The image of artificial grass has,
for most of its history, not been one associated with aesthetics. Rather the
product,which was first commercialised by the Astroturf Company as a playing
surface for sport in the 1960’s, has long been a byword for crude fakery; the
sort of product one expects to see lining the windows of their local
greengrocer.
But times have changed and with major advances in the artificial grass manufacturing process, the plastic greens of
the sports world have shed their old image and are now making serious inroads
into our very own English gardens. With our sales up 40% year on year and many others
in the industry reporting similar growth, fake grass for the domestic market has
defied the recession and steadily grown in popularity, thanks in no small part to
a complete PR overhaul of its once gimmicky reputation.
Realism vs
Perfectionism
The takeup in the domestic market
has been driven largely by the product’s perennial appeal of low maintenance and
durability. Of course key to artificial grass’s recent success is the product’s
increased realism to both sight and touch. But could there be another element to
this visual appeal? Could it be that realism isn’t the only aesthetic motivator
here?
As human’s we’re drawn to
symmetry and perfection in art but also in nature. Artificial grass’s level of
realism has clearly crossed a boundary of aesthetic acceptability but at the
same time there is a curious sense of perfection that a real grass lawn could never
hope to portray? I think artificial grass’s visual appeal is in large part to
do with the image of unobtainability it projects; a sort of idealised but
ultimately dreamlike vision of what we would all like our real grass lawns to
look like all year round, come rain or shine. Perhaps this also then explains the
continued hostility to it. To some people, fake grass is simply cheating. But if
we can’t obtain perfectly manicured evergreen lawns naturally, then surely it’s
human nature to innovate and imitate.
Made in
Chelsea
Fake grass’s slow trudge into social
acceptability has born fruits in the most unlikely of places. In 2010 the Chelsea Flower Show allowed Easigrass and landscape designer Tony Smith to enter a display featuring artificial grass. Two years later we returned to
win a Gold Medal with Tony and ‘Green with…’ Despite undoubtedly causing a fair
few noses to turn upwards in the process, the display won plaudits from judges
and the public alike.
As far removed as the Chelsea Flower
Show is from the common English garden, it does represent a cultural turning
point for artificial grass (our sales undoubtedly rose as a direct result). The aesthetics
of the artificial used in Tony’s 2012 display, which showed tulips, orchids and
ferns in a cage lined with artificial grass, created a stark contrast but also
at the same time stark symmetry.
The flowers have all been seen as
objects of desire and indeed envy at different periods in history. Perhaps the
artificial grass of Tony’s display represented the future. Our gardens, like
our homes, are projections of our tastes and our fashions and ourselves. For
all the utilitarian advantages of artificial grass over the real thing, I
wonder if there isn’t something deeper at play here. Could it be that alongside
the natural life cycle of nature there’s something intrinsically human in our
desire to evoke the enviable aesthetic perfection of an everlasting lawn.
About the
Author:
Anthony Gallagher is Managing Director of Easigrass Group, a network of award-winning artificial grass franchisees and
international licensed partners. Under his stewardship Easigrass became the
first artificial grass company in the world to exhibit at the Chelsea Flower
Show with designer Tony Smith in 2012 before going on to win a Gold Medal in
2012. You can follow Easigrass on Twitter,
Facebook or
visit their YouTube channel.
Search Term :
No comments:
Post a Comment