Based in London, garden designer Sophie Walker is working on projects in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Walker’s keen interest in public space has led her to design an expansive new public garden for the De Pont Museum in Tilburg, Netherlands, which opened in September 2017. In London, Walker worked in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects and Anish Kapoor as one of ten shortlisted teams for the UK Government National Holocaust Memorial Competition for a public site next to the Houses of Parliament.
In 2014, Walker became the youngest woman to exhibit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with her garden Cave Pavilion, sponsored by the Garden Museum, London. At RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, Walker’s A Valley Garden was awarded People’s Choice Award as voted by the public. Walker is working on a commission to design a public memorial garden in memory of the human rights activist Helen Bamber, who began her career at the age of 20, when she worked with survivors of the holocaust in the former concentration camp of Bergen Belsen. Other projects include a moon viewing garden for a public park in Ulsan, South Korea (2018), and two environmentally sustainable inner-city gardens in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
Walker’s first book, The Japanese Garden (2017), has been published in English and French by Phaidon, in Italian by L’ippocampo Edizioni, and is due for release in Chinese in 2018 by Beijing Publishing Group. The book was received with critical acclaim.
Walker was drawn to garden design after studying art history and psychoanalysis. She returned to her studies to qualify in horticulture and plant science, and later in garden design.
