RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022
Collaboration with Garden Designer Richard Miers and Perennial
Retrospective: The Sculptural Narrative of The Perennial Garden ‘With Love’
The Vision: Geometry, Grace and Spatial Harmony
The collaboration for RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022 was rooted in Richard Miers’ exacting spatial clarity and formal elegance. Richard’s vision was an interplay of structured green architecture, crisp hornbeam topiary, pleached trees and structured water rills, softened by an exuberant, romantic palette.
Commissioned for The Perennial Garden ‘With Love’, which went on to win the RHS People’s Choice Best Show Garden on Main Avenue, ‘Dancers’ was conceived to play a supporting role within the wider composition, honouring the serenity of the classical, symmetrical architecture without disrupting it.
“Collaborating with Richard required capturing an essential duality: the discipline of classical symmetry paired with an expressive, kinetic spirit. The sculpture had to draw the eye and engage, while providing an emotional heart.”
— Jack Eagan
Studio to Main Avenue: Materiality, Motion & Form
Translating the kinetic energy of dance into cast bronze required continuous calibration between structural discipline and organic fluidity.
The work originated through exploratory three dimensional clay studies and spatial maquettes, which were high resolution 3D scanned to capture their gestural nuances and establish a precise digital map. This hybrid approach allowed the scale and proportions to be rigorously resolved before transitioning directly into lost wax casting, followed by extensive studio fabrication, hand chasing and metal finishing.
The sculpture was finished with a subtle, variegated classic French brown patina, lending warmth and depth to the flowing bronze surfaces as they catch shifting natural light.
To anchor the work within the landscape, a bespoke plinth was engineered with an internal stainless steel subframe, clad in phosphor bronze sheet and the sculpture secured via a solid stainless steel threaded core rod. Finished with a contrasting dark copper green patina, providing a tactile grounding counterweight to the motion above.
