The garden
The forest is a defining hallmark of fairytales, a wild place that is magical yet frightening. It is home to supernatural creatures, the likes of witches and ogres, depicting a world that escapes the laws of the ordinary world. Steeped in symbolism, the forest is a place of discovery, where the characters come across strangers and must take up perilous challenges - emerging stronger and wiser. It is also somewhere we can easily lose our way. In Charles Perrault’s version of Little Red Riding Hood, she meets a tragic end, gobbled up by the wolf with no one coming to rescue her. The forest of fairytales reveals who we really are, laying bare our emotions and forcing us to look deep inside ourselves.
Just like in a maze, dark, winding tracks form a confusing tangle of pathways, some leading to clearings, and others to dead-ends. Each intersection represents a discovery, a dilemma where the choice is between light or darkness. Marks on the ground indicate the way forward, just like the breadcrumbs in Hop-o’-My-Thumb. Inspired by the strange Faux de Verzy, dwarf beeches that grow in this forest in the Champagne region, trees and shrubs display knotted branches. They evoke fairytale creatures that seem to whisper their secrets to passers-by. The vegetation inhabits the site. Strawberry plants and rosebushes are wondrous and tempting, while lupins and torch lilies exhibit distinctive conical-shaped flowers, not unlike elves’ hats, and the pansies - with their petals shaped like little dwarf faces - seem to watch us furtively.
DESIGNER
