Gardens of the Senses

Leading Spanish garden architect Javier Mariategui presents his latest book, “Garden of the Senses” at Rizzoli Book Shop.

Mariátegui’s grandmother, the Marchioness of Casa Valdés, wrote Jardines de España which describes the history of Spanish gardening from Roman times to the present day. This book continues to be a reference for all lovers of this particular field of History and Art.

This enthusiasm was passed on to him by his parents. From his earliest years he began making his own gardens, by re-using those plants discarded by his father. Mariátegui studied landscape gardening and design at Castillo de Batres Gardening School in Madrid, which he followed by working in England as a gardener. Back in Spain, he created the Jardines de España nursery, which looks after and employs handicapped children, with whom he first started making gardens.

For the past thirty years, he has created numerous gardens across Spain and in several other European countries. He has also published many articles on landscape / gardening topics in specialized magazines and a book on one of his gardens: El Jardin de los Tapices (The Tapestry Garden).

Among the present garden architects of Spain, Mariategui plays an outstanding role. His style is not dogmatic, is made of order and disorder, straight lines and curved, the wild chaos of nature as well as strict geometrical patterns, varied and single species of plants, color and absence of color. Perhaps as a result of an intimate knowledge of the magic of water in Andalusian Moorish gardens, Mariategui uses water as an essential element in many of his gardens. He makes it “work” in all its forms: in pumps, in cascades, in constant gentle movement, or rocking in waves, in disperse drops or in silence like a mirror that adds the magic of its reflection.

Landscape designer Cecilia de Grelle will introduce the autor.