Phillip Johnson is a landscape designer with a
distinct goal, to enrich the public’s appreciation for nature and to encourage
the use of sustainable resources to ensure it beauty long into the future.
Introducing himself to nature as a young
child who would perpetually rebuild the small 3×3 metre garden his parents
bestowed upon him, Johnson has never been able to satiate that captivation for
outdoor spaces.
Today his home is surrounded by waterfalls,
billabongs, plant species and a hot spring which form the ‘garden’ that speaks
volumes about Johnson’s own perspective.
He comments, “I woke up this morning and
turned on the waterfalls after returning from holidays and thought I am so
lucky to come home to this everyday.”
For the past 15 years, Phillip Johnson has
been creating outdoor havens which look to native and indigenous plants and
settings for their distinct charm. Tied into these choices are sustainable
practices such as the water conservation and capture techniques utilized in the
cascading waterfalls that are signature to Johnson’s landscapes.
The ever constant patter and fluid motion
of water falling upon water, seems to speak poetically of the philosophy to
which Johnson clings so dearly. It tells of the cyclic way people should give
back to the natural world which has contributed so much to them.
His fascination with waterfalls takes
Johnson back to the day he first realized that he wanted to devote his life to
landscape design. The epiphany struck him whilst sitting at
the base of a waterfall, and it seems as if Johnson, in hoping to spark this
same love in others, utilizes the waterfall to allure people to the magic of
nature.
Phillip Johnson Sustainable Landscape Systems
phillipjohnson.com.au