Tessa was Silver medal winner at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 for Capel Manor college – exhibit 'Compost, energy and light' – Co-designer
“The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives.”
-Gertrude Jekyll
About Tessa
Tessa Crichton-Miller is a garden designer based in East London, who helps her clients to enhance their lives and homes by creating beautiful, functional and sustainable outside spaces.
Tessa has a strong horticultural background which supports and informs her work in garden design. In 2003, she studied ‘Organic Gardening’ at Capel Manor, London’s only specialist environmental college. She then set up the gardening business, ‘Organic Matters’, with a colleague, which they co-ran until 2015. Tessa brings this practical horticultural experience and understanding of organic principles to the gardens she now designs for her clients. She knows plants, she knows soil, and she knows how to create just the right conditions for each plant to thrive.
During these earlier years, Tessa became increasingly interested in the creative aspects of gardening. She’d always had a love of textiles and colour, and enjoyed things like quilting and embroidery, but was keen to find a new channel for her creativity.
Tessa went back to Capel Manor College, where she qualified as a garden designer. The training gave her a deeper insight into basic design principles as well as the aesthetics of gardening. She became very inspired by the process of using plants and other materials to create shape, space, texture, form and colour.
In 2017, Tessa won a design competition for an exhibit at Chelsea Flower Show which she co-created with a colleague. The exhibit, ‘Compost, Energy and Light’, was designed to show the different ways that energy can be generated from waste. It was an artistic representation of a new technology where algae is grown in tubes to create biofuel. It was awarded a silver medal and displayed in the Grand Marquee.
Tessa is also a natural organiser and clear communicator, and enjoys establishing collaborative connections with her clients. One of the aspects of her work she finds most satisfying is helping people build better relationships with their gardens and then seeing the pleasure that brings them.
Finally, Tessa also has a background in social care and mental health, and is a firm believer in the positive impact of gardens and gardening on our well-being. She has contributed to two community growing projects over the years, facilitating ‘therapeutic gardening’ for adults with mental health needs and learning difficulties.
Tessa’s unique strength is her experience and expertise in both the horticultural and aesthetic aspects of plants and gardens. If you are looking for a skilled designer to help you turn your garden ideas into reality, she would love to hear from you.
Vlad Chirila
Vlad has a background in building project management and qualified as a Garden Designer from Capel Manor College.
He has great design skills and a very thorough understanding of how to build different elements in a garden.
He has always had a passion for plants and gardens from his background in Romania where growing your own food and flowers was a strong part of his upbringing.
He was Co -designer for the exhibit at Chelsea Flower show where we won a silver medal in 2017.
He always brings enthusiasm and attention to detail on all the projects we have worked on together.
He works with me in different capacities;
As a Co - designer
He can undertake hard landscaping work on smaller projects
He can project manage other landscapers
Helps on Planting projects