Ah, follies and fabrique; grand gardens with plant collections and structures based on architectural wonders from the past and the “exotic afar”.... A garden is never just about the plants, it is invested with meaning; about people, art, history and shifting design practice.

If you are open to it, a garden will also be a rich world of wonder and imagination. While the historical stately gardens boldly displayed each owner's status and wealth they were and still are, places of secret escape from the everyday and abundant in biodiversity.

Each piece in Pagodas and Pavilions presents a female protagonist introducing the scene, and like the goddess Diana, she is generally accompanied by her faithful hounds and a cast of whimsies.

With tongue firmly in cheek, I’ve conjured up a world of hybrid and pastiched tropes and cross cultural exchange traditions, and one where ceramics can only be blue and white. With an irreverent nod to historical design “crazes” and their arrogant plundering of aesthetics and plant collections through exploration and dastardly imperialist colonialism, these imaginary gardens become microworlds playing within a larger world of social, cultural and political change.

-Danielle Lovatt