About Anthony Archer Wills - Sculptor of Rock and Water.
Anthony Archer-Wills works earth and water to create environments that indulge the imagination, and delight the senses.
Inspired as a schoolchild watching water well up from the ground in the woods, and influenced by Roberto Burle Marx of Brazil, who used architectural materials, curving water shapes and mass plantings on a large scale to “paint the landscape,” Anthony began designing water gardens in the 1960s.
A true pioneer and artisan, he developed new water gardening techniques while completing his first large-scale projects for Safari Parks in England, and Bear Park in Scotland. By the mid-1970s, his techniques were adopted worldwide as the industry standard for building water gardens.
Anthony has gone on to create more than 2,000 water features in Great Britain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Turkey UAE and North and South America, Turkey, as well as the United States.
He is the author of The Water Gardener, Water Power and Designing Water Gardens, which have been published in five languages.
A charismatic speaker and teacher, Anthony has lectured for the British Association of Landscape Industries, Kew Gardens, the Chelsea Physic Garden, the New York Botanic Garden as well as numerous universities, colleges, garden societies throughout the U.K. and U.S.
He has been featured on several radio broadcasts, and on BBC television. In 2008, he received the Watershapes, Joseph McCloskey Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Art and Craft of Watershaping. In 2013 he received the award of distinction from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. He frequently contributes articles to a host of periodicals, including Elle Decoration, The Four Seasons, Country Living, Gardens Illustrated, London Sunday Times Magazine, Water Garden News and Ponds magazine.
Acknowledgments
Few great works in landscape architecture can be accomplished without a great team. Anthony would like to acknowledge the huge contribution made by those who have been involved in the creation of some of the works shown in these pages.
Many thanks are extended to:
- The English garden designer the late Anthea Gibson, for her magical formal gardens.
- The late John Brookes, for his unique blend of formal and naturalistic gardens.
- Lynden Miller, Rosemary Verey and Christoper Lloyd, for their delightful insight into plant associations.
- Designer the late David Rathbun, for his exceptionally beautiful naturalistic designs with rock and water.
- Contractors Waterlands Productions and David B. Duensing & Associates, Inc., for their efficiency and professionalism.
Before and After
During
During.
After
Water Gardens
From the water’s source, to its course and final destination, Anthony Archer-Wills masterfully shapes the water world.
He brings to his craft a strong foundation in historic water garden design, an original artistic vision, and a keen ability to emulate nature.
From formal water gardens in his native England, to large estate works and private gardens for residences small and grand, the scope of Archer-Wills’ work, his influence and pioneering building techniques span several continents.
His body of work is widely lauded, described as “some of the most stunning compositions in rocks, plants and earth ever created by anyone, anywhere.”
He enjoys working closely with clients to develop a cost-effective scheme appropriate to their setting.
Natural Garden
Rock Garden Designed and built from an area of flat land.
Water Garden
Formal Gardens
Formal water features, with their symmetry and reflective qualities, create a restful and classic scene. Fitting for both traditional or contemporary architecture and grounds, they can be used to create or highlight a focal point in the garden.
Archer-Wills has created hundreds of formal water gardens throughout Europe and the Americas for private residences, estates, commercial and public areas. Each shows his tremendous scope for ingenuity and originality in designs for pools, ponds and other areas of still water.
Informal GARDENS
It is said that man cannot improve upon nature. Emulating nature successfully with a man-made water garden can be the most exacting and rewarding of all design and construction projects.
Called “the poet laureate of naturalistic water gardens” by WaterShapes magazine editor Eric Herman, Archer-Wills indeed succeeds at taking nature’s example. It is here that his artistry especially shines.
Archer-Wills’ ability to create naturalistic ponds and waterfalls begins with his knowledge of their underlying geologies. And like formal water features and waterfalls, natural designs should be integrated with the surrounding grounds. The possible designs, scale and sites are almost infinite.
WATERFALLS AND STREAMS
Formal water features, with their symmetry and reflective qualities, create a restful and classic scene. Fitting for both traditional or contemporary architecture and grounds, they can be used to create or highlight a focal point in the garden.
Archer-Wills has created hundreds of formal water gardens throughout Europe and the Americas for private residences, estates, commercial and public areas. Each shows his tremendous scope for ingenuity and originality in designs for pools, ponds and other areas of still water.
See Archer-Wills' design competition submission for the Burnham Memorial at Chicago's Field Museum.