The journey of our RHS Chelsea Flower show bench from start to finish.
Posted on May 15, 2019
We are really looking forward to the RHS Chelsea Flower show 2019 open from 21st of May to the 25th of May. Our bench will be featured in The Family Monsters Garden by designer Alistair Bayford from idverde- Europe's leading provider of grounds maintenance services and landscape construction projects who build and maintain many award-winning landscapes for large scale clients.
If you are heading to the Chelsea Flower show then make sure you head over to see our wooden bench in the Family Monsters Garden.
The Family Monsters Garden represents the pressures faced by every family including financial problems to health and wellbeing issues, and from lack of time together to problems with communication and resolving disputes.
The garden has been designed in the form of a spiral path surrounded by different kinds of trees including a pine tree that isn’t afraid to show it's not perfect. These trees represent the different generations of a family and how family monsters can affect anyone regardless of age. At the centre of the garden is a family space, where all come together to reflect, get their pressures out in the open and gather strength to face them together. The centre space consists of a pool of clear water that offers reflection and perspective and our bench where family members can sit and come together and reflect on their journey.
We thought it was about time we showed the bench's journey from start to finish which from solid wood transforms into a wonderfully curved and engraved seat.
One solid piece of oak
The wooden bench started life as one extremely large piece of oak which was then cut down into smaller sections. Here you can see Luke holding up the piece before cutting into sections.
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Glueing and clamping, the seat takes shape
These sections were then cut at angles so that when put together they formed a crude curve. They were then glued and clamped.
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Smoothing and engraving
The sections were then cut and sanded to take off the hard edges which formed very smooth curves and then joined together to form the seat. The bench was then engraved with the slogan "Let's face our family monsters together".
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This was a wonderful project to get stuck into as we think the end product is a thing of beauty. Drawing from Alistair's original design, we hope it surpasses all expectations.
The Steel Structure by idverde UK
Just to give you more of an insight here is a video from idverde that shows them constructing the skeleton structure of the garden which has been made of beautiful weathered steel. It is bold and strong and the steel supports the journey families take past boulders representing family monsters to a central space.
An insight into the The Family Monsters project
Here are some videos made by The Family Monsters Project that give an insight into the garden and some of the motifs used in the project.
Every family has its monsters, this film discusses the central idea behind the project which encourages us to talk about and face our monsters together.
More information: https://www.familymonstersproject.com
The trees in the Family Monsters Garden represent the different generations of a family and how family monsters can affect anyone regardless of age. Top Garden Designer and Landscape Architect Alistair Bayford from idverde UK is filmed at Hillier in Hampshire sourcing the right tress to tell the story.
The pebbles in the Family Monsters Garden represent the pressures, or monsters, that families face in life. Different shapes and different sizes. Sometimes rough and sometimes smooth.
Like the boulders in the Family Monsters Garden, the pebbles represent the pressures, or family monsters people face. The ESCAPE community allotment and orchard were involved with the garden from the start and have written the family monster that affects them most on some of the pebbles ready for the show.
Hope to see you at RHS Chelsea Flower Show
We're really proud of our bench and we hope the whole garden is well received by visitors to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. We think the garden will look amazing when it is finished.
