THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Estudio Caruncho is the garden design studio of one of our favourite garden designers, the Spaniard Fernando Caruncho.
Minimalist rather than maximalist, he has made some of the most iconic gardens of the last 20 years. Recently his own garden has taken something of a transformation too, as a plague wiped out the vast plantings of evergreen boxwoods and escallonia.
Reduced as the evergreen components were, it allowed him to replace it with masses of the annual white cosmos – you can read and see photos here of Caruncho’s Temporal Cosmic Garden.
But it is his work space we concentrate on today, via this wonderful article in Architectural Digest – Estudio Caruncho.
This is what the exterior of the office looks like…
In typical Caruncho fashion, it uses deep greens set against strong forms. The buildings, of which there are 3, are cubes with little ornamentation to them and few windows.
Meanwhile, the interior is all concrete, skylights, high ceilings and Spanish pine…
Fernando Caruncho did something beautiful with the entrance to the Estudio. He made it small, so that when you enter you must stoop.
“The mere act of lowering one’s head, marks the beginning of a new story and a refreshed vision.”
We love to read what this man says, as it is always interesting and thoughtful, whilst provoking our own thoughts in turn…. this fable he recounted to the interviewer is a fine example of what we mean…
“There was a man who wanted to build himself a home. He started with the garden, and then he built a loggia where he could gaze upon the garden. Only later did he build a bedroom…
Trachelospermum cover the walls.
… the art of living, this story suggests, is not about comfort. It is about keeping our relationship with nature at the center of our experience.”
Cultivating a relationship with nature, even if you do it in such a controlled and considered way as Caruncho has at his Estudio, sounds a fine way to go about designing your garden.
Read more about Fernando Caruncho and his planting palette.
Or see some notes on his Temporal Cosmic Garden.
EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum
Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …
Modern Topiarist @ Garden Masterclass Poland
My video on Modern Topiary for Garden Masterclass has been translated into Polish, for the keen gardeners (and happy pruners!) of Garedn Masterclass in Poland. Tickets for the first showing and q and a were available here. But it will become available on the Garden Masterclass Poland website at some point in the near future – so if you are a keen clipper and want to know more, but speak Polish and not English, then I suggest you visit the website and get watching. (Of course, if you don’t speak English, you may not be able to read this…. hmmm… …
Topiary Hotline
The European Boxwood & Topiary Society are to run a Topiary Hotline for keen gardeners and people who love to clip. Date is tomorrow, April 16th 2024, and you can get a ticket for the Zoom meeting here – Topiary Hotline. Run by Chris Poole and myself, we set this up as an antidote to the huge amount of questions we have to answer about topiary throughout the summer. The plus is that their is an excitement around topiary and pruning. The problem is we need to help people in a better way… … so we will be giving people …