ROOTS IN THE WILD
A CHILDHOOD SHAPED BY VAST HORIZONS AND UNTAMED BEAUTY
Charlie grew up in Kenya, where the vast, wild landscapes left a lasting impression. Age 14, he moved to England to attend Marlborough College, later training as a sculptor at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy for four years. While living in Florence & Rome a love of Italian gardens & grottoes began to blossom.
After returning to the UK to take on private commissions, Charlie also worked alongside a Country Estates Manager, and this interest in gardens and landscaping took precedence.
FROM SCULPTURE TO GARDEN DESIGN
TRANSLATING FORM INTO LIVING SPACE
What began as a sculptor’s fascination for form evolved into a passion for shaping outdoor space. He pursued this calling by earning a Garden Design Diploma at Merrist Wood, Guildford College, where he studied under RHS Chelsea judge Andrew Wilson.
He then joined a garden design firm in the Cotswolds — a region that influenced his fascination with the mystical word of English grottoes and historic gardens. It was here he began designing gardens, grottoes, rock and shellwork features.
“What is wonderful about a garden is it’s beyond 3-Dimentional. It’s a journey. You travel through scent and sound as well as shape and colour, and elements of surprise and delight should feature like a well told story. “
FROM CRAFT TO STUDIO
WHERE ART & LANDSCAPE WORK IN HARMONY
In the Cotswolds, Charlie’s exposure to historic garden features, led him to train under shellwork expert Belinda Eade. This apprenticeship refined his eye for intricacy, materiality, and narrative in design, and gave him the ability to create with his hands once again, this time within the horticultural realm.
In 2010, with classical training and hands-on experience behind him, Charlie founded his own studio, Charlie Day Gardens & Shellwork Ltd - a practice that seamlessly brings together garden design and artisan craft. It offers a full garden design service from consultation, design, build & project management to after care and maintenance.
Charlie’s studio also offers bespoke shellhouses, grottoes, rock & shellwork features such as alcoves and fountains, and a small made-to-order product range of shell pots, sculpted fountains and metalwork garden benches.
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SKETCHBOOKS & PHILOSOPHY
THE PRACTICE OF SEEING AND REMEMBERING
Charlie has taken sketchbooks around the world with him since art school in Florence. Collectively they nearly fill an entire bookcase.
These sketchbooks embody the same patience and observation that guide his gardens. For Charlie, design is an act of listening — to places, textures, and time itself.
“The drawings, magazine snippets, pressed plant cuttings, and scribbled notes are a constant source of reference and inspiration — not just for garden design, shell ideas, and my moodboard wall, but even the occasional reminder of a great dish at a restaurant I noted down.”