| Seedbom's are floral grenades filled with flower power. Produced in Scotland they are handmade from recycled paper and organic compost and packed with an assortment of seeds. Each Seedbom is colour coded according to the flower explosion you are after. They will be available for sale in Selfridges from April and can also be bought online from Kabloom.co.uk |
Vanessa is a Canadian designer based in London who has developed a range of high tech premium guerrilla gardening weaponary. The umbrella dispersal unit is the latest design and is shown here at the conceptual stage. From 1 April her 'Subversive Gardener' attaché cases will also be displayed in Selfridges. These take inspiration from Cold War espionage, and have been put to use across London (click here to view a video about this). A new range inspired by Victorian banditary is also in development.
VanessaHarden.com |
COMMONStudio are designers based in Los Angeles with an emphasis on issues in urban ecology, social enterprise and adaptive resue. Epitomising this is their Greenaid dispenser, a gumball dispenser adapted to retail the classic clay seed bomb. These dispensers are installed in a few special locations across the USA. The three displayed in the Wonder Windows of Selfridges are the first to come to the UK. If you are interested in running a Greenaid dispenser contact: daniel@thecommonstudio.com
theCOMMONStudio.com |
Andy Beauchamp is a guerrilla gardener in Peckham and by day he's a scenery maker. He has made three guerrilla gardening transport contraptions from discarded shopping trolleys and bits of old bicycle. He made two of these in 2009 as mobile vegetable gardens but I refurbished them and have since used them gardening around London. The third I commissioned Andy to design especially for this window. It features a rotating tool rack and water dispenser. The G-GT are propped with tools and two new products made in partnership with WithInTent, a tool bag and kagool made from discarded tents.
AndyBeauchamp.co.uk |
On the back wall of the main Wonder Window is a three metre high montage of photographs I've taken of guerrilla grown sunflowers thriving between 2007 and 2010. Most of these were planted on International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day (May 1) by troops who congretated at the Elephant & Castle and radiated outwards across London planting as we went.
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This window contains a corrugated picture of before and after guerrilla sunflowers bloomed opposite the Houses of Parlaiment. Late one night in May 2008 Lyla, Ben and I sowed sunflower seeds in the shaby rose bed by the Thames. We bumped into John Prescott MP that evening, a reminder that you meet all sorts of characters by being on the streets late at night, and even get a little encouragement (he was baffled). Whether he played a role in their care or not I don't know but we returned to keep the weeds at bay and by August the sunflowers were flourishing. In 2009 the area was signfiicantly relandscaped by the authorities and we have retreated to more neglected spots elsewhere. |
