David Harber at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2011
One of only four Trade Stand trophies awarded at this year's famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London, England went to David Harber's spectacular Chelsea stand, designed by Christine Popplewell of Echinops Garden Design.
Christine is second from the right in the photo alongside, next to David and Sophie Harber receiving the award. The RHS President, Elizabeth Banks, is presenting the award.
Taking centre stage on the stand was the Living Water Wall, a design several years in the making which was unveiled at Chelsea.
Living Water Wall: A collaboration between David Harber and VertiGarden, the Living Water Wall comprises a series of undulating polished steel strips interspersed with careful vertical planting of flowering annuals, including Bacopa Abunda Blue and Bacopa Scopia Gulliver Blue Sensation.
As water runs over the moulded surface, appearing and disappearing behind the living green face, the sculpture bends and shapes its surroundings, reflecting and distorting sky and planting in equal measure.
David says: “The juxtaposition of the crisp clean vertical lines and the soft green planting create a contemporary yet timeless tableau, ideal for a smaller space such as a city garden. The shimmering water is both mesmerising and calming as it speeds up and slows down over the surfaces, giving the appearance that the plants are floating on water.”
“I'm intrigued by reflection and distortion and this is a work I've been playing with for some time - it is wonderful to finally get it off the drawing board.”
Not everything on the Chelsea stand was new. The ever popular Dark Planet sculpture proved as irrisistibly tactile to the BBC's Gardener's World journalist Rachel de Thame as it seems to be for everyone. She is shown right practically embracing the sphere.
But there was a bumper crop of new items: two striking new sculpture designs: The Mantle and The Torus and two new water features: The Echo and The Mimeo, as well as David Harber's new Fire Table.
The pieces reflect David's evolving interest in creating monumental outdoor works inspired by the natural world.
The Mantle:
A perfect sphere made up of hundreds of organic bronze shapes creating a latticework of blue green verdigris.
The underside of each shape is gilded with 23-carat gold leaf, designed to catch the sunlight and creating a warm ethereal golden glow within the sphere.
By night a candle can turn the piece into an enchanting Moroccan-style lantern, emitting shattered shafts of golden light.
The Mantle was one of only 16 nominees for RHS Chelsea Product of the Year Award.
The Torus:
An elegant and sculptural piece of brilliant polished stainless steel, inspired by the JET Project.
Subtle convex curves and knife-edge seams combined with the focal central portal hole give this piece a mystical appeal. Striking, contemporary and powerful, the work stands in contrast to the natural environment, yet connects with the surroundings through distorted reflections.
The Fire Table: The Fire Pit Table design at Chelsea takes the form of a hemisphere of black puddle stones with a honed black granite top and a mirror-polished stainless steel which fills with flame.
Echo:
A classical shallow bronze bowl oxidised to a natural blue-green verdigris patina and with a striking waterline of 23-carat gold which is reflected on the water's surface. The water is sent from the centre of the dish in mesmerising pulse-like ripples, which fan out as they travel to the edge.
The name of the piece was inspired by the story of Echo, the water nymph of Greek legend.
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