Business TipsOpinion What’s in a name?
Shortly after I got married my mother started to research our family tree. To my wife’s horror, and to my amusement, it transpired that we were in fact already related and not simply by marriage. The fi rst thought that came into my head was
that we could become double barrelled and style ourselves as the Forber-Wilsons. There were two distinct advantages I thought. Firstly, after years of languishing at the bottom of the register, my children would no longer be the last to be called out at school – or even worse, the fi rst to be called out when the teacher reversed the register! Secondly, I could use the new name to win clients and infl uence people. For the garden design world it seems is positively awash with double barrel names – Tom Stuart Smith, Christopher Bradley-Hole, Arabella Lennox- Boyd, Todd Longstaff-Gowan. Andrew Forber- Wilson has a certain swagger to it, don’t you think? So would the acquisition of a double
barrel help as a step to success? Well, historically, there is a whiff of the aristocratic or at least the well connected that I’m sure didn’t do Anthony du Gard Pasley or Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall any harm, but as more and more people remain in long term partnerships or choose to retain their maiden names some of this lustre will surely start to dim as increasing numbers adopt the double barrel route for their children. We now apparently live in a more equal society, a meritocracy surely in which hard work, diligence and design ability deliver success. But is the garden world part of that new era or do the well connected like to keep things in the family as it were – favouring their own social circle, be it old boys, ex guards, politicians or landed gentry when it comes to selecting their designer?
In our teaching at the London College we stress 18 August 2013
By relying on friends, or friends of friends, are we always pulling from the same small gene pool and therefore putting ourselves at a disadvantage? asks Andrew Wilson
the need to use our personal networks in order to gain work. We promote the use of social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook in order to present ourselves and communicate to an expanded audience in order to broadcast our skills and capabilities, make connections or sometimes to simply remind people that we exist. Do our potential clients refer to these social networks when they think of appointing a designer?
People should feel encouraged to seek fresh blood from a wider pool
Although there is evidence that some people do exploit these networks, I would also suggest that the vast majority of clients fail to do very much homework at all on who their designer should be, relying on friends, and friends of friends. What a pity as this approach promotes a small gene pool when talented designers are out there desperate to prove their worth, show their skill and deliver a professional service. I would like to call on any prospective clients to
invite at least one designer who has been researched and selected from outside their normal social network to tender or bid for work alongside their referred choices. This applies to landscape architecture as well as garden design and even stretches to Chelsea Show Garden selections in which it often seems that the same designers simply move from one sponsor to another. People should feel encouraged to experiment, seek fresh blood from a wider pool and offer patronage on the basis of talent and ability rather than who knows who. Perhaps we might nurture our talented new graduates in this way to become the sought after designers of tomorrow and eventually dispel the need to wear the right tie, shake hands in a certain way or go to the right school. So, Andrew Wilson it is and always will be – let the
work do the talking. (I’d have to change my ‘Who’s Who’ entry anyway!)
ABOUT ANDREW WILSON
Andrew Wilson is a landscape and garden designer as well as Director of Wilson McWilliam Studio. He is also a Director of the London College of
Garden Design, an author and an RHS judge of Show Gardens.
www.wmstudio.co.uk
www.prolandscapermagazine.com
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