Duo Joe and Laura Carey On Their Collaborative (And Award-Winning) Design Process

---

At the heart of Carey Garden Design Studio are Joe and Laura Carey, whose unique backgrounds converge to create stunning garden designs.

After turning to professional garden design in 2020, Joe and Laura won the All About Plants category alongside a Gold Medal at their first-ever RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2023, establishing themselves amongst the UK’s elite designers.

Join us as we talk through their collaboration methods, the challenges they face, and what separates their studio from others like it.

All imagery featured in this interview has been provided with permission from Joe and Laura Carey.

Can You Both Share A Bit About Your Journey Into The World Of Garden Design?

“I have always loved growing things, especially from seed or cuttings,” Laura reflects.

“This is how I came to understand horticulture – through doing. When we bought our first house, we had a very long garden that was full of trees. Over the short time we lived there, we transformed the space largely through planting, as we didn’t have lots of money for hard landscaping at the time.

“It was through this that I fell in love with the process of curating and designing an outdoor space. As an Art & Design graduate, I knew I had an eye for interior spaces.

“It was only through owning an outdoor space that I could learn to apply the same principles of colours, structure and texture to a garden.”

“I had taught design for over a decade, often in relation to products or visual graphics,” Joe adds.

“Similarly to Laura, it was when we had a garden of our own that I discovered this whole new playground for ideas. Any spare moment we had in the day was spent in our garden.

“I am fairly confident in carpentry, so I began constructing pergolas, raised beds, benches and decked walkways. Soon I ventured into the world of cast concrete and eventually got lost in a world of outdoor ovens and sculptural walling.

“Combined with Laura’s specific eye for planting, we created something special in our garden, so began to explore the option of designing for others.”

What Inspired You To Start The Carey Garden Design Studio?

“Through a process of making our own designs, doing a couple of gardens and many weekends spent designing for friends and family, Joe and I realised that our skills were directly linked to one another,” Laura explains.

“Although we have always worked well together on various projects, it seemed that with a garden, everything worked at its strongest and we were uniquely suited to this industry.

“It made of lot of sense to set up the business together, even though at the time we were both in full-time employment elsewhere. It was an adventure and we have never looked back.”

“We both felt like we had ‘cut our teeth’ in the design industry, albeit in completely different areas,” continues Joe.

“We wanted the freedom to express our creativity in a way that meant we wouldn’t stagnate.

“Gardens are always changing, and every project brings a new client and new surroundings. Trends, styles and innovations are constant in garden design and we thrive on this process.”

Joe, You Have A Background In Teaching Design. How Has Your Teaching Experience Influenced Your Approach To Garden Design?

“I essentially spent many years problem solving,” he shares.

“Teaching is all about navigating problems, perceptions and obstacles in order to bring structure and purpose to a concept.

“If you also add into the mix the social aspect of teaching (budgeting, managing and impossible deadlines) then it perhaps shows a more obvious link between education and garden design.

“I particularly enjoyed the collaboration when supporting students with design projects. It kept me on my toes, having to always have more than one solution up my sleeve.”

Laura, You Grew Up In Coastal Wales Surrounded By Lush Greenery & Native Wildflowers. How Has That Environment Influenced Your Work?

“I am never really settled unless I can see something of nature,” Laura elaborates.

“In my work as a Garden Designer, I have the utter privilege of curating and showcasing some of creation’s finest elements and am always in awe of the breathtaking variation in colour, texture and complexity in even the tiniest of details.

“It’s not a garden until the plants arrive.”

How Do You Both Collaborate On Projects? Is There A Specific Process You Follow?

“We work well together and each project is different, although we tend to have our areas of expertise (me on plants and horticulture, Joe on materials and construction),” says Laura.

“Our process is fairly simple: one of us starts to define the spaces or elements of the design and then walks away. The other one will come and refine it (or change it completely) and then we continue the game of ‘design tennis’ until we are both settled on a concept.

“We each make a case for our decisions, always referring back to what the client has asked us to achieve.”

“Through an iterative process of constant refining, we land on something that has [an] equal balance of input from the two of us,” Joe adds.

“Although this might be hard to believe, we have spent over a decade together, so we [each] know how the other thinks.

“This makes it much easier to design in tandem; when we reach a stumbling block that neither of us can see past, then we down tools and go for a walk on the beach and come back to it.

“We rarely lose momentum, as one of us is usually able to pick up where the other has left off – the garden is always the better for it. Two heads are better than one.”

What Are Some Other Challenges You’ve Faced In Your Work And How Have You Overcome Them?

“We are battling with climate change which might sound like a buzzword, but really as Garden Designers, we are seeing the impact of strange unseasonal weather taking its toll on plants and wildlife,” explains Joe.

“We are working on how to manage this ourselves, but it’s interesting to see how design is changing and there is a lot we can be doing in the industry to be better.”

Can You Share A Project That You’re Particularly Proud Of?

“It would have to be RHS Chelsea and our Gold Medal-Winning ‘Best In Show’ garden for Talitha Arts,” Laura shares.

“This was just a delight to work on, and it took us over two years from start to finish. It was a huge personal investment and we also had baby number two in the process, so I am particularly proud of our achievements both professionally and personally.”

“Yes, Chelsea was amazing and we were blown away by the response to our show garden,” continues Joe.

“We knew it was special to us, but to have such a great reaction from the press and general public was wonderful.”

What Sets Carey Garden Design Studio Apart From Other Garden Design Companies?

“We are completely unique in our approach as a design duo,” Laura says.

“We work on projects we care about and believe in. Often you will find a Designer with a single focus on one element of a garden, whereas I really believe that the two of us each bring a level of detail that would be hard to find elsewhere.”

“It’s not just the combination of two minds, it’s the specific collaboration of our individual upbringing and experience that enable us to transform a space in a way that others can’t,” explains Joe.

“I’ve said it before, but I also believe that Laura is on another level of genius when it comes to her understanding of colour and planting design.”

What’s Coming Up For You Both And The Studio?

“I have a busy planting season ahead of me,” Laura shares.

“We tend to hold off over the summer months. as this isn’t the best time for getting new gardens planted. The autumn is a great time for this and I’ve got tens of thousands of bulbs to get into the ground too.”

“We also have a range of talks and seminars lined up – once a teacher always a teacher!” jokes Joe.

“It’s exciting to be able to speak on various topics and projects.”