Interviews with the stars
Tom Stuart Smith, designer of the Laurent-Perrier garden
The cool colours of this beautiful garden are a reflection of its creator. Tom Stuart Smith is Mr cool, calm and sophisticated. For a man who has just completed another superb Chelsea creation he is remarkably relaxed and serene.
“It’s really nice to be in one place for a week, building a garden because that doesn’t happen very often. Plus you have a chance to work very intensively with a great team of people. With a lot of gardens you can always blame the weather or the soil if something goes wrong, but with Chelsea you can’t do that. You are completely accountable for everything.
"The main reason I come is because it’s fun and very satisfying, like a theatre production, creating something from nothing in a very short space of time.
Chelsea 2008 doesn’t strike me as enormously different.
“My work doesn’t specifically reflect environmental issues, but I make gardens that generally use a lot of plant material in an expressive way. It’s all about connecting with nature in a deeper way. How quickly we will have to change the plants we use I’m not sure. It’s silly to grow plants that need constant input of water and other resources and I think designers have a responsibility to lead the way on that.”
“I hope my garden design will evolve, I’m sure we are going to become ever more involved in ecological and sustainable things. I think that we probably have a credit squeeze ahead, which may temper down the wild excesses of some garden design. Things that require endless input of water, chemicals and fertilisers will have to be scrutinised more carefully. Even mowing the lawn, I know how much petrol I use and I never have grass in a Chelsea garden.
Interview by Jean Vernon