"Flourish in the City"
RHS Chelsea Flower Show - Flourish in the city
Material Application: Oyster[Crete]® sand-casted tiles,
Designed by: Carey Garden Design Studio
Built by: The Outdoor Room
Sponsored by: Addleshaw Goddard
The garden celebrates the hidden gemstones of London - its gardens and pocket-sized oases that quietly stitch the city together, offering sanctuary, freedom and community amid the urban rush. Inspired by London’s status as the first National Park City, the garden blends natural forms and materials to reflect the city’s heritage.
The garden invites visitors to reconnect with nature in the heart of the city and features a strong ratio of green and blue environmental elements, set amongst quintessential materials such as Portland stone and copper. Water features are a nod to London’s hidden rivers. The garden also references the emerging #humanise movement, led by London-based designer Thomas Heatherwick, encapsulating joy, generosity, and imaginative design.
Photographed by Mariia Savoskula
Our process is material-led and often begins with understanding the qualities and potential of a waste resource. Oyster shells, for example, are naturally rich in calcium carbonate, allowing us to develop a circular material with high biogenic mineral content that can function as an alternative to stone or concrete. Each application is developed specifically in response to the project, with variations in surface texture and shape designed to suit the spatial context. Each piece is carefully cast, finished and sealed by hand, combining craft processes with material innovation.
For RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026, we are producing hand-cast Oyster[Crete]® tiles to be used in the boundary wall for the Addleshaw Goddard: Flourish in the City garden. We worked in close partnership with the landscape designers at Carey Garden Design Studio to develop a custom texture that highlights the source material of locally discarded oyster shells.
The work is informed by the wider garden design and its reference to natural erosion processes, layered geology and the coastal environments where oyster shells originate. We were interested in translating the logic of sedimentation, how materials accumulate, compress and weather over time, into a tactile architectural surface. Using an earth-cast process, we’ve created a raw, organic texture that retains the imprint of mineral grains, producing a visually striking surface texture.
We began discussions with Carey Garden Design Studio in August last year and started fabrication in February, making this a multi-month development process which is inherent to the handmade nature of the material. For us, the project is an exciting demonstration of how innovative materials like Oyster[Crete]® can be integrated into landscape and garden environments.
This will be both my and my team’s first time attending the Chelsea Flower Show. It’s incredibly exciting for us, and we’re really looking forward to seeing the material in situ and experiencing the incredible level of artistry across the other garden designs. It’s something we’ve been working towards all year, so it will be a very special moment for us to see it all come together.
We’re always open to experimenting and developing new ideas, whether that involves exploring a specific waste stream or designing spaces with circularity in mind. Our work is rooted in collaboration and research, and many of our projects begin through conversations with partners who are interested in reimagining material potential. We’re always open to new challenges, so if there is an idea, material or opportunity you’d like to explore, please do reach out!
Female Led - Makers:
Līva Sakārne (Left),
Mooka Srisurayotin (Centre)
Kae Katz (Right)