HI-MACS® chosen for innovative garden at Chelsea Flower Show
Award winning designer Jo Thompson has selected HI-MACS® as a preferred material for key elements of The Unexpected Gardner exhibit at the world’s most famous horticultural event.
The horticultural therapy charity Thrive has been selected to create a small urban garden designed by award-winning designer Jo Thompson using Thrive principles. It shows how age or disability need not mean the end to gardening or a compromise to good design.
Thrive was set up to help this group of people to improve their quality of life through horticultural therapy as well as offering practical solutions to help people all over the country rebuild their lives after an accident or illness.
This will be the first time that visitors to The Chelsea Flower Show will be able to see HI-MACS® in use, the console table, the special fountain and as detail in unobtrusive support structures and as insets around the raised beds.
Jo Thompson explains her thinking behind the garden: “I was inspired to create this garden after seeing so many people with a wide range of disabilities working at Thrive. I began to wonder what compromises I would need to make as a more mature gardener and realised the importance of an outdoor space which is manageable whilst remaining stylish and contemporary.”
Jo Thompson first discovered HI-MACS® when she saw the renowned “Anne Table” designed by Gareth Neal. She contacted him and he extolled the virtues of the material. “I was absolutely thrilled with HI-MACS®, its properties and versatility. I decided to include it in both practical and decorative aspects of the garden’s design” says Jo.
HI-MACS® offers Jo Thompson a number of its distinctive properties: It is a natural stone acrylic material which is non-porous and non permeable that can be easily shaped and formed. Joins are totally seamless so that the resulting surfaces are completely sheer and therefore totally water resistant and hygienic. HI-MACS® is easily maintained and cleaned so it can be used as a surface for drinks and snacks during a break from gardening for example and then quickly cleaned off to its original condition. Perfect for the outside environment including seasonal temperature fluctuations and weather conditions, HI-MACS® is also light fast and won’t fade or blotch under UV rays.
It will give the display beautiful focal points while, at the same time, performing a highly practical function.
