First Steps To a Succesful Garden Design Career

by Andrew Wilson
London College of garden Design

One of the first things that many potential garden design students will ask themselves is what’s the potential for a career in garden design? Its an important question to ask because, like with any new career, you need to be absolutely sure that you’re heading in the right direction. But whilst you may get the support of your family and friends when you start a garden design course by the time you’ve graduated they might be so used to your new direction that you’re faced with a lot of choices on your own. So what are these garden design career choices?

First and foremost the majority of students aim to be setting up there own businesses if not straightaway then within a year or two of graduating. For many this can be a daunting task but a good design course will already be setting you up with both the tools and the contacts to hit the ground running. If you’re setting up your business as soon as you graduate then look around to see if there are any people who might help mentor you. The Society of Garden Designers runs a mentoring service for student members so this might help but you might find that you have a person within your social network with great business skills. They may not be involved in gardens but it’s the objective business expertise you’re looking for and someone outside of the industry might give you a new angle to market yourself.

A real bonus is to get a work placement with an established designer. Sometimes this might be possible thorugh your garden design course but remember that most design companies are small businesses and taking on a work placement designer is a big deal for them. You need to offer something that compliments their busy day to day schedule. Offering a one day a week helping hand is more trouble than its worth. A two week stint helping them out in a busy period will be much more useful as they can put you on to one project and whether is drawing up a design or setting out plants on site you’ll get a nugget of first hand practical information that will reveal some great ways to do business.

What you can offer an established designer is of primary importance when applying for a job. And despite being a profession of small businesses there are jobs to be had. Larger design firms often have a regular turnover of your newly qualified staff and landscape companies are increasingly looking to add a design function to their services.

Top of the list for skills these days is an ability to produce great 3D models with SketchUp and back this up with a good knowledge of Vectorworks Landmark. So you should start thinking about embracing and using those skills as soon as you get them on your design course. If you are still to decide on a course check that the studio tutorials will include CAD specialists both as lecturers and in your studio time so that you develop skills quickly. Depending where you are and your role you could be paid anything from £9 to £25 an hour so you need to think if the experience on lower pay is worth it. With a great designer with real skills to pass on then it just might be. But don’t ever work for nothing, you’ll have no enthusiasm on a dark winter morning to go to work and that’s not going to get you a great reference.

The most important skill you can have is perserverence. Like any new career these days you need to be prepared to put the time and hard work in to make it work. Launch your career with good, targetted networking. Get on LinkedIn, use your own social networks and business contacts. Help out a designer at a show when they need that extra help (and you might just do this for free), make yourself useful. The most succesful young designers use every opportunity whether its entering every competition that comes their way or going to evening landscape events where they may meet a new contractor or a supplier that just happens to know someone that needs a garden designing. Always get paid for a job, you’re a professional now, but be prepared to balance that with great contacts, good development and with an eye to the future.

Andrew Wilson is Director of Garden Studies at the London College of Garden Design

Article submitted Saturday, January 28, 2012 & read 17 times.

Andrew Wilson is a founding Director of The London School of Garden Design and an award winning garden designer, lecturer and writer. He specialises in creating contemporary gardens in London and the South East of the UK, but has also taught garden design and landscape architecture in a variety of universities and private colleges. Andrew also lectures internationally and is a former Vice Principal of the Inchbald School of Design, London and is also currently an external examiner for Plumpton College, University of Brighton, Foundation Degree, Garden Design.

He writes a regular column for Gardens Illustrated and contributes to the RHS journal The Garden alongside a series of books, the most recent of which are Influential Gardeners, The Book of Garden Plans and the Book of Plans for Small Gardens all with Mitchell Beazley. He is also the founding editor of The Garden Design Journal.

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