Made in China

29th January 08

Things have, as ever, been busy as I’ve had to travel all the way over to China to visit a designer who’s working on a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show.

The designer, Shao Fan, is better known as a contemporary artist, specialising in sculpture, but he’s also been commissioned to create the Chinese garden at this year’s show. I’m project managing the garden, so needed to meet with him to talk about the concept behind the design and to finalise what materials and contractors I need to organise in the UK.

I had a pretty hectic start to my trip. There was some sort of confusion over my visa which meant I had to make a last minute dash to the embassy in London with my passport, ignoring all those little jobs I’d planned to get tied up before I left. Once I made it out there, I only had four days with Shao Fan, but it was great to meet him face to face and get a real feel for his design. He’s been building a traditional Chinese pavilion which will be flown over to the UK for the show. I think it’s going to look spectacular once it’s in place.

The plans look really exciting but I’m more than a little daunted about having to make it all come together. The whole garden is going to be sunk two metres into the ground, so the construction work will be a major undertaking. What’s more, no one has ever dug that deep at the show and we’re not sure how high the water table is. Let’s hope we don’t end up in a giant puddle!