Leonie Cornelius wears many different hats. She is a garden designer, interior architect, author, newspaper columnist and makes regular TV appearances discussing all things green fingered. Naturally, with all this going on, Leonie leads a somewhat hectic life. But, it was in fact deciding to take a step back that allowed her to identify new opportunities.
“It was one of those situations where I was so, so busy,” explains Leonie. “I just felt like I was going to get burnt out. I was doing way too much. I have a young son who is 12 soon and I just thought, that’s not what I want my focus in life to be; to be too busy to do stuff. I just forced myself to leave a bit of space in life. It’s funny, because that’s when you start seeing other opportunities. That’s exactly when the GOAL thing came to fruition.”
Leonie Cornelius.
Now an ambassador with GOAL, Leonie is involved in a number of projects with the charity, the most recent of which is their “What On Earth” globes. For this, 100 white, polycarbonate, resin globes were given to 100 different people, who could decorate them as they liked, singly or as part of a team. These artworks are now complete and will be auctioned off on Wednesday 21 November, with all proceeds going to GOAL.
The garden designer says that for her, collaboration is key, so she decided to work with her former boss and good friend, jewellery designer Martina Hamilton. Their globe is covered in 23 caret gold leaf and adorned in places with small sterling silver daisies. As an extra boost for GOAL, these two creative ladies turned their daises into necklaces, which are sold in House of Ireland and online at www.martinahamilton.ie.
As a garden designer, Leonie is no stranger to Bloom in the Park. Having won a chance to exhibit there in 2012 as champion of RTÉ’s Super Garden (a programme she went on to judge), Leonie took a prestigious gold medal at Bloom. Next year it’s likely she will design GOAL’s garden for the event. There is much talk of it being based on a trip to Africa she will undertake with the charity.
Leonie Cornelius.
Leitrim landscape
Although it’s from Africa she is planning to take inspiration for her next Bloom project, a lot of Leonie’s creativity originates closer to home. Born in Germany, Leonie moved to Leitrim with her family at the age of seven. Even though she lived in London and Wicklow for a spell, it’s back to Leitrim she returned with her son Armando.
Both this landscape and her native Germany greatly influence her design. “The Leitrim landscape is a huge inspiration for me. If I was working in Dublin, I wouldn’t be looking at it as much as if I was doing something locally, but that sort of wild natural feel will always find its way into my gardens.
“I think one of the other things that crops up in my design too is architecture, because I studied it. I’m originally from Germany and the architecture there would be quite clean, crisp and geometric. I would always have some sort of structure that is very clean, modern and beautifully detailed, to combine with the softness of the real landscape.”
As for her own garden at home, well it looks particularly like Leitrim. “My mother actually has donkeys on some of the land beside my house. So a lot of it’s just Leitrim landscape with the donkeys hanging out. Then I have certain sections fenced off where I have planting. I use it often as my laboratory,” she laughs.
Leonie Cornelius and Martina Hamilton.
The garden path
Clearly, gardening and design are huge passions of Leonie’s, but plants and planning didn’t always feature in the Bloom winner’s career path, even though it was always in her blood. Leonie’s mother is a keen gardener and her grandmother a pharmacist who kept plant journals.
Initially, Leonie wanted to be a singer and studied music management, but only because her mother insisted she get a qualification.
“Then, I realised music wasn’t for me,” she says thoughtfully. “That I wanted to be more creative in terms of art and design. So I studied interior architecture.
“The year I finished college we went into recession in Ireland. A lot of people were losing their jobs, particularly architects and architectural technicians. It was just one of those times when it was impossible to get good jobs and I wanted to be creative. I didn’t want to be doing septic tank designs or planning drawings as such. I was a bit lost. I was thinking, what would make my offer a bit different to other people’s?”
Leonie decided she would complement the interior with the exterior, going on to study garden design as part of a distance learning course. From there, she immediately went on to win Super Garden and Bloom. And the rest, as they say, is history. But a very busy history at that.
The What On Earth globes are touring different locations around the country in the coming weeks. For more information on this and the project as a whole, see
www.goalwhatonearth.ie
Read more
Room To Bloom: meet award-winning garden designer Leonie Cornelius
Agri Aware celebrates agriculture with its unique Bloom Garden
Leonie Cornelius wears many different hats. She is a garden designer, interior architect, author, newspaper columnist and makes regular TV appearances discussing all things green fingered. Naturally, with all this going on, Leonie leads a somewhat hectic life. But, it was in fact deciding to take a step back that allowed her to identify new opportunities.
“It was one of those situations where I was so, so busy,” explains Leonie. “I just felt like I was going to get burnt out. I was doing way too much. I have a young son who is 12 soon and I just thought, that’s not what I want my focus in life to be; to be too busy to do stuff. I just forced myself to leave a bit of space in life. It’s funny, because that’s when you start seeing other opportunities. That’s exactly when the GOAL thing came to fruition.”
Leonie Cornelius.
Now an ambassador with GOAL, Leonie is involved in a number of projects with the charity, the most recent of which is their “What On Earth” globes. For this, 100 white, polycarbonate, resin globes were given to 100 different people, who could decorate them as they liked, singly or as part of a team. These artworks are now complete and will be auctioned off on Wednesday 21 November, with all proceeds going to GOAL.
The garden designer says that for her, collaboration is key, so she decided to work with her former boss and good friend, jewellery designer Martina Hamilton. Their globe is covered in 23 caret gold leaf and adorned in places with small sterling silver daisies. As an extra boost for GOAL, these two creative ladies turned their daises into necklaces, which are sold in House of Ireland and online at www.martinahamilton.ie.
As a garden designer, Leonie is no stranger to Bloom in the Park. Having won a chance to exhibit there in 2012 as champion of RTÉ’s Super Garden (a programme she went on to judge), Leonie took a prestigious gold medal at Bloom. Next year it’s likely she will design GOAL’s garden for the event. There is much talk of it being based on a trip to Africa she will undertake with the charity.
Leonie Cornelius.
Leitrim landscape
Although it’s from Africa she is planning to take inspiration for her next Bloom project, a lot of Leonie’s creativity originates closer to home. Born in Germany, Leonie moved to Leitrim with her family at the age of seven. Even though she lived in London and Wicklow for a spell, it’s back to Leitrim she returned with her son Armando.
Both this landscape and her native Germany greatly influence her design. “The Leitrim landscape is a huge inspiration for me. If I was working in Dublin, I wouldn’t be looking at it as much as if I was doing something locally, but that sort of wild natural feel will always find its way into my gardens.
“I think one of the other things that crops up in my design too is architecture, because I studied it. I’m originally from Germany and the architecture there would be quite clean, crisp and geometric. I would always have some sort of structure that is very clean, modern and beautifully detailed, to combine with the softness of the real landscape.”
As for her own garden at home, well it looks particularly like Leitrim. “My mother actually has donkeys on some of the land beside my house. So a lot of it’s just Leitrim landscape with the donkeys hanging out. Then I have certain sections fenced off where I have planting. I use it often as my laboratory,” she laughs.
Leonie Cornelius and Martina Hamilton.
The garden path
Clearly, gardening and design are huge passions of Leonie’s, but plants and planning didn’t always feature in the Bloom winner’s career path, even though it was always in her blood. Leonie’s mother is a keen gardener and her grandmother a pharmacist who kept plant journals.
Initially, Leonie wanted to be a singer and studied music management, but only because her mother insisted she get a qualification.
“Then, I realised music wasn’t for me,” she says thoughtfully. “That I wanted to be more creative in terms of art and design. So I studied interior architecture.
“The year I finished college we went into recession in Ireland. A lot of people were losing their jobs, particularly architects and architectural technicians. It was just one of those times when it was impossible to get good jobs and I wanted to be creative. I didn’t want to be doing septic tank designs or planning drawings as such. I was a bit lost. I was thinking, what would make my offer a bit different to other people’s?”
Leonie decided she would complement the interior with the exterior, going on to study garden design as part of a distance learning course. From there, she immediately went on to win Super Garden and Bloom. And the rest, as they say, is history. But a very busy history at that.
The What On Earth globes are touring different locations around the country in the coming weeks. For more information on this and the project as a whole, see
www.goalwhatonearth.ie
Read more
Room To Bloom: meet award-winning garden designer Leonie Cornelius
Agri Aware celebrates agriculture with its unique Bloom Garden
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: