Phillip Withers
Phillip Withers is changing the way we consider the landscaping industry — through sustainability and looking back at local biodiversity.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
It’s Our Time was set to be a botanical installation with 3,000 native plants, inspired the Victorian natural landscape of The Great Ocean Road, with its stunning Otway and Warrnambool plains and Otway ranges. “We aimed to create a landscape that celebrates our remnant vegetation and natural, local materials,” landscape designer, Phillip Withers, reflected.
A local beach nearby to where his parents live in Torquay, (called Point Addis), triggered the ideas behind the work. “It was the first inspiration and research into the region which helped to solidify our idea of celebrating the local landscape,” Phillip continues. “[It led] us to researching and celebrating the biodiversity and importance of working our local natural environment.”
Unfortunately, as the world went into self-isolation and Melbourne placed a ban on gatherings of over 500 people, It’s Our Time, and the entire 2020 Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, was cancelled. However, as the critical ideas surrounding sustainable landscapes remain, never has there been a better time than to look online at the creators who have been paving the way for thought-provoking design.
Portsea Project (as pictured in first image) by Phillip Withers. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
“After travelling for some time, I came back to Melbourne to find myself working and learning the art of garden maintenance, it was in those years where I found my true passion of connecting with nature and plants,” says Phillip Withers. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
Take, for example, Phillip's attitude to zero waste. A crazy consideration when you reflect on the logistics in the horticultural industry. It’s Our Time was designed to educate the public on native plants, and for each sold, another would have been planted at the Nardoo Hills revegetation project in Northern Victoria. It also feeds into a wider-mindset of conserving water and preserving the soil ecology from pre-colonised Australia.
The sustainable landscape designer had always been interested in creating and nature from a young age. However, Phillip first studied fashion, screen printing and a dabble of design at Melbourne’s RMIT. But after some travelling, the designer returned to Melbourne and found himself doing some garden maintenance, re-sparking his love of the natural world. He enrolled in landscape design and sustainable design, and the rest was history — establishing Phillip Withers Landscape Design in 2012.
“We look for projects where the clients are looking for something more than just a beautiful landscape, and there is some respect given to the importance of biodiversity.”
Landscape design at The Design Files Open House in 2017 by Phillip Withers. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
The Design Files Open House in 2017. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
The Phillip Withers team in their Collingwood studio. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
“As our climate gets hotter and we face the challenges of climate change, it’s our time to start considering working with our environment and not against it.”
Fitzroy Residence designed by Phillip Withers. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
Portsea Project by Phillip Withers. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
“Once practising as a landscape designer, it was almost about feeding my passion into researching about ecology and the benefits we can make to our environment and building on our biodiversity,” Phillip reflects. “Now we push to educate our communities to move forward with a conscience when considering future development.”
Today, Phillip's proudest projects include urban locations like returning Melbourne's past diversity to Melbourne Central's Rooftop and a hotel walk arcade on Bourke St, as well as rural developments in Victoria's farmlands near the Twelve Apostles — restoring sites to their native landscapes.
Fundamentally through every project, the designer believes that we should be working locally to provide a sustainable industry, so we can continue loving and living on this earth—things like minimising water use, introducing flora to attract native fauna. “The ongoing benefits that it provides to our soil profile and air are the benefit that we all should be championing long term,” he adds — and something we should start sooner rather than later as we face unprecedented bush fires and extreme weather patterns.
The Cellar Door in Ringwood, designed by Phillip Withers. Photo - Etienne Mortier.