inspiration
For many people in the watershaping trades, client relationships begin with selling and never really advance beyond that stage. For me, however, it's not about selling per se; instead, it's about creating a sense of collaboration and building a foundation of mutual trust and understanding. In fact, the work I do in establishing these creative relationships with my clients may well be the most important "detail" of all. In a sense, watershaping isn't a job to me. It's my passion, which explains why I'm so obsessed with
For anyone designing decorative water, Fountains: Splash and Spectacle is a wonderful and useful resource. This wonderfully illustrated anthology of essays on classic fountains (edited by Marilyn Symmes and published in 1998 by Rizzoli International Publishing, New York) deftly encompasses the range of fountain designs from antiquity to modern day. From the modest Alhambra in Spain to Chicago's dramatic Buckingham Memorial, Symmes and the book's contributors weave together scores of detailed examples illustrated with beautiful photos and, in many cases, supported by sets of plans, drawings and diagrams used in creating some of the world's most beautiful and historic watershapes. Rather than approach fountains in a purely chronological or geographic context, the book is organized into eight chapters covering
Throughout recorded history, great societies have built monuments to celebrate their victories, commemorate their tragedies and express their guiding ideals. Through creation of these great works of art or
Whether you choose to replicate old stone structures or borrow ideas and transplant them into contemporary designs, there is certainly a treasure trove of design concepts to be found in the masterworks of those who've gone before us. Indeed, stone has been the raw material of choice for many of the world's greatest architects, landscapers and watershapers, each of whom has relied on stone and its timelessness in fashioning works of beauty. In the first two articles in this series, we toured
If you've been looking for a well-written, beautifully illustrated book that cracks the code when it comes to the design principles of Japanese gardening and introduces the full range of styles found in this ancient art form, you can't go wrong with Japanese Garden Design. Written by designer Marc P. Keane (and published by Charles E. Tuttle in 1996 but still in print), the book offers a detailed examination of this most influential of styles. For watershapers, landscape designers and
It's the little things that often make the biggest difference in creating beautiful spaces within gardens or near watershapes. A well-articulated retaining wall here, a clever treatment of a stone footpath there or the perfect placement of a stone stairway can, at various points, lend variety, balance and even a sense of antiquity to the work. In the first installment of this series of articles on classic uses of stone in gardens and watershapes, we began with an overview of stones set among plantings and used as simple structures in some of the world's most beautiful
There's a new wrinkle in this issue of WaterShapes. Just inside the back cover, you'll find "Book Notes," a brand-new column by landscape architect and watershape
Since the beginning, we at WaterShapes have made no bones about the philosophical connection between our magazine and
This past January, I had the pleasure of traveling to Tucson, Ariz., to attend the annual conference of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. The focus of this year's conference was the use of water in landscape design, and the program appropriately featured an interesting mix of experts on swimming pools, fountains and water gardening. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect when I signed on. I'd only been to one landscape event before, and much of that trade and the people in it have been mostly unfamiliar to me. As it turned out, however, this conference was
It's amazing what can happen when you begin to look at the world through open eyes and with an open heart. More often than not, things that were once taken for granted or that
