When’s the last time you fully embraced Mother Nature in all her glory? Not just treating the great outdoors as an idyllic backdrop, but savoring each branch, puddle, and root that comes your way? That’s exactly what RIOS sought to explore in its latest exhibition, aptly named “The Garden of Reciprocity.” As part of the 30th annual International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire — and the proud recipient of a “Design and Innovation Award” from the Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire — the international design collective artfully displays the ideal garden; a soothing sanctuary constructed to highlight the symbiotic relationship between humans and the lush landscape around them.
“We wanted to create a garden where visitors could lose themselves and then rediscover themselves in nature,” explains Jason Shinoda, design director at RIOS who spearheaded the project.
For this installation, RIOS deftly juxtaposed industrial hardscaping with natural elements, making it possible for guests to quite literally see themselves engulfed in the great outdoors. At the forefront of this project is an assortment of reflective surfaces such as mirror-finished stainless steel and water pools. “The mirrored totems create a sense of disorientation as you wander through the garden, reflecting fragments of the surrounding vegetation, water, and visitors,” Shinoda explains.
Upon arrival, guests walk through a portal of prismatic mirrored pillars and into the Forest of Symbiosis. As a field of medicinal, edible, and spiritually significant foliage—peppered with mirror prisms and reflective water pools—the agroforest offers quick glimpses of visitors and their surroundings.
Once guests arrive at the Circle of Reciprocity, a field of prisms arranged to face a central reflecting pool, they’ll become fully aware of the mutual relationship humans have with nature. The result? A meditative realization that all walks of life are interconnected — and a sense of responsibility to protect Mother Nature.
“The Garden of Reciprocity” is currently on view in Chaumont-sur-Loire, France, now until November 6.
Photography by Mark Luscombe-Whyte.
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