2011 edition - Gardens of the future or the art of happy biodiversity

13. La nature des choses

published at 07/11/2017

"La nature des choses", Festival des Jardins 2011 - © C. Diaz

When nature reasserts its rights...

The prototype of a contemporary house stands out against a very well cared for green lawn. This first area, entirely under control, is the reflection of a domesticated and gardened nature, which has now replaced wild and spontaneous nature.

The visitor is attracted in and follows the path leading towards the house, crosses the threshold and then enters a habitat where nature is gradually reasserting its rights. A real movement from artifice to nature, from the static to the dynamic, visitors become aware of the legitimacy of a natural, “biodiversified” habitat.

Inside, the key word is “balance”. Nature coexists with human beings and plants develop in dialogue with the interior furnishings. Rich exchanges develop between these two territories, between our own intimate habitat and that of nature. For example, a pond forms underneath the bathtub, a vegetable garden has reasserted its rights in the kitchen and a wild meadow is developing on the floor. This dialogue between plants and mankind gradually creates a habitat filled with plants: a garden of the future and one full of biodiversity, where mankind and nature live together, without one controlling the other.

designers

Soline PORTMANN, Aurélie ZITA and Mioko TANAKA, set designers

FRANCE

From left to right: Soline Portmann, Mioko Tanaka and Aurélie Zita

Soline Portmann was born in Paris in 1984. She studied set design in Paris (Decorative Arts School) and in Barcelona (lTheatre Institute). She then went off to live for several months in London and New York. She was the set designer for the 0,10 and Incandescence Companies for plays put on in Paris and in Switzerland. She is sensitive to nature and passionate about landscape creation, and she carries out projects which combine set design and landscape architecture. The Chaumont-sur-Loire Garden Festival is the opportunity for her to create a new project with this in mind.

Mioko Tanaka was born in Nagasaki in 1976. From childhood, she was attracted by the magic of the theatre and materials, so it was quite natural for her to move in the direction of the world of set design. She studied interior architecture in the Fine Arts Department at TAMA University in Tokyo. She spent a year travelling in Asia, the United States and Europe. For several years, she worked as an assistant to a head scene painter and assistant set designer on the making of several films in Tokyo. She settled down in Paris, and after getting a diploma in set design (Decorative Arts School), she worked on museography projects (SCENE Agency) and joined various theatre companies. The Chaumont-sur-Loire Garden Festival is another journey, a discovery of Nature, a living material.

Aurélie Zita was born in Paris in 1983. She studied set design in Paris (Decorative Arts School), graphic art in London (Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) and communication (SPolitical Science Faculty) in Paris. After discovering the world of theatre and then of communication, she became a consultant with Publicis. For her, the dialogue between the various fields is an environment which encourages creativity. Nowadays, she is responsible for institutional and events-related communication at the Higher Education Institute for Decorative Arts and she is also involved in calls for projects with associates who have a variety of complementary skills.

designers

THE GARDEN'S PLANTS