Manoj Malde is living proof that you should always follow your dreams. Having worked in the fashion industry for almost 20 years, he decided to pursue his passion for plants, swapping haute couture for horticulture. Today he runs a successful design practice, works as a TV presenter and an RHS judge and, since 2022, has been the RHS’s ambassador for inclusivity. Not bad for a mid-life change of career.
Born in Kenya, Manoj grew up surrounded by plants. “Although we didn’t have a garden, we had this enormous balcony filled with roses, jasmine and colocasias,” he recalls. He and his family moved to the UK when he was six. “My brother started a veg patch in our new garden and I helped him. Then I became fascinated by houseplants and ornamentals.” Seeds were sown at a very early age.
All you need is to sow a seed. it creates a sense of delight and elation and empowers you
“I loved my job as creative director in fashion,” he continues, “but as time went on, I could see where the industry was heading. Quality was going down; everything became about margin.” Manoj gave up his career and enrolled at The English Gardening School in London in 2010. Less than a decade later, in 2017, he won a Silver-gilt medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for his garden, Beneath a Mexican Sky. Mediterranean plants were set against a backdrop of pink and orange adobe walls, beside an azure-blue pool. It was stylish and radiant, and different from the usual Chelsea offering. People loved it. Because he was born in Mombasa to Indian parents, Manoj says he is instinctively drawn to bold colours. “It’s part of my heritage,” he says, recalling the ginger lilies and bird of paradise plants of his youth, and his mother’s wardrobe full of striking saris. “Here in the UK we live in a grey climate; why would you want to add more grey tones?”
This year Manoj returns to Chelsea with another sparkling garden: the RHS and Eastern Eye Garden for Unity. This time, as well as displaying gorgeous colours and textures, the garden will act as a symbol of inclusivity and diversity. Full of hope and richly varied, it is inspired by Maya Angelou’s invocation to ‘be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud’.
Manoj wants as many people as possible to engage with the garden. That’s why he has included wide access points and signs in braille, why it features multicultural elements such handmade Indian cushions and a specially commissioned African tablecloth, and why it draws on symbolism from Islamic gardens. In keeping with its purpose, the garden will become a community space after Chelsea.
As its name suggests, Manoj’s show garden is about creating connection and cohesion. “On the ground, different-shaped slabs make up the pathway,” he explains. “These slabs represent a broken society, but the fact that they work as one path shows that when people come together and unite, they produce more solidity.”
Manoj takes his role as an RHS ambassador very seriously. He wants to encourage more people into gardening. “Doors are beginning to open. I want to see more of this happening. I’m hoping people will see me as an example. When someone says to me: ‘I can’t do that,’ I say to them: ‘If I did it, then so can you.’
Because he was born in Mombasa to Indian parents, Manoj says he is instinctively drawn to bold colours. “It’s part of my heritage,” he says
“As awful as the Coronavirus pandemic has been, it has also had its plus points. It’s made people realise that their outdoor space is precious. All you really need is to sow a seed. When you see the germination happening, it creates a sense of delight and elation and that in turn empowers you.
“You become responsible for this seedling and you carry on caring for it when it becomes a fully grown plant. That sort of connection with growing plants can have such a positive effect. We all lead busy lives. We are constantly on the go. Computers and mobile phones, they all produce stress, and the more that technology advances, the faster we’re expected to work. Gardening is a way of slowing down that frantic pace of life.
“My whole vision is about planting little seeds and hoping they will germinate. I would love to see businesses and organisations owned by people from the Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities sponsor gardens at Chelsea. And I’d like to see gardens within the main RHS gardens created by designers from other cultures and ethnicities.”
Manoj’s bright outlook is so catching there seems little doubt he will succeed. Positivity begets positivity. And ditto productivity. Manoj is incredibly busy. Not content with being a designer, show judge, ambassador and presenter, he’s also writing a book, to be published in spring 2024. As with all his endeavours, he is approaching this one with relish and his own unique creative flair. “I’m getting involved with the design, the cover, everything,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what you’re producing – you need to have that attention to detail.”
Manoj Malde is warm, fun and hugely likeable. But he is also a consummate professional who knows that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well – and always with a smile on your face.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Find out more about Manoj’s work at manojmaldegardendesign.co.uk