A Blenheim duo are combining their talents to bring the best of both worlds to design.

The concept of indoor-outdoor flow is a design fundamental and, with their complementary skills, Jenny and Christo Saggers embody this idea on a professional level. Jenny’s an interior designer whose projects vary from beautiful Blenheim houses to fit-outs for law firms and funeral homes, while her other half is a landscape designer who has created backyard bliss across Marlborough, including the acclaimed 1.5-hectare garden at Bhudevi.

The husband-and-wife duo first started working together on their own home back in 2007 but made it official, professionally that is, in 2017, forming Collaborate Design Studio. So, is it difficult working and living together? Not really, says Jenny. “We complement each other well, as we both bring different skills to the business. We’ve worked together for the past 16 years so we are very used to it by now.”

Bhudevi garden in Marlborough.

The pair’s holistic approach is inspired by one of Christo’s design heroes: Frank Lloyd Wright. The American architect’s designs brought nature indoors — he believed gardens should work in harmony with the home and vice versa. Although Wright’s nature-inspired design philosophy is more than 100 years old, it’s more relevant than ever, say Jenny and Christo. When building a new home, they suggest considering the interior and landscape design from the early planning stages while working with an architect and builder, rather than saving these elements to the end of construction.

“There are many hidden issues that homeowners need to be aware of. The best time to engage an interior and landscape designer is before you talk to a builder. By the time you start building, it’s often too late or too costly to make simple changes that would have had a huge benefit to how you use your home,” says Christo.

Sage-coloured Shaker-profile cabinetry gives this kitchen renovation Scandi style. 

Using timber in the material palette and bringing in house plants are two easy ways to coax nature indoors — Christo and Jenny’s own home in Blenheim is teeming with plants — but Jenny says another way is by adding texture and using natural fibres and nature-inspired hues.

“In the design world, we are seeing lots of texture and softly coloured hues coming through, especially with tiles. When choosing colours for your home, look to keep a colour palette that is complementary to nature and don’t be afraid to use bolder colours, especially in bedrooms. Greens and blues are great options and they never date.”

A reception area Jenny designed for a law firm.

According to Jenny, carpets and rugs are another great choice. “Wool is such a fantastic fibre and has so many benefits. It’s natural, fire-resistant, hypoallergenic, 100 per cent renewable, and a natural insulator as well as being beautiful and soft to walk on.” In fact, Jenny believes flooring is something that homeowners should pay particular attention to. Her advice is to choose the best materials you can afford as it’s very expensive to change later.

“This is especially true with flooring which sets the tone for the whole home.” Starting a garden from scratch in a new build can be daunting, but Christo suggests sticking to the basics at the beginning.

“A tried-and-tested strategy is best — try to keep it simple. Start with the hard landscaping and then soften it with strategic plantings to suit your space. Always consider your natural environment too, as it’s much easier to plant to suit this than to try to change your microclimate,” he says.

For his Koru Garden project, Christo designed  a boardwalk that spirals around a native garden.

Choosing plants from a local supplier will ensure they are suited to local conditions, but watch your spacing. “Make sure you don’t plant them too close to each other. Try to imagine the garden when it’s mature, not juvenile, otherwise your plants will compete for light and nutrients and they won’t be happy. You won’t be happy either as you’ll be cutting out 70 per cent of the plants that you paid top dollar for — spacing is crucial.”
www.collaborate.nz