Earth Designs Garden Design School: Garden Design Short Courses
Earth Designs was built from scratch with no funding and with no formal landscaping training to hand. I just had a vision and a passion. Having an art degree and having exhibited at several international exhibitions upon graduating before starting a career as an event producer, I have worked across a variety of industries and it is this experience that I bring to the Earth Designs Garden school. Now in its 8th year, we have designed over 200 gardens and built over 75 of those designs. I have been a tutor now at the Institute of Garden design for over 5 years and have some 80 students on my books from various walks of life and stages in their career.
As a designer who entered the industry via an unorthodox path, I know how difficult it can be when you decide to undertake a career in garden design whilst juggling your family and existing job. Often the commitment and cost of a full- or part-time course can make studying preclusive, so I devised a series of short courses to help bolster aspects of your emerging career. Garden designing can be a lonely profession, so making connections and seeking advice from a practising garden designer is something I found invaluable when I set up my business. I have been running a series of tailor made short garden design courses to assist people wishing to work in the industry, both from a business and design point of view.
I aim to keep the classes small so that you have intensive tuition with plenty of opportunity to ask questions. Previous students will testify that the amount of information you get is comprehensive and invaluable.
We have undertaken a host of courses from one day courses to week long sessions. Below is a list of each course that I run – just click on the name of the course that might appeal to you for further information. All our courses are run at our base in London. We have good transport links (Zone 3 on the Victoria Line) and are near to Tottenham Hale station (Stanstead Express service). Parking is available at our office. Walthamstow is just inside the North Circular (A406), at the bottom of the M11.
Details of local accommodation can be provided on request.
THE COURSES
‘So you want to be a Garden Designer?’:
£95 for 1 day (4 students maximum.)
This course is aimed at people who are considering Garden Design as a profession. It looks at the typical demands of ‘a day in the life of a garden designer…’ Ideally suited to someone who has just embarked on, or is considering, a career in the industry, this one-day crash course aims to give you a good grounding in the realities of the job. Please contact us if you would like information on the next session.
‘3D Google Sketchup and 2D Layout drawing course’:
£250 for 2 days (2 students maximum. There is also the option to purchase a Designer’s Drawing Kit for an additional £250).
This course is aimed at new garden designers and students of garden design who wish to master the essential skill of 3D drawing using Google Sketchup and its 2D counterpart Layout for assembling your 2D plans, elevations and perspective drawings. Now widely used across the industry of garden design and architecture, and rated for its usability, Sketchup is a highly effect tool capable of producing polished visual presentations of every aspect of your project from dimension drawings through to 3D visualisations of your garden designs which can be printed or viewed as a slide show. For more information on this day please click here. Please contact us if you would like information on the next session.
‘So you want to be creative’:
£300 for 2 days, plus half day study at home (2 students maximum.)
This course is aimed at students who are possibly already practising garden designers or students that want to nurture their creativity further. Having done an art degree, I am well placed to find technique and strategy for finding creativity in your imagination. This course has an introduction which is completed online and then the two days spent in London visiting some of the great institutions and learning how to gather in a scrapbook of ideas as well as placing design styles in their context. Please contact us if you would like information on the next session.
‘Putting yourself out there’:
£250 for 2 days (2 students maximum.)
This session is about how to market yourself to the public. From harnessing the power of Google page rankings to how to build a web-site, what advertising works and how to put together a marketing plan, this 2 day session is great for business start-ups as well as practising garden designers who wish to reach a wider audience. We explore brand identity and communication and look at how to create a graphic identity. The aim of this session is to review what you currently have in place for promoting your business and see how we can enhance that across a variety of disciplines. For more information on this day please contact us. Please contact us if you would like information on the next session.
