Background Information

    Malcolm MacLachlan trained as a tree surgeon and horticulturalist in the late 1970's.   He worked through a succession of jobs spending 11 years as Head Gardener and then Arboretum Manager at Batsford Arboretum in North Gloucestershire. Finally he spent some time as the Curator of Trebah Gardens in Cornwall.

    Frustrated with working in environments where he found it difficult to unleash his creativity he moved with his family to East Yorkshire with a view to starting his own business, although at that time he thought that it would be as a freelance horticulturist or garden designer.  Influenced by roadside chainsaw carvers and events such as Sculptree at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire, he brought several tons of logwood and started exploring the possibilities within the timber.   Starting with a 2 ton piece of sycamore his first piece was a garden seat standing about 2m tall and representing unfurling crosiers of a giant Tree Fern.

       This was influenced by the beautiful form of these ferns native to Australia but now found in most of the Cornish Gardens.   This caused such a sensation as to be mentioned in local newspapers and provided a steady stream of clients looking for something unique.

  Malcolm's designs usually utilise native timbers and he prefers English Oak to all others, except perhaps Yew. "Oak is wonderful to work" he says "Quirky, but full of character and so durable."   His designs are garnered from nature and the organic form, nature abhors a straight line and he tries to assimilate curves into most of his work.