The Laurent-Perrier Garden
designed by Luciano Giubbilei
This garden played with the notion of how nature and human design coexist in a garden.
At the front of the garden floriferous and romantic borders ran along either side of a long pool. Planted with pink, maroon, and brown flowers, the borders are softened by the hazy flower heads of Deschampsia cespitosa.
At the rear of the garden is a more reflective, quiet area with a pavilion by Kengo Kuma and sculpture by Peter Randall-Page. Both artists use natural elements in their work; Kuma uses finely worked bamboo which moves in the wind and casts shadows around the garden. Randall-Page works with the natural form of large stones, imposing a human order on their surfaces to create tactile pieces which also work with the play of light throughout the day.
Tying the garden together were large bare-stemmed Parrotia perscica. An example of how the human hand can tame natural beauty, these 40-year-old Parrotia were raised in a nursery and over time the crowns had been lifted, leaving the naturally elegant twisted stems exposed.
A love of art and nature inspired this garden, although there was a wildness to it which Luciano hadn't employed before, working in a 'bio-diverse' way with the sculptures and plants, avoiding too much intervention by allowing the artists and plants almost free-reign.
