Crafting Nature’s Masterpieces: The Art of Landscape Design with Irina Daineko

Did you dream of having your own house with a vast garden, green lawns, and magical trees straight out of a fairy tale when you were a child? Those dream gardens are created every day by people with an extraordinary profession – landscape designers. Today, we have a guest who knows everything about perfect gardens, unusual plants, soil replacement, and storm drainage. She is a woman whose tools include not only paper and pencil but also an optical level and a 20-meter tape measure. In our interview, we discuss the unusual profession, urban installations, and the fantasies of an engineer, Irina Daineko.

Irina Daineko: The Landscape Designer

From Childhood Dreams to Professional Reality

I was fortunate to spend my entire childhood surrounded by nature at my grandmother’s house in the Berezinsky Reserve. I adore plants! I grew up in the forest, had my own garden, and the entire front garden was at my disposal. Pencils and paper were also always with me. Then, my mother’s sister suggested looking into a specialty at the technological university called ‘garden-park construction engineer.’ She said, ‘Ira, there is drawing, plants, and mathematics. Everything you love!’ Everything was predestined from the very beginning. By the way, I wrote my diploma on the topic of ‘Ecological Park.’

The Allure of the Profession

I see landscape design as more than just art or communication. I enjoy working with space and environment, finding those subtle connections. My profession is like a link between nature itself and humans, between architects, ecologists, artists, psychology, and engineering… I have to navigate all related professions. That is what attracts me – the complexity and multitasking.

Projects and Aspirations

Currently, our studio is working on private projects. The landscape areas range from 10 to 300 acres. The types of these sites are also different: some have neighbors on all sides, while others have forests and lakes. In my dreams, I see working with urban spaces, squares, parks, and embankments where young people, mothers with strollers, and elderly people can spend time. There were thoughts about a large-scale landscape installation in some park. It would definitely become a place of attraction for city dwellers! After all, I want people to respect nature. There is a wonderful phrase that correctly reflects the philosophy of my design: ‘Nature does not need a person, a person needs nature.’ Plus, I am a mother. And my urban child now has fewer opportunities to interact with wild nature than, for example, I did.

A Day in the Life of a Landscape Designer

I am an early bird: I usually wake up at 5 a.m. During the season, I start my day by visiting construction sites and already completed gardens. These are my children, I help them grow. From spring to autumn, I am in the office only when absolutely necessary because this is the active time for my fieldwork. I dedicate winter to designing, preparing for competitions, books, articles, and seminars, training, and acquiring new knowledge. I try to maintain a strict work schedule and spend weekends with my family. Although my attitude towards work is unusual. This is my second home.

From Concept to Completion: The Timeline of a Project

Creating a garden or landscape is always a long-term and budget-intensive process. Often, an ordinary person imagines our work as follows: a gardener comes, digs, lays tiles, and plants along the fence perimeter. In reality, we solve a complex set of tasks. We analyze the territory, study the psychology and life of our client, identify their needs. Only then do the idea and concept emerge. The project itself is usually developed over several months. Solutions for moving and replacing soils, proper drainage, selecting the plants themselves, the garden’s lighting scenario, furnishing, and sculptures as needed… A tree, like a sofa, cannot be moved several times if there is a mistake! Garden construction can stretch over several years. Depending on the size of the plants, we see the full picture in 2-5 years. If trees are planted, rather than just perennial flowering plants, it can take up to 20 years.

Women in Landscape Design

There are more women in this field. Men are mainly involved in the project implementation stage. In fact, there are not so many female landscape designers who can freely talk about drainage, storm sewers, and water drainage from the site during construction or the design phase. My engineering education and personal enthusiasm help me here. Sometimes, I arrive at a meeting with builders in a dress and shoes, then open the trunk, put on boots, and confidently go to the level (a tool for marking soil levels) to check the elevation marks!

The Joy of Problem-Solving

I love ideas. Asking questions like ‘how?’ and ‘why?’ and finding answers. I enjoy solving problems. In my projects, I love various technical issues, and I am responsible for them in the studio.

Inspiration and Trends

Inspiration is everywhere! For me, it is more about people and communication with them. I have a top list of designers whom I admire; I follow their work, actively comment, and ask questions. I always ask a lot of questions! My Instagram stories are full of links to various books, movies, and TV shows. Recently, I watched ‘Abstract: The Art of Design’ and ‘Chef’s Table.’ These are stories of professionals in their field. I watch and jot down ideas in my notebook, applying many of them. I am also very interested in architecture because plants are a tool for creating ‘rooms’ outdoors (similar to rooms and walls in a building). Now, in the studio, I sit alongside architects, and this brings a special atmosphere to the work.

Last year, I visited the famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2020. World-renowned garden designers, plant growing specialists, florists, and nursery representatives gather every year in one of the most charming and wealthy areas of London to showcase cutting-edge garden projects and inspiring floral exhibitions. A whole day was not enough to see everything. But I managed to visit many exhibition gardens. This is especially impressive considering that all people stand behind a fence, and you have the opportunity to examine all the details closely. We are planning a trip this year, and it will be for several days.

Recently, the Minsk Landscape Forum took place. Speakers from CIS countries and Europe come to this event every year to share their experiences, talk about figures and tools. This year, there were interesting topics: creating meadow plantings, creating sustainable plantations, planting large quantities of plants, creating garden scenarios. There was a master class on creating public space in Milan with designer Vittorio Peregalli and a master class on the ecology of vegetation design in urban greening with James Hitchmough. There was also a competition among landscape projects and implemented gardens, which is supervised by the Association of Landscape Industry Specialists of Belarus. This year, we prepared an unusual project with a focus on ecology and a careful attitude towards nature.

People have started paying more attention to ecology, and this is very pleasing. I hope that our work will help make the world a little greener and more beautiful.