Lou-Lou van Staaveren

Lou-Lou van Staaveren is a photographer and gardener based in Amsterdam, and the co-founder of Pleasant Place, a publication about the art of gardening. Coming from a family of flower growers, she explores the parallels between gardening and photography: both balance observation and intervention, patience and control, to shape an imagined landscape.

Gardens and Images

"Every season in the garden is beautiful in its own way. I love late summer, when dahlias are in bloom, so vibrant and colourful, almost excessive. Spring is just as thrilling, with the first bulbs pushing through and everything fresh and green. By the end of summer things start to fade and turn yellow, which I like the least, but then autumn takes over with new flowers, pumpkins and beans. Winter is about imagination: the time for plans and preparations, when you're busy dreaming about the garden to come."

In her photographic work, van Staaveren builds images from fragments, photographing plants and landscapes in different places and combining them into gardens that exist only in imagination. "It becomes a kind of fictional garden," she says. "A place that feels real, but only exists in the photograph." For her, photography and gardening share a way of looking: slowing down, observing details, and noticing how colour and texture change from one day to the next.

Tools, Objects, and Inheritance

"The gardening tools made by Dutch company Sneeboer are the ultimate. My favourite is their Great Dixter trowel — narrow, pointed, long and slim, almost like a knife, and endlessly useful. I even take it on holiday with me, to dig up a plant I'd like to take home. Sneeboer is one of the few brands that still hand-forges every tool in their small family workshop. They've specialised in this craft for generations, and the tools last a lifetime. You could pass them along to your children."

"For as long as I can remember, my father has carried something called an anjermesje in his pocket, a tiny knife once used for cutting carnations. My parents gave me one as well. I always have it with me: to cut flowers, to use in my workshop when I'm making wooden frames, or even on holiday to make sandwiches. It's very small and I think it's a real beauty, like a piece of jewellery you can actually use."

A Shared Language

"When my parents hosted Ukrainian refugees, we walked through the garden together. We couldn't really talk to each other — they couldn't speak English, nor we Ukrainian — but we could point to potatoes and raspberries and everyone understood. Gardening is something people everywhere can relate to, almost like a universal language."