Sophie Walker
Sophie Walker is an award-winning author and garden designer. Her book The Japanese Garden (Phaidon, 2017) is considered the seminal work on the subject and has sold 50,000 copies worldwide. Sophie is currently working on her second book which focuses on the Japanese karesansui (dry garden), and is due to be published in 2025/26.
In 2014 Sophie became the youngest woman to design a garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show with Cave Pavilion, sponsored by the Garden Museum, London. Based in UK, Sophie has designed gardens internationally with some of the biggest names in art and architecture, including David Chipperfield and Zaha Hadid. She worked on her expansive design for the De Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands, in collaboration with her ex-husband, artist Anish Kapoor; it opened in September 2017 in celebration of the museum’s 25 year anniversary. In Haywards Heath, UK, Sophie redesigned an area of Borde Hill Gardens, opened to the public in 2018. Also in 2018, Sophie designed a public garden commissioned for Ulsan Park, Korea. In London, Sophie’s projects include an NHS therapy garden for patients of Grove Park Practice in Chiswick, and worked in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects and Anish Kapoor as one of ten shortlisted teams for a UK government commission for a new national Holocaust Memorial on the River Thames besides the Houses of Parliament. Private UK-based projects include residential gardens in and around London including a rooftop site in central London and a large scale design on the Sussex coast. Sophie’s enthusiasm for travel has led her to projects as far afield as Japan, India and Sri Lanka and Bahamas. In India, Sophie is currently working on two inner city projects both of which hold sustainability at their heart.
After studying art history, Sophie returned to her studies to qualify in horticulture, plant science and later, psychoanalysis and garden design.
Sophie enjoys working with rare and unusual plants. For her garden Cave Pavilion, at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Sophie worked with modern-day plant hunters Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones to produce a 'fully-traceable' garden of previously unexhibited plants that had been grown entirely from seed collected in the wild. Her interest in plants and conservation has extended to her private projects and she has recently completed an eight year project working in the Bahamas in collaboration with the Bahamian National Trust to restore a private garden with native habitat.
Sophie's acclaimed book, The Japanese Garden, was published by Phaidon in October 2017. In her writing, Sophie offers fresh insight on the conceptual and philosophical ambition of the Japanese garden and its abstract nature. This comprehensive publication features 92 of Japan's finest gardens, ranging from historic shrine gardens to contemporary urban designs.
For her gardens, Sophie has won the People's Choice Award at RHS Hampton Court Palace for A Valley Garden as well as a RHS Silver-Gilt Medal Show Garden and an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Silver Medal for Cave Pavilion.
Aside from the designing and making of gardens, Sophie also lectures on Japanese Gardens and conceptual garden design. Notable lectures include The Royal Geographical Society, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; De Pont Museum, Tilburg.
Sophie continues to be deeply involved in the arts. With a background in art history, she held trusteeship of the Anish Kapoor Foundation and was an integral part of its formation and development. She has a personal interest in early art of the Indian subcontinent, and holds one of the most rigorous and extensive collections of early Indian prints (1870-1949). She sits on the editorial board of The Zen Gateway, an online resource that supports the practice and understanding of Zen Buddhism.
She is currently working on her second book which focuses on the Japanese karesansui rock gardens.