News

Inchbald Graduate Exhibition 2009

The annual Inchbald Graduate Exhibition this year, its 49th, was held at Cadogan Hall and was marked by the high standard of work and the inclusion of the first graduates from Inchbald Online, who were awarded the Diploma in Interior Design and Decoration.

The profession greeted the work with fulsome praise, commenting on the comprehensiveness, originality and variety of the work in both interior and garden design. The difficult task of judging was as usual the responsibility of the Directors of the School, joined this year by Philippa Thorp, Diana Yakeley and Staffan Tollgard for the Interior Faculty and Dan Pearson for the Garden Faculty. It was wonderful to see so many ‘design faces’ at the opening party and to hear so many compliments about the work, especially valuable and up beat in a year that has been a challenge for almost every branch of the design profession. The students’ energy and commitment to design was palpable, picked up by members of the press and profession as boding well for the health of the industry in the future.

Inchbald Graduates Steal the Show

Chelsea Flower Show is the highlight of the UK’s Summer Season, attended by leading garden designers and keen amateurs from the world over. Each year a selection of Inchbald graduates make a big impression at Chelsea, displaying the talent and technique that has been honed by the quality of Inchbald’s educational standards, a quality that ensures their professional success. This year Inchbald graduates Luciano Giubbilei, Angus Thompson, Zita Else and Senior Tutor Thomas Hoblyn all built gardens at Chelsea.

Luciano’s debut at Chelsea Flower Show in 2009 was a design commissioned by Laurent Perrier. Inspired by the elegant sophistication of this famous champagne house, Luciano aimed to bring together art and nature in a design that embodied the essence of his client’s stylish reputation. His garden explored the manner in which linear design can create order within a natural setting, offering an effect of spiritual calm and intellectual clarity.

The design formed part of an extended living space and explored the relationship between architecture and its environment. Framed within tiered evergreen hedges and trees, a monolithic stone wall displayed an ethereal work of art by artist Nigel Hall. The hedges suggested an architectural feature, exemplifying the relationship between buildings and gardens.

Thomas Hoblyn returned to Chelsea for the second time, following his Gold in the Urban Garden category in 2008. Inspired by a trip to the marshlands of North Carolina to search for the Venus Flytrap, Tom’s garden for Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust highlighted the uncertainty of climate, both environmental and economic. The garden featured some of the largest trees seen this year at Chelsea, together with a sculptural centerpiece, ‘Waves of Change’, dominated by a nude female figure, ‘The Guardian of the Environment’.

Andrew Duff, Director at the Inchbald School of Design, picked out the key trends from the show. He highlighted the economic planting plans and suggested that we will see a reappraisal of British native species. ‘They are not only cheaper to grow; they do not require special planting conditions, nor do they attract the costs of import from Europe. Silver birch, hazel and box will be taking centre stage, coming once again into their own.’

He saw colour taking its lead from a resurgence of the florescence of the 1980s: ‘Big, bright and bold flowers such as dahlia and tulip will be shouting from a darker background of architectural foliage. Gone were the minimal species meadow planting of last year and here to stay are plants which provide us with ongoing seasonal interest together with a sense of optimism in these grey times. People will be expecting plants to work for their money.’

Inchbald Student Selected to Redesign Guards Museum

Inchbald School of Garden Design student, Joanna Fairclough, was selected to redesign the flowerbeds around the Guards Museum in a bid to attract more visitors to its historic offering. An inter-student competition was held by Inchbald to determine which student would have the honour of working with the Guards Museum curator, Andrew Wallis.

Joanna’s design drew upon inspiration from personal photos she had taken seeing the Changing of the Guard outside the Museum the previous summer. Joanna determined the key colours of the British flag – red, white and blue – as the theme for the plants for her designs which she organised in geometrical blocks, mimicking the rows of the regimental band and the structure of the columns and gates of the building.

Joanna created designs for seven different beds around the Museum. These included clipped green hedges – hornbeam, lucida and reed canary grass with neat clusters of vibrantly coloured plants such as Lobelia ‘Queen Victoria’ and Crocosmia for the reds; geraniums and Libertia grandiflora for the white sections and Salvia indigo and Veronica ‘Sunny Border’ for the blue parts. On her designs being chosen Joanna commented, ‘I was delighted that my plans were chosen for this prestigious site and I hope that the planting helps to encourage even more visitors through the gates as the collections in the Museum are truly fascinating.’

All the Inchbald Diploma in Garden Design students took part in the planting of the beds.

University Validation

In July 2009 Inchbald achieved a second validation of its Postgraduate Diploma and MA level study programmes.
The University of Wales was happy to confirm another 5 year term in which Inchbald can teach and co-award these qualifications in both Architectural Interior Design and in Garden Design.

‘The teaching team must be commended this year for a quantum leap in project construct, approach and conceptual development’
- Dr Paul Bailey, Birmingham City University, External Examiner.

In October 2009 Inchbald will present a programme to bring the Online Diplomas in Interior Design and Decoration, and in Garden Design to the same academic levels, and these should be in place for the 2010 entry.

Alan Hughes, Director of MA studies at Inchbald, and Andrew Duff, Director of Garden Design, are delighted at the prospect of adding Online students to the Post Graduate schemes.

‘It is a logical step to validate these comprehensive courses in the same way the in-house diplomas are at present. The two interior diploma schemes are very closely related in terms of information and process, this validation will give on line students the opportunity to achieve at post graduate level and subsequently go on to MA’
- Alan Hughes, Director of Architectural Interior Design.

‘Being responsible for the curriculum for both in-house and Onlne has been a valuable exercise, allowing me to ensure the quality and connection between these two diplomas. Validation of the Online Garden Diploma will mean Inchbald reaching a new and wider audience for its excellent courses’
- Andrew Duff, Director of Garden Design.

Inchbald School of Garden Design Online Scholarship Programme

The competition is now closed.  Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry.

The successful entry, who will be awarded the Inchbald School of Garden Design Online Scholarship, will be announced shortly.

Vocational Diploma in Garden Design

The Inchbald School of Design, the first dedicated Garden Design School in the world, is pleased to introduce a new two day diploma called, ‘Vocational Diploma in Garden Design’, which will begin in September 2010.

‘Vocational Diploma in Garden Design’ is a two-day a week course carried out over an academic year, aimed at students who wish to investigate garden design to a professional standard. It is structured to suit both those intending to pursue a professional career in garden design, as well as those who wish to develop their expertise as passionate garden design enthusiasts. This new course is ideal for those with other commitments and is aimed at entry-level prospective students, as the course starts from basics.

The course has been created by Andrew Duff, Director of Inchbald School of Garden Design. Andrew comments, ‘Inchbald has been at the forefront of design education for the last 50 years and we are delighted to introduce this new two day Diploma. Part-time courses are often viewed with less esteem but we are confident that the Inchbald two day Diploma will really push students to develop their design skills.’

The intense and thorough course is taught through a series of lectures, visits, workshops and projects, allowing the students to quickly develop a thorough grounding of garden design and enable them to carry out their own independent projects. The course is led by well renowned tutors, all of whom are in private practise and specialists within in their own field of work. Students will be guided through the complexities of garden design and equipped with the necessary principles to enable them to plan and realise their own schemes with skill and confidence. Tuition is supplemented by monthly guest lecturers including Luciano Gubbilei, John Brooks, Anthony Paul and Marcus Green.

‘Vocational Diploma in Garden Design (2 Days)’
£10,223 (Including VAT)
Start Date: The Inchbald Vocational Diploma in Garden Design (2 Days) will run on two days a week from 6 September 2010 until 15 July 2011.

Full course information can be found in Garden Courses