Anna Kurihara
Inspired by nature and local landscapes, Anna’s goals are to bring people and wildlife together through garden design.
Biography:
Anna’s passion for garden design started from her love of food and nature walks. After a few years of escaping the city life and moving to Maine in New England, Anna was immersed in growing food at her home garden, foraging on the coast, and utilizing permaculture tools at a local food forest. A summer of landscaping in Southern Maine & a sprinkle of inspiration from designer Piet Oudoulf was all Anna needed to switch her career from the food & beverage industry to garden design. She currently co-owns a landscaping business in Maine and will soon be moving back to the city to bring nature-inspired designs into an urban setting.
I was inspired by the local landscape of the client’s property in Ascot, Buckinghamshire, which is characterized by striking woodlands and heathland.
Grass was used ornamentally and also as a way to transition from a hot and dry prairie planting bed to an ornamental meadow.
A boardwalk connecting the terrace to the woodland welcomes you between the boggy woodland and meadow, and towards your summer house destination deep into the woods.
The house, the regional history of Amersham, and the surrounding Chiltern Hills have
informed a garden design that seeks to unearth and celebrate the geology of
the region. The region’s rich historical past of quarries and flint production as
well as the protective efforts to manage a chalk stream in Chiltern Hills has
influenced the placement of a large water feature in the garden.
The garden is designed to feel open and is organized into rectangular shapes
to connect back to the midcentury modern house applying midcentury modern principles of clean lines, minimalism and emphasizing natural surroundings. By keeping a simple layout of the garden and creating 4 different levels, the entire garden is opened up for
leisure, play, hosting, and productive gardening.
Deriving inspiration from an art source, the purpose of this garden design was to extract the essence of our source material and turn it into a courtyard garden design. My source of inspiration was a contemporary ikebana piece that was simple, elegant, and had dynamic curves.
I translated these elements into a courtyard (shared by two offices in Baltimore, MD) that compromised of multiple levels, curved terraces, a gravel garden, and simple woodland planting.
