Rosanna Philippe
I design beautiful landscapes for people and planet.
I create landscapes that are personal, timeless, and deeply connected to their surroundings and the people who inhabit them. Projects begin with understanding the character of a place and the way people will use it. The result is a carefully crafted, bespoke landscape that feels authentic, enduring, and uniquely its own.
My aim is to create outdoor spaces where people want to spend time throughout the year, while nature flourishes alongside them. I strive to create landscapes that feel as though they have always belonged. Drawing on my horticultural training, I use naturalistic planting, edible landscapes, and ecological principles to create diverse, richly layered environments with texture, seasonality, and biodiversity at their heart.
Biography:
My connection to the land began on the wild West Coast of New Zealand. Surrounded by lush native bush, dramatic weather, and windswept, driftwood-strewn beaches, I developed an early appreciation for landscapes that feel inseparable from their surroundings. That upbringing, together with the classic Kiwi “can-do” attitude and No. 8 wire resourcefulness, continues to shape both my design philosophy and my problem solving strategies.
My approach to landscape design has also been profoundly influenced by a career in hospitality. Beginning as a chef before progressing into senior leadership within the global luxury hospitality industry, I gained a deep understanding of how thoughtfully designed environments influence the way people feel, connect, and experience a place. That experience instilled in me a lasting appreciation for craftsmanship, precision, and attention to detail.
Today, I bring together that experience with a passion for horticulture and ecological design to create landscapes that are enduring and deeply rooted in their context. My work celebrates the relationship between people, plants, and place to create landscapes that enrich everyday life and become more meaningful with time.
Instagram: @studio.philippe
A Garden to Heal – People and Planet.
Mendip is a six-acre contemporary family garden in Buckinghamshire, conceived as a restorative landscape that supports the wellbeing of both people and planet. Responding to the site’s dry, south-east-facing slope and the powerful architecture of the new house, the design takes a light-touch, ecological approach, retaining mature trees and working with the existing topography and vegetation. Inspired by the contour-like patterns found within the wood of Taxus brevifolia – a plant whose compounds have been used to make chemotherapy drugs – the landscape explores nature’s capacity to nourish, protect and heal. A productive food forest and vegetable garden provide food and habitat. While a natural swimming pool, sauna, woodland walks and quiet places for pause and retreat create opportunities for restoration, movement and connection. Climate-resilient, low-input planting and diverse plant communities strengthen biodiversity throughout, delivering a garden that is restful, protective and deeply connected to its setting and owners.
A Yorkshire Garden reimagines the grounds of a Grade II listed Georgian rectory as a relaxed, playful family landscape, inspired by the quiet drama of the surrounding Yorkshire countryside and David Hockney’s vivid interpretations of his native landscape. The design strengthens the previously limited connection between house and garden, creating a series of distinct spaces for everyday family life and entertaining: a generous gravel courtyard and outdoor kitchen within the opened-up barn, a sheltered lawn garden, and a woodland retreat beneath the mature copper beech. Existing materials are carefully reused throughout, with reclaimed Yorkstone, stone troughs, crushed material from the barn and timber from a removed beech giving the garden a strong connection to its history and setting. Native hedging, richly layered planting and considered flashes of Hockney-inspired colour bring seasonality and character to a garden that celebrates the beauty of the familiar; pastoral and calm, yet colourful, generous and designed to be lived in every day.
