design philosophy
‘For all the talk about the spectrum of watershaping – the existence of those who, on one extreme, pursue high-quality, truly custom projects and those on the other who live in a low-end, cookie-cutter realm – I must say that I’ve yet to run into anyone from the fringes of latter camp who’s stepped forward to
He's a longtime believer in using naturalistic approaches in pond design and installation. But lately, Mike Gannon has also spent some time questioning that foundation -- and wondering out loud if there might be value in looking at his design options in new and divergent ways.
It's rare in our fast-paced world when you get the chance to work closely with clients over an extended period of time – and in this case we took full advantage of the opportunity: All the way through the evolution of the project, the couple gave me voluminous information about what they wanted and enabled me not only to understand and deliver what they were after, but also allowed me in many instances to exceed their expectations. I had worked with him before on
When people ask me what I do for a living, I like to tell them I'm a Texas-style maverick in the world of watershaping. That's a lighthearted way of characterizing what I do, but it speaks the truth when it comes to describing what I think this industry is really all about. Indeed, I see the best watershaping as being defined by a pioneer spirit and an appetite for innovation - a drive and hunger that convincingly overcome the all-too-common fear of trying new ideas, technologies and approaches. In my 37 years in the business, in fact, I've seen the process of shaping water change radically from what I witnessed when I started out in the 1970s. All those years of change and experience have helped me look at the art of watershaping in new ways: As have many other opened-minded artists in this business, I've
It's a plain fact: Few designers weigh maintenance as heavily as other elements of a design when creating gardens for their clients. Most will routinely ask whether the client wants a low-maintenance environment or one that requires a little more work and may yield a greater abundance of flowers or other desirable features, but the consideration typically ends there. And this is so despite the fact that by leaving maintenance out at the design level, landshapers often doom themselves to
Pioneer Pride