04 / DESIGN
DESIGN LEGACY Gary Foran, Chairman of the Garden & Landscape Designers Association, records the historical evolution of Irish design and the pivotal role played by the association in raising it to international standards
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rior to the formation of the Garden & Landscape Designers Association (GLDA) in the mid-1990s, garden design had gone largely unrecognised as an independent profession by the Irish public. This general lack of awareness was due in part to the limited number of professional designers operating at the time. Other factors undermining the evolution of Irish garden design included Irish perception and cultural association with land, nonexistence of any professional bodies to oversee and set standards and the complete lack of any formal training routes for those wishing to pursue a design career. For those wishing to train in design, the only option was to go abroad. The few professionals operating at that time came to design via fine art, architecture and horticulture. Compounding the poor professional environment were the unhelpful economic conditions. In the late 70s and 80s the government, and thus the population, was essentially broke. A succession of poor decisions and neglect of indigenous industries produced an environment of higher taxation and a dramatic rise in unemployment. The result? The evaporation of discretionary spending and a stunting of Irish design evolution. Sound familiar? Against this unfavorable background, a group of pioneering design professionals decided that action was needed to foster a climate in which Irish garden and landscape design could thrive. It was 1995. The GLDA was born.
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The first meeting of the GLDA took place in Dublin, at the home of founder member Angela Jupe. Angela had an earnest desire to establish a society in Ireland on a par with the well-established Society of Garden Designers in the UK. An architect by profession, Angela subsequently trained under UK garden designer, John Brookes. It was Angela’s passion and perseverance which brought together the founding members in the summer of ‘95. Helping to plants the seeds for Ireland’s first garden and landscape designers association were: Gabrielle Sanio, Susan Maxwell, Louise Burns, Gerry Daly, Peter Stam, Angela Binchy, Andrew GlennCraigie, Sally Kelly, John Ketch, Maeve Kearns, Elizabeth
ABOVE: A GROUP PHOTOS OF SOME THE GLDA’S EARLIEST FULL MEMBERS. BACK ROW FROM LEFT, GABRIELLE SANIO, SUSAN MAXWELL, LOUISE BURNS, NEVILLE MOONEY, GERRY DALY, KORALEY NORTHEN(ADMINISTRATOR), PETER STAM, ANGELA BINCHY, ANDREW GLENN-CRAIGIE, LISA MURPHY AND SALLY KELLY
HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / February 2014
