Iconic Gravel Garden Glassware Collection: For Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens
Emma is honoured to have been commissioned by Beth Chatto’s granddaughter, Julia, to create a pretty glassware collection inspired by the iconic Beth Chatto Gravel Garden.
In July 2024 on a beautiful Summer’s day, Emma went to visit Beth’s famous gardens in Essex. With inspiration in abundance, just what to focus on for this prestigious design commission was a lovely conundrum to have. You’ll find Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens in Colchester, England and they are quite simply unforgettable. Especially the Beth Chatto Gravel Garden.
Beth Chatto Gravel Garden Focus
After some initial sketching onsite and learning more from Julia about the history and ethos of the gardens, Emma and Julia agreed the focus for the collection had to be the pioneering Gravel Garden. Iconic, sustainable and cultivated solely on rainfall since its inception, no watering cans here! Gardeners can take so much inspiration from Beth’s visionary approach as they learn how to adapt to warmer temperatures and a changing climate.
The landscaping in the Gravel Garden is amazing. There are lots of winding paths, rich colours and shapes everywhere that are so inviting to draw – a painters dream. Julia’s brief for the glassware designs was for them to include some of the most popular and recognisable plants and flowers in the garden that visitors delight in.
Emma took some time to walk through the garden and photograph it gathering rich source material to begin work. Making some original paintings and hand sketches from her experience and images was the starting point for collection ideas. Out of these, Emma developed a series of captivating glass designs at her Derbyshire studio.
Design Details
Creating a number of patterns for a selection of glassware shapes helped refine how the flowers and plants within the design felt on different pieces. The team at Beth Chatto were then able to choose their favourites and the collection was born.
Within the final design are tall grasses, agapanthus, verbena, hollyhocks, drumstick alliums, allium atropurpureum, palms and cupids dart with purposeful, decorative free elements within the pattern – these spaces represent the distinctive cluster planting in the Gravel Garden.
Final Gravel Garden Glassware Collection
Emma’s exclusive final collection for Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens includes a wine goblet (£12.95) (perfect for alfresco sipping in your own garden) and stackable plant pot shaped tumblers (£10) (designed to complement and mix with Emma’s Meadow and Silver Birch patterns). And a small bud vase (£12) added for Julia as Beth so loved to display cut flowers from her garden in this way. And now others can be inspired to do so too.
Buy Gravel Garden Glassware
Available exclusively in Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens gift shop. This glassware makes a beautiful souvenir or gift for garden lovers. Emma describes this as one of her favourite commissions to date. She highly recommends a visit – for the plants, the tea room, and more than a bit of gardening inspiration!
This has been one of my favourite commissions to date. If you haven’t been I recommend a day trip, there is so much gardening inspiration and they have a tea room for refreshments and a plant shop, I even stocked up on some plants for my own garden. You’ll find my glassware in the gift shop, including the beautiful bud vase £12, wine goblet £12.95 and stackable tumbler £10 that all make a great memento or gift. Emma Britton
Find out about other special Emma Britton design collections for Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Chatsworth House and more, here.