Profile of Garden Designers

Peter Cheok (Singapore) was a Best of Show Award and Gold winner at the inaugural Singapore Garden Festival. His entry at the Festival last year was highly acclaimed for its strong environmental message. In 2006, he won the Gold Award in the Retail Nursery category of the Landscape Industry Association (Singapore) (LIAS) Awards of Excellence.

Kelvin Chua (New Zealand) is a multiple-award winner at the Ellerslie International Flower Show in New Zealand, including three Gold Awards. He is currently a lecturer in Graphic Communication at the School of Landscape and Landscape Architecture, Unitec. Auckland, New Zealand. Born in Singapore, Kelvin migrated to New Zealand at the age of five.

John Cullen (United States) is a multiple award winner, including a Gold at the Chicago Flower Show. He also won Best of Show and People’s Choice Award which he won all eight days at the Philadelphia Flower Show. This eight-day win for the People’s Choice Award is a very rare honour and has never happened before in the Philadelphia Show’s 180 years.

David Davidson (South Africa) is a renowned designer. His accolades include a Chelsea Lawrence Gold Medal for the World Garden Exhibition, two Golds at the Chelsea Flower Show and first prize at the Royal Floral Expo. David has also been successfully designing sets for theatre and events for the past 29 years.

Charlie Evans (Australia) is Director at Urbaneco, an award-winning landscape and design firm in Australia. He was won numerous awards including 2 Golds at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

Jim Fogarty (Australia) is a multiple award-winner including two Best of Show Awards, two Design Excellence Awards and four Gold Medals at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. He was also a Gold medal winner and recipient of the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society award at the inaugural Singapore Garden Festival. Jim was the first Australian show garden designer to win a Chelsea award at the acclaimed Chelsea Flower Show.

S K Gutgutia (India) is a recipient of numerous awards. This includes the Best Grower Display Award at the International Flower Expo in New Delhi in 2006 and the Best Display Award at the International Flower Expo 2007.

Ben Hoyle (New Zealand) is Managing Director of Blue Gecko Ltd. Landscape & Design. He has won various awards including a recent Gold at the Ellerslie International Flower Show in New Zealand in 2006. Ben also hosts the gardening segment of Good Morning, a weekday entertainment lifestyle show broadcast on TV One in New Zealand.

Kazuyuki Ishihara (Japan) holds several awards and accolades including two Golds at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2006 and 2007. He believes that living an urban lifestyle can lead one to lose touch with their environment. He sees plants and gardens as a way to help re-connect people to nature.

Landscape Industry Association Singapore (LIAS/Singapore) was incorporated in 2001. It serves to develop and promote professionalism and quality in landscape products and services to fulfil Singapore’s vision of being a City in a Garden. It is a platform for members in the industry to network and be updated to latest activities and programmes relating to landscaping. LIAS will be represented at the Festival by the gold medal winner of the LIAS Awards of Excellence 2007 Competition. The results of this competition will be announced later this year.

Ng Sek San (Malaysia) is a member of the Institute of Landscape Architects of New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. A multiple-award winner, his recent wins include two Creative Design awards at Malaysia’s Laman Festival. Sek San has also worked extensively in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand.

Song Xiao Gu (China) is the Senior Artist at Wuxi Xihui Garden. A multi-award winning designer he overseas garden art creation, landscape planning and design and restoration of cultural relics at the Wuxi Xibui Garden. His accolades include Gold Medals in the 7th and 8th China Chrysanthemum Festival, the 4th and 5th China Rhododendron Exhibition and the China Dalian International Garden and Flower Festival.

SINGAPORE INSTITUTE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS (SILA / Singapore) is the representative body of landscape architects in Singapore. The organisation was formed in 1985 and seeks to advance the art of landscape architecture and civic design in the Singapore environment. It also hopes to promote research and education in landscape architecture as well as to create and maintain a high standard of professional qualification. SILA will be represented at the Festival by its 2007 Gold Medalist of the SILA Design Award Competition. The results of this competition will be announced later this year.

Henry Steed (Singapore) is a landscape architect and has been resident in Singapore for 23 years. His work has taken him across the Asian region and the Middle East. Henry was a Best of Show Award and Gold winner at the inaugural Singapore Garden Festival, and also a Gold award recipient at the SILA Design Award Competition in 2006.

Andy Sturgeon (United Kingdom) is a recipient of numerous awards, including three Golds at the Chelsea Flower Show. Andy Sturgeon has presented television programmes in the UK and is also a gardening writer for the Guardian. He is the author of two best selling books and lectures on garden design.

Diana Williams (Sri Lanka) is a co-founder of Borneo Exotics, the world’s leading nursery for carnivorous Tropical Pitcher Plants. Based in Sri Lanka, she is a frequent participant at international flower shows. The winner of the London Flower Show in 2004, she has also won the Silver Gilt at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2005 and Gold Medals at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2006 and 2007. Diana also won the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Anthony Huxley Trophy for the best display of tender ornamental plants shown to the RHS in all the flower shows in the UK during 2006.

Nico Wissing (Holland) is a Floriade Medal Winner and a member of the Floriade Think Tank for World Garden Exhibition 2012. Nico brings with him almost 25 years of experience in garden design, layout and maintenance. He is a pioneer of the Green City concept, advocating greening as integral to building and urban planning.

Dimitri Xenakis (France) is a site-specific artist, a sculptor and a photographer, with a focus on natural and urban landscapes. His recent competition wins include the 2007 International Gardens Festival at Chaumont, France and the Street Gardens Festival of Lyon, France.

See also  Overview of the Singapore Garden Festival 2008 (SGF)

Sound Clip recorded & Edited by Ai San Yip. Photography by Eugene Tang. All Rights reserved.