Spring ! Time to get into the garden, at least if we
have time to get into the garden. As I write this I am
looking at weeds springing out all over the place in
the garden outside our office. When you are a
landscape designer you constantly look at the details
in a garden and habitually pull weeds almost
subconsciously mid conversation when talking to
people. It's a good habit but I am struggling with the
garden here. I am just far too busy these days to
venture into my own garden. Managing the growth of
this website and the landscapedesign.co.nz team is
my biggest garden yet.
Several months ago I was negotiating with a
lawyer on a legal matter for the business. In an
amicable signoff in an email he wrote in a typical
lawyeresque tone “Tis a curious thing, the juvenile
Matai”. This left me a bit perplexed. What was he
getting at? Was it personal? After a few days it came
to me. He was referring to the World Wide Web. The
juvenile Matai is a tangled web of a plant that grows
into a tall giant tree. Its been 10 months growth for
the site and it must be one of the fastest growing
Matai's in the world.
Landscapedesign.co.nz Ellerslie update
Des Robertshaw
Earlier this week I visited artist Des Robertshaw’s
studio to discuss the sculptures we are
commissioning for our exhibition garden at Ellerslie.
Robertshaw is well known internationally as a
successful painter, exhibiting since 1984 in Berlin,
Australia and New York. He is represented by
galleries in England, Australia, Switzerland and the
United States. Two of his works have been
purchased for the collection of the Robert
Mapplethorpe Foundation, New York. Recently he has
been exploring sculptural pieces in bronze steel and
ceramic.
It will be our pleasure to exhibit some commissioned
pieces for the Ellerslie show. Des is working to
complement our overall design with some figurative
pieces. Watch this space for more info on the garden
coming together.
A silent majority
One of the reasons I launched this site was because
I wanted to explore the wonderful products and
resources this country has to offer our outdoor living
spaces, and make peoples ideas and inventions
accessible in a reasonable and open way.
New Zealand is full of clever creative people
doing clever stuff but we just don’t get to see it. We
want that to change, and let this site be a space
where the community can explore and share their
creativity and be inspired by other's work. As the
momentum of traffic and advertisers on the site
blossoms it's really great to discover what people are
up to. The image is of sculptor Tim Holman in
Coramandel harvesting material for his sculptures.
We have been fully live to the public for 10 months.
In this time we have experienced rapid growth in
traffic and features . We were just not sure how the
winter months would affect our growth, and while
there was a continually steady rise over winter, the
spring has really made the traffic leap.
A lot has happened online since we launched,
Trademe sold for a massive 700 million, Telecom were
finally challenged about their monopoly over
broadband and recently the Yellow Pages are feeling
the pinch from increasingly cost-effective
competition. I had to bite my tongue then, maybe
save it for another forum issue.
Dub, dub, dub rolls off our tongues in a
quintessentially kiwi way. So we look forward to
building our online community and embracing new
technology as it will inevitably very quickly evolve.
The new community forum has been live for
three
weeks and has seen some great discussion and
questions answered.
In particular there has been some discussion on
contracts and client / professional relationships. This
is one the most important aspects of any project.
There is often a lot of money involved. Plans are
made and work commences. But there are a lot of
other factors that can arise. Many may be making
the improvements to their landscape by borrowing
money.
The dream garden is in on the horizon but the pinch
of interest rates rising and contingency expenses can
sometimes cause a spiraling budget blowout. So what
is the best way to manage this aspect of a project?
For my two cents, I think the most important aspect
is to keep open channels of communication and make
sure all agreements and changes are in writing. It's
just part of managing the whole project.
What do you think? Please join our community forum
and help us create a supportive online community.
Earlier this week I visited artist Des Robertshaw’s
studio to discuss the sculptures we are
commissioning for our exhibition garden at Ellerslie.
One of the reasons I launched this site was because
I wanted to explore the wonderful products and
resources this country has to offer our outdoor living
spaces, and make peoples ideas and inventions
accessible in a reasonable and open way.
