16. LE JARDIN DU DERNIER ACTE

DESIGNERS

Ji Sung An has been keen on art and landscape for as long as she can remember. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture in Korea, her homeland, she came to France to continue her studies as a landscape architect at the Graduate School of Landscape and Garden Architecture in Paris. Never content just to rest on her laurels, she then went on to enrol at Versailles School of Architecture on the "Historical Garden, Heritage and Landscape" programme. In France, she has developed her skills in draughtsmanship, design, research and critical thinking with her favourite topics being the relationship between art and landscape. Over her eight years abroad she has amassed extensive knowledge across various, inter-related disciplines encompassing sculpture, photography and, of course, garden art.

Harking from Brittany, Aude Bougeard has always been green-fingered. This early vocation steered her quite naturally towards landscape studies and, after scooping a two-year higher-education diploma in "Landscape Developments", she moved to Paris to continue her studies. She enrolled in the Graduate School of Landscape and Garden Architecture in Paris in 2009. She decided to complete her final year at Versailles National School of Architecture, and graduated from there with a second year Master's degree in 2015 on "Historic Gardens, Heritage and Landscape". With events management having always appealed to her, Aude became project manager for the "L’Art du Jardin" event at the Grand Palais. She then climbed aboard a range of projects, including ephemeral developments on the Seine Riverbanks.

Hugo Deloncle has always wondered about the way we interact with our environment. After a stint at architecture school where he was able to study landscape as a discipline in its own right, he enrolled in the Graduate School of Landscape and Garden Architecture in Paris. With a view to specialising in the design of projects of all types and on all scales, he followed this up with two years spent studying urban design in Canada. Over time he has become particularly mindful of planning issues that touch on both environmental questions and the development of urban territories alike. Hugo has always enjoyed dreaming up, working on and illustrating the discovery and showcasing of a place, concept, emotion or feeling. Setting up dialogue between people and their surroundings is central to his considerations during his projects which concern not just the development of major territories and urban landscapes but also the design of public spaces and, of course, garden art.

Captivated by art and history, Anna Maes returned home from Australia to embark on a Bachelor's degree in History of Art at the University of Mirail in Toulouse, where she was born. These studies awoke in her an affinity for landscape art and she decided to enrol in the Graduate School of Landscape and Garden Architecture in Paris where she gained a degree in landscape design. Well and truly bitten by the travelling bug, she headed to Canada to study urban design and was awarded her urban designer qualification two years later. Today, she sees landscape as a way to celebrate nature, which is slowly being phased out. Plants take pride of place in Anna’s work, and are a constant wellspring of inspiration for her projects. Through them, she is able to express herself fully through a variety of concepts, from floral art to design and landscape projects at all scales. For her, working the landscape is one of the most effective ways of revealing the natural beauty of our surroundings, whilst never forgetting the importance of protecting it every day. Scenic design involving plants is her favourite assignment; she sees it as a means of expression for conveying an emotion or a feeling where each colour, light, sound or form plays a specific role in understanding the space around us.