2010 edition - Body and soul gardens

03. Ma terre, mater

published at 08/11/2017

"Ma terre, mater", Festival International des Jardins, 2010 - © Éric. Sander

The earth is mother to all of us, she gave birth to us through the alchemy of her elements: reestablishing this initial contact with our “Earth Mother” is the purpose of this garden. We are all born with traces, whether visible or not, of our time spent tightly wrapped up inside our mothers. We keep the imprint of this time in the womb, without even being aware of it. Most of us have lost this memory, both carnal and beneficial, which forms our universal bond.

Reestablishing this carnal contact with the Earth, the Mother of all Mankind, going into an imaginary belly, like the one that held us tight before our birth and letting ourselves soak up its essence (its perfumes, its colours, its textures…), that is what this garden offers you.

The garden welcomes you for a new gestation and invites you to walk slowly, to get caught up in this mysterious whirlwind: the path leads you from the rough to the gentle, from the violent to the peaceful, from the acrid to the sweet, from the hostile to the welcoming, from the austere to the voluptuous, from the sombre to the radiant. After this moment of grace, return to the agitation of the world at peace, with a few seeds, a few leaves, a few grains of sand, visible and palpable proof of your universal filial relationship with the Earth… The doors close behind you, but you take this radiant memory away with you…

designers

Olivier HOSTIOU, landscape engineer, Marie FORET and Laurent WEISS

FRANCE

From left to right: Laurent Weiss, Marie Forêt and Olivier Hostiou

Olivier Hostiou is a landscape architect engineer and designer who graduated from the National Higher Institute for Nature and Landscape in Blois in 2004. From town planning agencies to landscaping agencies, his professional experience has enabled him to explore different approaches to the landscape architect’s job, by carrying out both urban studies and design, both inside and outside France.

Marie Forêt came to landscape out of choice, out of necessity, out of curiosity… Memories of gardens… the giant trees planted by her grandfather, the scent of blackcurrants and cedars in the summer sun… the spring undergrowth and the late summer colours in the Jura… Driven by an urban adolescence when she yearned for nature, the hereditary need to plant, to see plants flowering… This curiosity of hers was satisfied by studying earth sciences, but then thrown off course by the idea of only dealing with pebbles, whereas, when she raised her eyes, she could see landscapes, flowers, trees, lights, colours, scents… There was a return to the concrete with a “BTS” [advanced vocational qualification] in landscape developments in Lyons, then a training course as a design assistant in landscaping at Roville-aux-Chênes. She has been working in her current post in a landscape architecture agency in Nancy for 5 years, after several years’ experience with geographers, foresters and architects. The landscape is her guiding light, and she still has the desire to plant, to contemplate, to breathe…

Laurent Weiss first spent a period of 20 years or so in marketing and business in state-of-the-art technologies, before falling in love at first sight with Wickerwork, which led to a year’s training at the National Wickerwork School (Fayl-Billot, 52), then to setting up a workshop in 2002. The birth of a passion, which was soon rewarded with artistic awards, both French and international, for work in this new material, coated and sanded wicker. Innovation that led to the organisation of events based around contemporary wickerwork with artists from all over the world. Then, another passion, the landscape, willow architecture, designing scenes for the parks and gardens in Metz, the gardens of the Abbey in Pont à Mousson… aesthetic, ephemeral gardens, which adorn the buildings and surround them with greenery.

designers

THE GARDEN'S PLANTS