Pleasure Garden

OUT OF THE BLUE / INTO THE BLUE – PLEASURE GARDEN No.7

Issue 7 comes out of the blue, as it also dives into the beautiful blue, looking at our connection with water. Pleasure Garden on Sea plots the course of the pleasure garden as it manifests its ultimate incarnation on the coast. Jo Metson Scott documents part of this architectural legacy in her tour of British seaside piers, while Hugo MacDonald contemplates the return to favour of life beside the seaside in 'The Constant Sea’.

We consider the possibility that every man is an island, with a look at poet and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay and his garden at Little Sparta. Alison Morris explores Venice's marriage to the sea in the annual celebrations of the Festa della Sensa, Eddie Wrey visits Djibouti in 'The Lake which is also a Desert’, Rosalind Jana talks to gardener Alys Fowler on the Birmingham canals and Ben Weller and Linda Brownlee cross the water to visit two rocky island gardens.

The issue takes a river trip in India and examines the subjects of dazzle ships, queer sailors and fountains. With photography from Lucie Rox, Richard Demarco, Chloé Le Drezen, Laura Coulson and more…

A JAPANESE DREAM – PLEASURE GARDEN No.6

 A Japanese Dream finds us exploring our subconscious travels and interpretations of the Land of the Rising Sun. 

Our Icon Isamu Noguchi is a man who represents much of the dialogue between Japan and the West through the twentieth century. Within his work we find an inspired merging of cultures - Hiromi Matsugi looks deeper into this in Beyond Borders. We also look into the playful side of Noguchi’s work in The Landscape of Play with words by Vincent Romagny and Moerenuma Park in Hokkaido photographed by Sebastian Sabal-Bruce.

 Oliva Meehan looks at the opening up of Japan in the late nineteenth century in Some Japanese Flowers and Trees for the imagination and Anne Koval also reflects on the Japonisme influencing the artist Whistler’s work in Nocturne.

 Amy Merrick talks to her first Ikebana teacher Watarai Toru about nature, balance and his inspiring relationship with flowers. Also in our largest ‘Flowers’ section Danielle Demetriou uncovers the fascinating story of Katagiri Atsunobu and the Chrysanthemum comes under the spotlight in Observance for Late Autumn. 

We explore Kyoto and its hidden side with Amy Merrick, photographs by Jeff Boudreau and talk tea with Christian Smith. Dan Pearson shares his thoughts on a connection to Japan, its influence and resonance.

 With photography from Lena C. Emery, Josh Olins, Suffo Moncloa and Yoshiyuki Matsumura, this issue takes us to a Japan through many different dreams, of a place that continues to inspire our imagination.

A JAPANESE DREAM – PLEASURE GARDEN No.6

 A Japanese Dream finds us exploring our subconscious travels and interpretations of the Land of the Rising Sun. 

Our Icon Isamu Noguchi is a man who represents much of the dialogue between Japan and the West through the twentieth century. Within his work we find an inspired merging of cultures - Hiromi Matsugi looks deeper into this in Beyond Borders. We also look into the playful side of Noguchi’s work in The Landscape of Play with words by Vincent Romagny and Moerenuma Park in Hokkaido photographed by Sebastian Sabal-Bruce.

 Oliva Meehan looks at the opening up of Japan in the late nineteenth century in Some Japanese Flowers and Trees for the imagination and Anne Koval also reflects on the Japonisme influencing the artist Whistler’s work in Nocturne.

 Amy Merrick talks to her first Ikebana teacher Watarai Toru about nature, balance and his inspiring relationship with flowers. Also in our largest ‘Flowers’ section Danielle Demetriou uncovers the fascinating story of Katagiri Atsunobu and the Chrysanthemum comes under the spotlight in Observance for Late Autumn. 

We explore Kyoto and its hidden side with Amy Merrick, photographs by Jeff Boudreau and talk tea with Christian Smith. Dan Pearson shares his thoughts on a connection to Japan, its influence and resonance.

 With photography from Lena C. Emery, Josh Olins, Suffo Moncloa and Yoshiyuki Matsumura, this issue takes us to a Japan through many different dreams, of a place that continues to inspire our imagination.

This issue sees us go Au Naturel - uncovering a theme that has had shifting boundaries and conflicting definitions.

Our Icon William Robinson was a man who sought to imagine a new, more ‘natural’ style of gardening. Jo Metson Scott photographs his legacy at Gravetye with words by Richard Bisgrove.  Jonny Bruce takes us on a journey to three subversive gardens that liberated his thinking of what a garden could be. We revisit Howards Sooley’s photographs of Derek Jarman and Dungeness and he shares memories of this friend in Mourned by the Wind.

Concepts of beauty are bought under the spotlight with Against Nature by Bethan Cole, photographed by Drew Vickers, and A Vision of Beauty by Sarah Jane Downing. We also take a look at The Bush with artist Ruth van Beek and explore the idea of being naked in At One with Nature. 

The vegetable gardens of chef Alain Passard are documented over a year by Alexandre Guirkinger - with an interview by Paul Henry-Bizon and we explore the combination of Food and Flowers with Simone Gooch, photographed by Joaquin Laguinge.

Naturally we consider gender and sexuality, so often defined by people on behalf of others.  Here Pleasure Garden commissioned artist Linder Sterling to explore film stills from the old porn studio at Flamingo Estate in Los Angeles and we talk to the designer Erdem Moralıoğlu about fashion and self-expression.

This issue is very much a celebration of our natural selves.

This issue sees us go Au Naturel - uncovering a theme that has had shifting boundaries and conflicting definitions.

Our Icon William Robinson was a man who sought to imagine a new, more ‘natural’ style of gardening. Jo Metson Scott photographs his legacy at Gravetye with words by Richard Bisgrove.  Jonny Bruce takes us on a journey to three subversive gardens that liberated his thinking of what a garden could be. We revisit Howards Sooley’s photographs of Derek Jarman and Dungeness and he shares memories of this friend in Mourned by the Wind.

Concepts of beauty are bought under the spotlight with Against Nature by Bethan Cole, photographed by Drew Vickers, and A Vision of Beauty by Sarah Jane Downing. We also take a look at The Bush with artist Ruth van Beek and explore the idea of being naked in At One with Nature. 

The vegetable gardens of chef Alain Passard are documented over a year by Alexandre Guirkinger - with an interview by Paul Henry-Bizon and we explore the combination of Food and Flowers with Simone Gooch, photographed by Joaquin Laguinge.

Naturally we consider gender and sexuality, so often defined by people on behalf of others.  Here Pleasure Garden commissioned artist Linder Sterling to explore film stills from the old porn studio at Flamingo Estate in Los Angeles and we talk to the designer Erdem Moralıoğlu about fashion and self-expression.

This issue is very much a celebration of our natural selves.

The Romance of the Trees sees Pleasure Garden wander into the forest where we uncover the special relationship we have with trees—their deep roots that run through our unconscious. In the Beginning—The Tree of Life opens the issue with Alison Morris considering the cultural metaphors, symbolism and role the tree plays in our worldview. Ernest Henry Wilson our Icon, is a man who hunted far and wide in search of new trees to bring to the West. His road trips around New England in the 1920s, documenting the remarkable elms there, stirred us to undertake our own. Yoshiyuki Matsumara headed to Upstate New York taking in the autumn tones, whilst Linda Brownlee visited the giants of California. The annual Hastings Jack in the Green festival is photographed by Jo Metson Scott and Nina Lyon shares with us the forest personified in the Green Man.

Palm Court by Joss McKinley and Marisa Competello captures the fantasy of these spaces of a bygone era and the enchantment of the palm tree.

We visit Mumbai with Bharat Sikka and consider the concept of the urban forest with Cecil Konijnendijk.

Open the pages, step foot into this magical tree-filled issue and let the romance begin…

Issue Three celebrates the rose—a flower perhaps more fetishised and deeply entwined in the mythology of our culture than any other. From a misogynist symbol to a feminist icon, Catherine Wagley looks at the rose’s long and thorny journey in Fetish of the Rose with photographs by Benjamin Fredrikson. The Empress Joséphine has long been talked of as a rose icon. However, Jennifer Potter unpicks this assumption and others in Myth of the Rose. Maciek Pozoga and Samuel Bradley take a journey across Paris in Pilgrimage of the Rose. Charles Quest-Ritson guides us through the horticultural history of the rose. We talk to four contemporary rose devotees on their relationship to this flower. The rose in perfumery is explored boh culturally and historically by Elisabeth de Feydeau in Scent of a Rose. Anthony Blasko visits Portland’s annual civic extravaganza in The Portland Rose Festival with words by Zach Dundas. Also not to be missed are conversations with Simone Gooch and Madison Cox, plus a visit to the rose-tinted world of Disneyland and Marrakesh—the rose among the palms!

This is Pleasure Garden’s first volume devoted to one theme—but remember, we never promised you a rose garden…

Our path into the Pleasure Garden continues with Issue Two and escapism is provided on many levels. The posters of Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens capture the magic and fantasy of the 174-year-old Danish institution. Marton Perlaki disappears into the wintery parks of Budapest, inspiring Judit Hevesi’s words on a love story that may have been. 

Our icon is Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown—the well-known 18^th-century landscape designer who defined the English style. Kate Felus introduces the man and his achievements, academic Tom Williamson sets Brown’s work in the context of the time, whilst Tom Johnson and Luke Edward Hall share their experiences of a weekend away at Stowe—one of England’s finest 18^th-century landscape gardens. 

Stella Scott talks to artist David Harrison about the magic of the garden and London’s lost wild spaces. The stalwarts of winter are exposed for all their beauty in Winter Flowers by Jo Metson Scott and James McGrath. And we meet the founders of Regimes des Fleurs Alia Raza and Ezra Woods to discuss Los Angeles as a garden and their world of scents. 

Plus photography from Dario Catellani, Mel Bles and Clara Balzary.

LAST COPIES - SHIPPING INCLUDED

In this, our inaugural issue, we introduce the concept and history of our inspiration­­­–the pleasure garden. Alex Tieghi Walker traces Vauxhall’s reputation for pleasure into the modern day. Drew Vickers photographs New York florist Brittany Asch as she talks art and flowers with Catherine Wagley. Our icon for the issue is Valerie Finnis – a gardener and photographer who captured the characters of horticultural post-war Britain. Howard Sooley shares his photographs and fond memories of Finnis from her later years and inspired by our icon we take a trip across Switzerland to visit two alpine gardens at altitude.

Annemarieke van Drimmelen beautifully captures Stella Tennant at Edinburgh Botanical Gardens for a story about the family gardening gene. Jonny Bruce walks us through that great annual institution the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and we visit Vienna to explore its green spaces and catch up with the design siblings Carl and Maria at the legendary Auböck workshop.

Plus images from Kohei Yoshiyuki’s ‘The Park’ and Ansel Krut’s ‘Talking Flowers’.