Two Norfolk garden designers have turned a classroom connection into an award-winning partnership, earning an RHS Gold Medal and the title of Best City Pocket Planting at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.
Laura Strand and Sam Stark-Kemp are the creative minds behind Stark Strand Garden Design, a new studio based in the region.
The duo met while studying for a Diploma in Garden Design at the Norfolk School of Gardening, bonding over their shared love of plants and nature.
Their previous professional paths were very different: Laura is an award-winning jewellery designer and former Head of Design at prestigious diamond jeweller Jessica McCormack; while Sam has nearly three decades of hands-on horticultural experience, including gardening at Holkham Hall and tending some of Norfolk’s most exceptional private gardens.
However, they were brought together on their diploma course by a natural creative synergy and winning combination of skills, which include Laura’s meticulous eye for form, detail, and composition and Sam’s horticultural expertise.
What began as classroom collaboration soon evolved into a more ambitious undertaking. After spotting a call for entries in a design newsletter, the pair decided to apply to exhibit at the globally renowned RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.
The process was far from simple: show gardens are carefully selected by a panel of RHS experts, based on submitted design proposals, planting plans, and the clarity of the designers’ vision.
Applicants are judged not just on creativity, but also on practical feasibility and environmental responsibility.
To their surprise and delight, the design was selected — an honour for debut designers — and they began balancing their studies and day jobs with the huge task of bringing a show garden to life.
Their debut garden, Teucer Wilson: Green the Gap Garden, explored the creative reuse of materials and resilient planting within the built environment.
Norfolk-based sculptor and stone carver Teucer Wilson reimagined off-cuts and unloved pieces of Portland stone — donated by Albion Stone — as striking vertical sculptures, echoing the lines of a city skyline.
Between these carved forms, drought-tolerant plants emerged from a recycled concrete mulch, highlighting the importance of urban greening and how beauty and biodiversity can thrive in even the most overlooked spaces.
The garden was awarded an RHS Gold Medal and named Best City Pocket Planting,
Working across East Anglia and beyond, Stark Strand Garden Design offers bespoke garden design services for private homes, institutions, and public spaces. More details here.
