Outdoor Inspirations for the start of SUMMER

This month, in celebration of sunshine finally appearing in Minnesota (!) and the unofficial start of summer, I'm sharing a few nature-inspired ideas for you - enjoy!

Bamboo garden design inspiration 

Wouldn't it be great fun to create a smaller version of this for your garden?

This impressive arched bamboo pavilion was created by a Brooklyn studio to raise awareness about a Taiwanese forest under siege. The Forest Pavilion has 11 vaults--each more than twice as tall as a basketball hoop--that soar wildly over a central meeting space in Hualien province, Taiwan. 

The pavillion is made out of bamboo, which, unlike trees, grows fast and can be harvested without harming the plant. The architect used freshly cut green bamboo, flexible enough to bend, and tied together with stainless steel wire. The bamboo was then inserted into steel pipes & welded.

The Forest Pavilion was conceived for an arts festival organized to promote preserving the landscape as a forest. “In recognition of the cultural diversity of the region, the pavilion’s vaults, each one presenting a unique ‘gateway’ into the meeting space, sought to formalize this diversity and suggest an opportunity for unity in support of a greater environmental benefit,” the architects said.

Can you believe these beautiful pieces are ceramic? 

Photo by Sylvain Deleu Copyright: Nuala O'Donovan

This Irish ceramic artist, Nuola O'Donovan, combines regular pattern with the characteristics of irregular patterns and forms found in nature. Each element of the pattern is individually made, the form is constructed slowly over a period of weeks or months. 

Photo by Sylvain Deleu Copyright: Nuala O'Donovan

According to her Artist Statement, the finished forms are 'a result of an intuitive response to the direction that the pattern takes as well as the irregularity in the handmade elements of the pattern.'

Photo by Sylvain Deleu Copyright: Nuala O'Donovan

"My decision to research patterns and forms from nature stemmed from my interest in the narrative quality of irregularities in patterns. The history behind a scarred or broken surface is what fascinates me," says the artist.