LOUIS BENECH, Landscape Architect

“Gardening is the best job…” asserts Louis Benech. After studying law, Benech apprenticed at England’s famous Hillier nursery, which gave him a grounding in botany.

Back on the continent, commissions piled up, including a job to redesign the Tuileries gardens in 1990. With his own agency and more than 150 completed projects, Benech is now working on the 5-star Trianon Palace in Versailles. His approach honors the place – its history, native vegetation and surrounding landscape – while he presents it in a new light.

In Benech’s poetic vision, a garden and its meaning change with time.

Recently awarded the Gold prize for Talent at the Luxury Summit, he modestly insists that he is not an artist: he simply works with nature’s abundance.