By using the House of Hackney website you accept our cookie policy. Find out more.
RADICAL BOTANY
Join House of Hackney and a host of remarkable guests as we explore the rebellious legacy of radical gardeners, florists, and botanists, how they used their creativity in the face of adversity to make their own worlds and why they are so relevant today.
RADICAL BOTANY | PART 1
DEREK JARMAN
Wednesday 21st Feb
6:30pm - 8:30pm
House of Hackney St Michael’s
Join forensic botanist, writer and curator Mark Spencer, guerilla gardener Ellen Miles and Garden Museum curator Dr Emma House, and the Financial Times’ House & Home editor Lucy Watson, as they explore the passion and legacy of filmmaker Derek Jarman’s unlikely paradise in the desolate shadow of Dungeness nuclear power station. We will look at how with his garden, like his life, he overcame hostility and controversy to create something beautiful, and the lessons we can learn to do the same.
RADICAL BOTANY | PART 1
DEREK JARMAN
Wednesday 21st Feb
6:30pm - 8:30pm
House of Hackney St Michael’s
Join forensic botanist, writer and curator Mark Spencer, guerilla gardener Ellen Miles and Garden Museum curator Dr Emma House, and the Financial Times’ House & Home editor Lucy Watson, as they explore the passion and legacy of filmmaker Derek Jarman’s unlikely paradise in the desolate shadow of Dungeness nuclear power station. We will look at how with his garden, like his life, he overcame hostility and controversy to create something beautiful, and the lessons we can learn to do the same.
Meet the Speakers
EMMA HOUSE
Emma House is curator at the Garden Museum and in 2020 curated the museum’s award-winning exhibition Derek Jarman: My Garden’s Boundaries are the Horizon. Her work centres on the exploration of artist’s gardens and her research on Jarman focussed on the garden as a place for protest, social commentary, creative practice, wellbeing and healing. Emma is currently researching the gardens of Cecil Beaton for a forthcoming exhibition at the Garden Museum.
MARK SPENCER
Dr Mark Spencer is an experienced and internationally respected botanist. He also works globally as a seasoned writer, public speaker and television presenter. As a forensic botanist, Mark has worked on various missing person enquiries, murders and other serious crimes. In 1991 Mark was part of a group of gay rights activists, the London House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who canonised Derek Jarmam as a saint.
ELLEN MILES
Ellen is an author and activist who roots for nature in urban neighbourhoods. Ellen founded the Nature is a Human Right campaign. Ellen also runs Dream Green, a social enterprise that provides guides, grants and workshops to help communities green their streets. Following the release of her book Get Guerrilla Gardening: A handbook for planting in public places (DK, 2023), The Guardian dubbed Ellen "the new doyenne of guerrilla gardening". She calls herself a "botanarchist".
LUCY WATSON
Lucy Watson is a journalist and editor at the Financial Times. She commissions features for the FT's House & Home section, covering design, architecture and gardening.
EMMA HOUSE
Emma House is curator at the Garden Museum and in 2020 curated the museum’s award-winning exhibition Derek Jarman: My Garden’s Boundaries are the Horizon. Her work centres on the exploration of artist’s gardens and her research on Jarman focussed on the garden as a place for protest, social commentary, creative practice, wellbeing and healing. Emma is currently researching the gardens of Cecil Beaton for a forthcoming exhibition at the Garden Museum.
MARK SPENCER
Dr Mark Spencer is an experienced and internationally respected botanist. He also works globally as a seasoned writer, public speaker and television presenter. As a forensic botanist, Mark has worked on various missing person enquiries, murders and other serious crimes. In 1991 Mark was part of a group of gay rights activists, the London House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who canonised Derek Jarmam as a saint.
ELLEN MILES
Ellen is an author and activist who roots for nature in urban neighbourhoods. Ellen founded the Nature is a Human Right campaign. Ellen also runs Dream Green, a social enterprise that provides guides, grants and workshops to help communities green their streets. Following the release of her book Get Guerrilla Gardening: A handbook for planting in public places (DK, 2023), The Guardian dubbed Ellen "the new doyenne of guerrilla gardening". She calls herself a "botanarchist".
LUCY WATSON
Lucy Watson is a journalist and editor at the Financial Times. She commissions features for the FT's House & Home section, covering design, architecture and gardening.
RADICAL BOTANY | PART 2
CONSTANCE SPRY
Wednesday 24th April
6:30pm - 8:30pm
House of Hackney St Michael’s
Join House of Hackney and Tatler Magazine’s style editor, Chandler Tregaskes, Financial Times’ House & Home editor Lucy Watson, floral alchymist Shane Connolly and guerilla gardener Ellen Miles in this panel discussion exploring the life and legacy of flower designer Constance Spry. Hailed as the first domestic goddess, socialite and florist Constance Spry was a hell of a lot more. With a personal life as wild as her avant-garde flower arrangements, Ms Spry was ahead of her time; following her own advice of, “Do what you please, follow your own star”, she certainly made a name for herself. Her pioneering floristry garnered the attention of high society and high fashion in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, and she remains an inspiration to many to this day.
RADICAL BOTANY | PART 2
CONSTANCE SPRY
Wednesday 24th April
6:30pm - 8:30pm
House of Hackney St Michael’s
Join House of Hackney and Tatler Magazine’s style editor, Chandler Tregaskes, Financial Times’ House & Home editor Lucy Watson, floral alchymist Shane Connolly and guerilla gardener Ellen Miles in this panel discussion exploring the life and legacy of flower designer Constance Spry. Hailed as the first domestic goddess, socialite and florist Constance Spry was a hell of a lot more. With a personal life as wild as her avant-garde flower arrangements, Ms Spry was ahead of her time; following her own advice of, “Do what you please, follow your own star”, she certainly made a name for herself. Her pioneering floristry garnered the attention of high society and high fashion in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, and she remains an inspiration to many to this day
Meet the Speakers
LUCY WATSON
Lucy Watson is a journalist and editor at the Financial Times. She commissions features for the FT's House & Home section, covering design, architecture and gardening.
CHANDLER TREGASKES
Chandler Tregaskes is Style Editor at Tatler Magazine. Focusing on luxury fashion and the people who wear it, the fabulous figures of high society are often prevalent in their work. Chandler covers a wide range of topics but is most elated when history and haute couture meet in perfect harmony, as they often do. Recently, Chandler took a deep dive into the wonderful world of Constance Spry as part of a Tatler fashion editorial inspired by the celebrated florist’s life - which sparked a floral-clad fascination with Spry for the journalist.
SHANE CONNOLLY
Shane is a renowned floral designer and ambassador for sustainable floristry. His clients range from great public institutions like The V&A; the RA and the National Portrait Gallery, to a veritable who's who of the great and the good of British life. He is perhaps best known for his public work for The Royal Family, including the recent Royal Coronation.
Shane has approached all these iconic moments with the same respect for nature, season
and setting and always with the aim to leave the smallest footprint behind and be led by what is local and available. Shane works with the RHS to improve sustainability in floristry in their annual shows, and is also a judge at RHS Chelsea. He has written five books and teaches his approach to flower design all over the world, with its roots and ethos firmly in sustainability.
ELLEN MILES
Ellen is an author and activist who roots for nature in urban neighbourhoods. Ellen founded the Nature is a Human Right campaign. Ellen also runs Dream Green, a social enterprise that provides guides, grants and workshops to help communities green their streets. Following the release of her book Get Guerrilla Gardening: A handbook for planting in public places (DK, 2023), The Guardian dubbed Ellen "the new doyenne of guerrilla gardening". She calls herself a "botanarchist".
LUCY WATSON
Lucy Watson is a journalist and editor at the Financial Times. She commissions features for the FT's House & Home section, covering design, architecture and gardening.
CHANDLER TREGASKES
Chandler Tregaskes is Style Editor at Tatler Magazine. Focusing on luxury fashion and the people who wear it, the fabulous figures of high society are often prevalent in their work. Chandler covers a wide range of topics but is most elated when history and haute couture meet in perfect harmony, as they often do. Recently, Chandler took a deep dive into the wonderful world of Constance Spry as part of a Tatler fashion editorial inspired by the celebrated florist’s life - which sparked a floral-clad fascination with Spry for the journalist.
SHANE CONNOLLY
Shane is a renowned floral designer and ambassador for sustainable floristry. His clients range from great public institutions like The V&A; the RA and the National Portrait Gallery, to a veritable who's who of the great and the good of British life. He is perhaps best known for his public work for The Royal Family, including the recent Royal Coronation. Shane has approached all these iconic moments with the same respect for nature, season
and setting and always with the aim to leave the smallest footprint behind and be led by what is local and available. Shane works with the RHS to improve sustainability in floristry in their annual shows, and is also a judge at RHS Chelsea. He has written five books and teaches his approach to flower design all over the world, with its roots and ethos firmly in sustainability.
ELLEN MILES
Ellen is an author and activist who roots for nature in urban neighbourhoods. Ellen founded the Nature is a Human Right campaign. Ellen also runs Dream Green, a social enterprise that provides guides, grants and workshops to help communities green their streets. Following the release of her book Get Guerrilla Gardening: A handbook for planting in public places (DK, 2023), The Guardian dubbed Ellen "the new doyenne of guerrilla gardening". She calls herself a "botanarchist".
LONDON CRAFT WEEK
Ceramic Tile Workshop with Lucy Smith
Saturday 18th May
10:30am - 1pm
House of Hackney St Michael’s
Join House of Hackney at their flagship showroom, St Michael's Clergy in East London, for a clay tile workshop with ceramic artist Lucy Smith. Inspired by their new collection, The Season of the Tree, create a wall hanging piece of art inspired by British flora and the beauty of the natural world. After guiding you through simple techniques to create your tile, Lucy will slowly dry them over 2 weeks and fire them to be collected at a later date.
Coming soon....
LONDON CRAFT WEEK
Ceramic Tile Workshop with Lucy Smith
Saturday 18th May
10:30am - 1pm
House of Hackney St Michael’s
Join House of Hackney at their flagship showroom, St Michael's Clergy in East London, for a clay tile workshop with ceramic artist Lucy Smith. Inspired by their new collection, The Season of the Tree, create a wall hanging piece of art inspired by British flora and the beauty of the natural world. After guiding you through simple techniques to create your tile, Lucy will slowly dry them over 2 weeks and fire them to be collected at a later date.
Coming soon...
