The landscape designer on the art of winning arguments, cycling to China, changing people’s preconceptions and refusing to be pigeonholed
WORDS JODIE JONES PORTRAIT ANDREW MONTGOMERY
PEOPLE WHO’S WHO
In an era obsessed with categorisation, John Wyer declines to be pigeonholed. He is an accomplished designer, writer, artist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, a keen cyclist, voracious reader and obsessive home cook.
But, because the company he established 30 years ago also builds gardens, he tends to be labelled as a landscaper. “I think that is true, at least outside the industry,” he says, “but it doesn’t bother me. I’ve never really conformed to a type.”
Growing up in south London as the middle child of five, this tendency mainly took the form of arguing. “In fact, our whole family was known for it. Dinnertimes could get quite lively. We would argue about everything, from politics to religion, to who was going to borrow the car. I was brought up to question the world.”
At school, his endless questions were not always welcomed by teachers trying to herd their pupils towards academic success. “I spent a good ten years not doing what I was told, and as a result failed every exam I took during that period.”
Instead of taking notes, he spent lessons sketching plans for landscapes. “Architecture, vistas and revealed views always interested me – the relationship between experienced landscape and geometry. I love geometry… For me it’s a way of seeing and structuring the world.”
Thanks to an unusually enlightened school careers advisor, he was guided towards a degree in landscape architecture. “I didn’t even know it was a career option, but I applied for four different courses and, despite not having the grades, I got offers from all four on the strength of my interviews.”
He chose Manchester Metropolitan University, where he continued to argue and continued to fail every exam. “My supervisor said I was the best student in the year and begged me to stop debating and do some actual work.” Needless to say, he didn’t, but he did spend his year out de facto running the landscape department at Lancaster City Council when the two permanent staff both went on maternity leave, and, following a (failed) post-grad diploma, walked into a job in the prestigious design department at Clifton Nurseries.
This famously upmarket and expensive west London nursery was in some ways an unlikely fit for a politically left-leaning nonconformist, but John loved it. �
