UNDER THE GOLDEN ELM

Award-winning New Zealand designer Bayley LuuTomes isn’t afraid to take risks. “A show is a playground for designers to push boundaries,” he says.

For his showpiece at MIFGS, he chose a 300m² site featuring a magnificent golden elm, around which he built a cocoon or hive structure. Surrounding this, he installed a pretty woodland garden of liriope, foxgloves, autumn ferns and silver lady ferns, using more than 10,000 plants grown by Yarra View Nursery, a social enterprise for workers with intellectual disabilities. The cocoon, made from natural and stained sections of sleepers, was built with peepholes to frame views of the garden from within, including funnelled views of the canopy above.

There are ideas to steal here for those with a difficult area under a shady tree. “You could build a simpler structure – maybe a curve or a low wall,” says Bayley.