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Skincare garden to feature at Chelsea Flower Show

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

While botanicals have long been utilised in our skincare regimes, it's more surprising to see skin imperfections cropping up in gardens themselves, but that's exactly what garden designer Robert Barker has planned at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018.

The 'Skin Deep' Garden is designed by Barker - a previous RHS Gold Medal winner - alongside main sponsor Harley Street Skin Care, but there won't actually be pots of lotions and potions among the flowers. Instead, the designer, who is known for his strong messages through sculpture, has used nearly 200 concrete blocks to represent an array of skin conditions. The aim is to make visitors contemplate their own skin insecurities.

"We've used various techniques with the concrete blocks to represent different skin concerns", explains Barker. "For example, we've covered some in acid and added stain marks; some will have deep pores within them, others will have wrinkles."

As befits a traditional garden, there are a wealth of plants interwoven into the design, but they too exhibit subtle 'flaws', while being beautiful in their own right. "We have been incredibly particular with the plants, choosing ones that replicate poor skin. We used Boehmeria platanifolia, which is a type of stinging nettle, because it has a large, incredibly wrinkled leaves and Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White', for their spotty appearance. I also got trees all the way from Germany, because of their peeling bark", Barker continues.

"For the visitors invited into the garden, there's a path that zigzags through it so that you come in very close contact with the sculpture and can actually feel the blocks. You walk over water features which are very reflective too, so you will be reminded not only of the key ingredient within skin, but also your own reflection."

That theme of self-reflection is at the heart of the garden's design and the space is set up to aid what Barker describes as a "personal journey", because the path is deliberately narrow. The route also leads to a contemplation area, which is relatively private, before you exit the garden.

"I was reading an interview with the singer Tom Waits, who said that when you are having bad luck you need to change your shoes, because they show the roads you have walked down", explains Barker. "Then, I realised that your skin is exactly the same. It tells a specific story and at times you have to challenge your perceptions."

"I've had relationships with people who have had even tiny scars and that little scar carries such a weight with it. When I spoke to Lesley at Harley Street Skin Care, I realised how many people have issues with their skin, and I really wanted to explore that idea through the garden, as the blocks also represent a certain strength that people can have when they come together."

"We see so many different people at Harley Street with skin problems, ranging from anti-ageing and pigmentation to acne and rosacea", confirms Lesley Reynolds Khan, the owner of Harley Street Skin Care, "so, with the garden, we wanted to do something about how skin imperfections look and how they affect people.

"The thing I'd like people to take away from the garden is the effect that something on the surface of the skin can have on a person. We treat a lot of soldiers, with the Back On Track charity, who have come back from conflict with horrific injuries. Looking at a scar can bring back memories of a traumatic experience everyday. So, by alleviating that scar, by helping it fade, you can change an individuals personality."

While challenging society's skin insecurities might feel like a lot for one garden to do, the Chelsea Flower Show has already transformed the mind of one past attendee - Barker himself. It was a visit to the show in 2010 that encouraged his love for gardens, transforming him from a struggling singer-songwriter to a successful garden designer, so perhaps if any garden can make a difference the 'Skin Deep' garden can.

'Skin Deep' Garden by Robert Barker, in association with Harley Street Skin Care, Vaughan Designs, Chiltern GRC and London Stone. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is on from 22nd to 26th May 2018. You can buy your tickets here.

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