Diarmuid Gavin's entry for this year's Chelsea Flower Show will be the largest garden in the show's history and a celebration of Irish craftsmanship, writes STEPHEN MANGAN
DIARMUID GAVIN returns to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show next week with a Hollywood-inspired design that he says has been built to promote Irish craftsmanship.
Gavin, who has not exhibited at Chelsea since 2008, has designed the Irish Sky Garden, which takes its cues from the dreamlike forests in the blockbuster film Avatar.
The plot measures 40m by 15m, the largest for any garden constructed in the show’s history, which spans more than a century. Gavin’s garden will be the focal point of the 18 show gardens at the event, which kicks off on Tuesday in the grounds of Chelsea’s Royal Hospital. The garden cost just over €300,000, a fraction of the price of some of Gavin’s projects in previous years. Some of those gardens came with budgets of more than €500,000 even though they were at least a third smaller than this year’s display.
“I’m both nervous and excited about the garden,” Gavin says. “I’ve never worked on a project before with so much pressure attached: there is no margin for error.” His vision for the Irish Sky Garden and his celebrity convinced the organisers to donate a space about four times larger than other designs in a location usually given to a marquee.
The garden’s design combines waves of exotic shrubs, grasses and bamboos, as well as cone trees and a forest of lurching trees that Gavin says add definition to the space.
Similar to Avatar'sfictional world of Pandora, Gavin's creation comes with eye-popping aesthetics, including a steel pod that can be raised to a height of 25m with the aid of a crane, making it the highest part of the show and providing visitors with a bird's-eye view of the grounds.
Back at ground level, 25 circular pools of welded steel are chequered across the surface of the garden: some reflect sunlight with a black-marble effect; others spit arching streams of water into nearby pools.
“I have a vision for this garden and want it to be unique and push the boundaries of traditional gardens seen year after year at Chelsea,” says Gavin. “The garden is a celebration of contemporary design with a distinct Irish flair for creativity. I want people to see that Irish craftsmen are up there with the best in the world.”
Supported by Fáilte Ireland and Cork City Council, Gavin chose a range of Irish manufacturers and suppliers to help with the garden. The giant teardrop-shaped pod was constructed by Nugent’s in Naas, Co Kildare, which re-employed a number of metalworkers recently made redundant.
Most of Gavin’s on-site team of 12 engineers and craftsmen is also Irish.
The core of the project’s labour force has been on site since construction began on May 4th, working 15-hour days and sharing an overcrowded apartment in east London, an hour’s commute from the event in the heart of the city.
“The lads were working on minimum wage and ridiculous hours for the last two weeks, and their commitment to the cause underlines the overriding feeling that we’ve got to do the best that we possibly can for Ireland,” says Gavin.
Fáilte Ireland is providing about €2.3 million for the project. After Chelsea the garden will be transported to Cork for next month’s Midsummer Festival. The pod, along with parts of the garden, will then be relocated alongside the River Lee as part of a planned redevelopment project that includes a new park, says Gavin.
Last summer, while working with the Midsummer Festival, Gavin pitched the design to its organisers, who “absolutely loved the idea”. Fáilte Ireland confirmed funding last October. However, as the funding encompasses the whole project, only a fraction of the budget was set aside for the construction of the garden.
“We’re working on a shoestring budget for a huge garden. If it weren’t for donations and goodwill from Irish companies and the guys on site we may have struggled.”
The garden's design takes snippets of inspiration from the international Dinner in the Sky restaurant venture, which allows people to dine metres above some of the world's most famous landmarks, says Gavin. But the main source of inspiration is the Oscar-winning Dublin animator Richie Baneham, who created the visual effects for Avatarand Tim Burton's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factoryand Edward Scissorhands.
“Avatar pushed the boundaries in terms of visuals never seen before in cinema,” Gavin says. “We’re hoping to do something similar with this project, but most of all we want people to see something new and different.”
Work on the site comes to an end tomorrow, when the last-minute touches and final checks will take place before Queen Elizabeth’s visit on Monday marks the opening of this year’s show.
