Master Class By David Domoney In Moscow

On April 10, within the framework of the House and Garden exhibition, a master class was held by David Domoney, a famous English landscape designer and showman, a successful businessman, founder and president of Domoney Ltd., which organizes presentations of the largest corporations in England and other countries. To date, about 40 companies have become his clients. The master's works are known all over the world. He is a regular participant of the largest exhibitions in Chelsea (RHS Shelsey Flowers Show), Hampton (Hampton With ourt Palace FlowerShow), etc. David Domoney's exhibition stands have won 21 awards in 8 years and have been repeatedly noted by the attention of the Queen of England herself. David Domoney is a charismatic author and host of several television projects on British television, which are watched by up to 8 million viewers. It was precisely with these areas of his activity that David introduced the participants of the Fashion Trends in Landscape Design conference who had gathered at the Expocentre.

David Domoney occupies his own special niche in English landscape design. His main role is to create show gardens in a short period of time. Often these gardens are limited to an area of ​​12-15 sq.m or exhibition stand sizes from 25 sq.m. Even David's own garden is very small. The high pace of work requires special professionalism from the landscape designer.

Over the course of 10 years, David Domoney has carried out several projects on television, demonstrating to viewers the possibilities of a quick transformation of the garden. Among them, the Plant doctor program, in which he made changes and transformed the garden in 1 day, the House of Horrors, in which he clarified and corrected the mistakes of non-professional designers, Better Homes, in which an unkempt garden becomes beautiful in 3 days, and 60 Minute Makeover, in which a garden was created in an hour. David currently hosts the BBC's This Morning, a two-part series, Gardens of the World and Royal Gardens.

In the Best Homes program, over the course of 3 days, an abandoned or even gloomy territory was transformed into a cozy place for family recreation, allowing you to escape from reality, relax, and get a feeling of paradise. These are small projects with a budget of up to 2000 Euro. “We like to represent ourselves as racers looking to win the Grand Prix,” admits David.

The designer collaborates a lot with magazines, but they cannot offer a large budget, so the task is to quickly create a garden for about 200-500 Euros. To do this, it is often enough to do a simple job - tidy up the lawn and paths. Work usually begins with preparing the foundation for the future garden. If it is overgrown land, then David usually uses mulch or gravel backfill, roll lawn. If there is paving or other hard surface, he uses the same techniques as in the design of the balcony, often adding elements of interior decor. He loves and widely uses plants in containers, which are convenient to set on stands with wheels. Such a garden can be transformed at least daily by changing plant combinations. Considers decoration as an important part of the work, in particular, table decoration,which not only brings the finishing touch to the garden design, but also increases the labor cost of a landscape designer.

According to David's experience, very often the customer chooses not the design of the garden, but wants to see some element in it. This was the case with the garden of the famous English striker Michael Owen, who wanted people to see something big and impressive when entering his garden. The solution was found when the designer found a statue of a deer, which fit well into a small flower bed, which was decorated with plants in gray tones framed by yellow-leaved ones.

Here are a number of techniques and materials that the master recommends to quickly create a garden:

Mulch. Has not only decorative value. It protects against insects, retains moisture, insulates the soil in winter. Crushed stone. The brighter the gravel, the brighter the garden will be. Bamboo roll fence. Natural fence covering that brightens the garden. Waste containers can be decorated with greenery or greenery and make them less visible. RTF lawn. Rolled lawn with a special composition of grasses. It absorbs more moisture, has a powerful root system that penetrates the soil to a depth of 1 m. Garden furniture should be beautiful and of high quality. Good furniture encourages people to spend more time in the garden. Sheds, gazebos. They allow you to achieve a quick effect with minimal effort. Many people prefer to go to a barbecue restaurant with friends outdoors. Use of color. Sometimes you need to change the color of the fence first. A beautiful fence gives a sense of personal space, painted in light colors, it brightens the shaded garden. The decoration of tree trunks with the help of film and soil poured on top gives the garden a well-groomed look. A modern watering system is one way to convince a client to spend more money on a garden transformation. Hanging baskets with plants are good for door decoration. Paintings on metal and wood with a waterproof coating for decorating the walls of a house, garage, fence - an alternative to expensive and long-growing vines. There was even a new trend in landscape design - Wall Art. Mirrors (plastic are most acceptable for a garden) visually enlarge the garden. It is better to install it at an angle of 15 degrees so that the plants are better reflected and the reflected light is not blinded. Garden lighting. Solar-powered lanterns, which look like small stones, are very convenient for illuminating plants. More decorative vegetable and fruit plants - strawberries, cherry tomatoes, salads, herbs, citrus fruits - not only serve as a decoration for the garden, but can also be used in cooking.

The exhibition gardens of David Domoney can be considered in part conceptual, despite the fact that they do not have a specific philosophy. They always have a beautiful, bright idea, not only brilliantly embodied in the design, but also carrying a message to the viewer. For example, "Garden for birds", which selected herbs and fruit plants that provide food for birds, as well as yellow flowers that attract insects. At the stand in Chelsea, 150 pigeons were released to attract the attention of visitors and encourage feeding the birds.

The designer finds ideas everywhere, sometimes literally under his feet. By his own admission, most of the projects were created by him on a pack of cigarettes. Once he was struck by the color of gasoline streaks on wet asphalt. Thus was born a garden in lilac tones called "Garden of Mirror Reflections". Before the release of the film "The Da Vinci Code" came the idea of "Da Vinci Garden", where the main focus was a mirror structure in the form of an overturned pyramid, similar to the Louvre pyramid, and plants were found in the works of Leonardo.

The shape of an ice cream cone formed the basis of a garden with a narrow aisle filled with medicinal herbs for relaxation or yoga. An openwork white gazebo gazebo has become an adornment of the romantic pink "Garden of Passion", built in a formal style and consisting of 4 squares. For tasting "Cherry" a secret garden was created, to which two aisles led and in which a glass of drink was waiting for the visitor. The Yin-Yang sign in lavender and sage green has taken center stage in the teahouse garden, where the circular path plays the main role.

The wishing well in the Fairy Garden was surrounded by a whimsical twisted snag specially brought from Ghana. The impressions after the trip to Spain gave birth to the “Desert Garden” with huge cacti and agaves, complemented by David's own motorcycle.

The exhibition at Chelsea in 2009 for the first time in the world will be presented to a grand project "Underwater garden» (the Aqua the Hortus), which is an underwater installation of submerged plants from around the world with piranhas. The idea for this project came to the designer when he saw a shop window with waterproof boots in Barcelona. Another surprise is the “Biker Garden” dedicated to informal motorcycle enthusiasts, the main element of which will be a brilliant ace of spades. The master's plans include a fashion show of outfits in the Hamptons, inspired by plants or created from the plants themselves. And for the BBC's Gardens of the World, David is going to bring in anything that can be used to plant plants, from women's bras and jugs to computers and machines, and plant anything that can grow.

The gardens of David Domoney are ephemeral creations, with the end of the exhibitions they cease to exist. The author leaves them without regret, because he is in constant creative search. “I'm bored with doing long projects,” he admits.

Perhaps the fast path from idea to implementation is one of the secrets of Domoni's success as a businessman.