Tristen (28) has worked for Aralia Garden Design for the last four years and is helping them this year with their 'Rooftop Workplace' show garden. He studied industrial design at Loughborough University before completing a garden design diploma at Writtle.

“I tried to put a twist on the brief, so my design was inspired by brownfield sites, like Battersea Power Station.” Tristen is using decaying and reclaimed materials to achieve this. “Being a finalist in the competition has given me confidence to know what I can achieve as well as credibility; getting this far is really exciting so any further will be a massive bonus.”