Living Walls, Art of Green by Blanc

Patrick Blanc, an unusual combination of artist and scientist, pioneered the art of living walls, or vertical gardens in Paris.

"He’s a curious character because he is the symbiosis of a scientist, an artist and a communicator,” said Stéphane Martin, the director of the Quai Branly Museum. “He has created a personality with his green hair, a look and an image.”

Fascinated by plants that flourish without soil, he traveled to Malaysia and Thailand to observe how plants managed to grow on rocks and so began his career in botany as a researcher with the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris for 25 years.

He found a way of growing plants without soil, using a durable frame of metal, PVC and nonbiodegradable felt.  Without the weight of soil, vertical gardens can be installed on any wall in any climate. 

While he created dozens of these living walls around the world since 1988, he came to serious international attention with his 2001 mur vegetale in the courtyard of the Pershing Hall Hotel in Paris, commissioned by Andree Putman, the French interior decorator and designer.

Ms. Putman called his plant walls revolutionary. “It’s like a magic trick,” she said. “There is no soil in this operation, and yet the plants seem to grow faster. It creates a rather miraculous atmosphere.”

The New York Times featured him in All His Rooms Are Living Rooms by Kristin Hohenadel.

I like to reintegrate nature where one least expects it,” Mr. Blanc said as he sat at a table in his overgrown back garden, smoking a Vogue Menthol and drinking chilled white Jurançon.

“We live in an era where human activity is overwhelming,” he continued. “I think we can reconcile nature and man to a much greater degree. People become much more sensitive to nature when they suddenly see a plant wall in the Métro” — where he has not yet built a plant wall, but hopes to. “It calls out to them much more than plants in a garden.”
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“Humanity is living more and more in cities, and at odds with nature,” he said. “The plant wall has a real future for the well-being of people living in cities. The horizontal is finished — it’s for us. But the vertical is still free."

But note, he copyrights his walls like works of art.  Now,  imitators are springing up.

“In human society, as soon as there’s something new that seems to work, it’s normal that everyone wants to do it,” Mr. Blanc said. “It’s like what people said about Édith Piaf — around her, even the hobos wanted to be singers. If I’m imitated, it’s good.”

Environmental Graffiti tells the story of 15 Living Walls, Vertical Gardens & Sky Farms around the world.

What a wonderful way to create living art and beauty as well environmental benefits in cities everywhere.  Glorious. More please.

Patrick Blanc's website, absolutely gorgeous though it takes a while to load.