Out of Africa: Meet the designer who puts the style into 'gardens of dreams'

My grandmother, Mary, played a large part in my upbringing. She had a real ‘go get’ attitude to life and was a renowned hunter of early human fossils. As a paleoanthropologist she discovered the first Proconsul skull, an extinct ape which is believed to be ancestral to humans.

Mary spent much of her time drawing and painting to illustrate palaeontology books. She had been quite a wild child, expelled from school for burning down her chemistry lab and, I believe, she was the first woman to hang-glide. I appear to have inherited her eye for detail and practical attitude to life. She was the reason I got into art and design.

When it comes to good design I have a simple rule – that a product should fulfil what it is designed to do and look good. Everything should be there for a purpose. I am not so keen on over-styling or dressing things up for the sake of it. The product should be able to hold its own.

My first job after graduating from the Royal College of Art was helping to design seaside benches for Dunkirk, in France. I returned to the UK to work for designer Sir Terence Conran, who was always very much involved in the process of a new product. I gained lots of experience right through to production, working with British and Indian factories.

My Master’s degree show had been all about outdoor folding furniture and lighting, including a folding table and benches. For that I won the New Designer of the Year Award in 1993. For me, that folding table was the ultimate in design as I am naturally into metamorphic furniture, paring it down to its full function.

(Image: Julia Leakey with a cheetah in Kenya)

(Image: Andy Sturgeon's gold medal-winning Mind Garden at RHS Chelsea 2022 with plants supplied by Crocus)

I moved on to design products for Habitat and Sainsbury’s before landing the job at Crocus in 2008. The company is led by founder Peter Clay and CEO Mark Fane, with an aim to give gardeners the means to create ‘the garden of their dreams’. I was brought in to develop a unique range of products to complement the extensive plant offering.

As product designer with a responsibility for range development, I design the Crocus Collection and take products through the entire process from design to market so they reflect the flavour of our brand.

There has to be practical need before a design, and I try to come up with solutions that resolve practical problems rather than being just ornamental. It could be revising old favourites, items that add more to existing ranges or products that are completely new. I am honest to what is required, even down to an individual plant’s requirements (such as our agapanthus and erigeron pots) and I don’t skimp on product in the production process.

One of my favourite designs is a three-in-one folding wire cloche which can be used in a tall or long version or in two halves against a wall. When I designed the cloche six years ago it was new to the market but since then it has been much copied but not to the same quality.

I particularly like our grow houses which are on legs and four-part obelisks that can be used indoors and outdoors. It can be hard to find well-designed bird feeders, so I put a lot of time into creating useful, attractive accessories because I am not keen on scraggy old bird feeders on a pole! It is much nicer to have something that looks good and lasts.

Garden products often fall into two categories – basic, plastic and fuddy duddy or those that are inspired by good functional design, things that makes sense.

For anyone new to gardening I always advise them to keep it simple and not have too much going on; for instance, choose a couple of big pots to create an impact rather than lots of little ones. Big pots are also easier to maintain.

People are wanting more from their gardens now that the UK weather seems to have got warmer, but we are way behind places like Australia and Africa when it comes to utilising outdoor space.

In my nearly 15 years at Crocus I have seen a real shift in younger people taking to gardening and I think they are inspired by a more contemporary look.

(Image: Julia's multi-purpose obelisk is makes an outdoor plant support set or four indoor plant holders)

(Image: Julia Leakey at the London Business Design Centre)

 Crocus has been supplying the plants for RHS Chelsea Main Avenue gardens for more than two decades including M&G, the Daily Telegraph and Laurent Perrier gardens, achieving numerous gold medals and the coveted Best in Show. This year we will be supplying plants to designer Cleve West’s Centrepoint Garden for the youth homelessness charity, funded by Project Giving Back.

The garden explores the notion of ‘home’ and at its centre is a derelict Victorian townhouse. Naturalistic planting of saplings and wildflowers will grow with ornamentals and plants from the imagined original garden as well as ‘self-seeded’ elder, hawthorn and birch.

RHS Chelsea gardens inspire us with new planting combinations and styles. This means we can constantly update our range with new varieties and combine them with our new products.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from May 22-27 visit rhs.org.uk

Visit crocus.co.uk

Insuring your garden

A garden is a sanctuary, yet it is safe to guess that not everyone considers the need for insurance.

Most insurers automatically provide a small amount of cover for plants, trees and shrubs within a home insurance policy, but check the levels of cover provided by your policy versus the overall cost and replacement of your plants.

Specialist items such as statues, sculptures and other garden antiques should be treated as fine art and not simply included under the general contents figure.

In this article we focus on what in your garden should be insured: Reviewing Your Home Insurance cover – Your garden. 

(Image: Thoth by Simon Gudgeon)