Contemporary, cohesive and casual. Why native gardens are gaining ground
An award winning design leans into its coastal position with a palette of native plants and recycled materials
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The native garden is back in style, and it’s winning awards.
Sydney landscape company, Fifth Season Landscapes picked up the Landscape Design Institute’s 2022 award for Landscape Designer of the Year last week for its project in Clareville that marries a palette of native plants with contemporary garden design.
Fifth Season Landscapes co founder and design director Phil Antcliff said the 700sqm block showcased the value of native landscaping to create useable, engaging spaces for clients while appealing to contemporary design tastes.
“The garden is relaxed yet robust, with this style being developed to align with the clients’ interests and lifestyle, while also responding to the unique challenges of the coastal location of the site,” Mr Antcliff said. “It showcases what can be achieved with a largely native palette, with each species being hand-picked to thrive in the harsh conditions.”
The garden was designed in consultation with the architect, who designed and project managed the residence on the site, to create a cohesive connection between house and garden, in keeping with the relaxed ambience the owners were seeking.
“Our design manager, Levi Carter, worked very closely with the clients and architect to make sure connection from house to garden was achieved while including key elements on the clients’ wish list, like a custom concrete built-in barbecue area with charcoal, smoker and gas cooking options,” Mr Antcliff said.
The garden also included an outdoor shower, water sport equipment storage and informal seating alongside outdoor entertaining.
The layered planting and recycled timber fencing and decking blurs the boundary lines. The project also took advantage of neighbouring mature trees to visually extend the sense of space.
“One of the greatest features of this garden is the use of borrowed landscapes, and having Clareville Beach as an option was extremely fortunate,” Mr Antcliff said. “This allowed us to design a space that has a continued connection to the beach and the relaxed feeling that comes with beachfront living.
“The house being set back afforded us the opportunity to create a garden space of layered planting to suit the natural environment while providing interest from the street, privacy to the front yard and softening to the architecture.”
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
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The personal wardrobe of the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who is credited for introducing punk to fashion and further developing the style, is headed to auction in June.
Christie’s will hold the live sale in London on June 25, while some of the pieces will be available in an online auction from June 14-28, according to a news release from the auction house on Monday.
Andreas Kronthaler, Westwood’s husband and the creative director for her eponymous fashion company, selected the clothing, jewellery, and accessories for the sale, and the auction will benefit charitable organisations The Vivienne Foundation, Amnesty International, and Médecins Sans Frontières.
The more than 200 lots span four decades of Westwood’s fashion, dating to Autumn/Winter 1983-84, which was one of Westwood’s earliest collections. Titled “Witches,” the collection was inspired by witchcraft as well as Keith Haring’s “graphic code of magic symbols,” and the earliest piece being offered from it is a two-piece ensemble made of navy blue serge, according to the release.
“Vivienne Westwood’s sense of activism, art and style is embedded in each and every piece that she created,” said Adrian Hume-Sayer, the head of sale and director of Private & Iconic Collections at Christie’s.
A corset gown of taupe silk taffeta from “Dressed to Scale,” Autumn/Winter 1998-99, will also be included in the sale. The collection “referenced the fashions that were documented by the 18th century satirist James Gillray and were intended to attract as well as provoke thought and debate,” according to Christie’s.
Additionally, a dress with a blue and white striped blouse and a printed propaganda modesty panel and apron is a part of the wardrobe collection. The dress was a part of “Propaganda,” Autumn/Winter 2005-06, Westwood’s “most overtly political show” at the time. It referenced both her punk era and Aldous Huxley’s essay “Propaganda in a Democratic Society,” according to Christie’s.
The wardrobe collection will be publicly exhibited at Christie’s London from June 14-24.
“The pre-sale exhibition and auctions at Christie’s will celebrate her extraordinary vision with a selection of looks that mark significant moments not only in her career, but also in her personal life,” Hume-Sayer said. “This will be a unique opportunity for audiences to encounter both the public and the private world of the great Dame Vivienne Westwood and to raise funds for the causes in which she so ardently believed.”
Westwood died in December 2022 in London at the age of 81.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
