Botanist and vertical garden pioneer Patrick Blanc talks about the birth of his growing business and how to create a natural ecosystem
A vertical garden brings nature into a building, and the feature is a definite design trend. We talk to Blanc, who has spent the past 40 years evolving his skills. The green-haired botanist will hold a Hong Kong masterclass on living walls
Botanist Patrick Blanc has many babies. Several are in Hong Kong – and one might just be his favourite child. When Blanc arrives in the city for Knowledge Of Design Week (June 11-15) he will be checking on it. “I always stay at Hotel Icon and look at my vertical garden. I say, ‘This is OK’, or ‘You should cut this a little bit’. It’s my growing baby,” he says.
The living wall at Tsim Sha Tsui’s Hotel Icon extends across the lobby and features a soothing, swirling mass of more than 70 plant species. Blanc will be assessing its progress and extending it outdoors.
Blanc has been crafting vertical gardens for 40 years. “Compared to what I was doing in the 1980s, I travel more and my evolution concerns mostly the choice of plant species. Also, I make more designs, so it’s not simply vertical gardens, but artistic creations.”
Blanc takes on projects in challenging climates. He is currently working alongside regular collaborator, French architect Jean Nouvel on the West Sea Art Bay in Qingdao, China, a contemporary art space whose gardens will have to withstand the region’s freezing winters.