Rachel's Green Garden Goes To Chelsea
26 May 2010
Rachel Carter in her Green Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Being at Chelsea has been a dream come true and it's given me so many ideas for new designs, I can't wait to get back to the studio to start making them
”Rachel Carter
University of Derby graduate Rachel Carter is exhibiting for the first time at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show with her Green Garden.
Rachel has created the Green Garden in partnership with adults at risk of social exclusion in the Erewash area; helping promote the benefits of art and how it can help support health and wellbeing.
Rachel designs and makes bespoke sculptural pieces for gardens and landscape settings, using mild steel and willow. Sustainable materials and fluid designs, combined with her passion for the environment and community are at the heart of her work.
Rachel, who has a studio in Heanor Road, Ilkeston has used these design elements for her show garden at Chelsea which combines her woven willow sculptural pieces and wild flowers.
It was Rachel's ambition to exhibit at Chelsea within five years of completing the University of Derby's BA (Hons) 3D Sustainable Design degree course which she graduated from in 2007. She has achieved this dream just three years after leaving the University.
Rachel said "Being at Chelsea has been a dream come true and it's given me so many ideas for new designs, I can't wait to get back to the studio to start making them. "
Laura Ratcliffe, University of Derby Alumni Relations Officer, added: "Seeing Rachel achieve her vision of exhibiting at Chelsea so early on in her career is a landmark for her and a proud moment for the University of Derby."
The University has supported Rachel's exhibit by funding the brochure for the show, posting her live blog on its official website www.derby.ac.uk/alumni and following her road to Chelsea on https://twitter.com/rachelsculpture
See the Green Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show Stand RS/2 and find our more about Rachel's work at www.rachelcarter.co.uk
For further information on this story please contact Alumni Relations Officer, Laura Ratcliffe, T: 01332 591368, M: 07768 091248, E: l.ratcliffe@derby.ac.uk
