Light display opens Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular

26 October 2012

Spectacular light display opens Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular

Spectacular illuminated shapes of flowers, spheres and cones featuring designs by the artistically renowned Peranakan culture of South East Asia have opened this year’s Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular running from October 26 to November 4.

In celebration of the 10-day Garden Festival’s 25th anniversary, it will be the first time more than 50 of the Peranakan Lights are exhibited in New Zealand and the second showing world wide after first wowing crowds at the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix earlier in the year.

Created from a collaboration between Singaporean artist Sarah Martin and Italian artist Paolo Maimone, the Lights are inflated, illuminated shapes screen printed with designs of traditional Peranakan art - renowned for its rich and opulent designs in ceramics, embroidery, screen-printing and architecture.

“We collaborated to bring what is the essence of a dying culture and present them through lights – to light up this culture,” explains artist Sarah Martin.

Celebrating its 25th year as a garden festival, the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular will offer visitors the unique opportunity to visit 50 of New Zealand’s most stunning private and public gardens located right around Taranaki.

One gardener who has been with the Festival for all its 25 years says visitor expectations are now very high, says Jenny Oakley of Oakley Garden in South Taranaki.

“Visitors really want to see quality gardens and be wowed by what they can’t do themselves,” explains Jenny.

“Most people don’t have or have time for a high maintenance garden, so they really appreciate lots of variety, colour and flowers – visitors always respond to flowers. In the early days of the Festival, visitors used to rush around and see as many gardens as they could. Now they take their time and spend one to two hours admiring each garden.”

Visitors to this year’s Festival will enjoy strolling through large park-like country gardens, geometric and intimate inner city potager gardens, sub-tropical and rainforest gardens.

As New Zealand’s Premier Spring Festival, visitors can experience an extensive events programme featuring TV gardening stars, Lynda Hallinan and Tony Murrell, a stunning fashion show, guided walks and a garden speaker series and much more.

The Peranakan Lights is this year’s unique Landscape Design Project supported with funding from the TSB Community Trust. Also supporting this project is power generation company Agrekko and Hooker Pacific transport company.

The Lights have been installed in New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park in the area known as the Brooklands Lawn enabling anyone to come and enjoy what will be an impressive first for New Zealand, says Festival manager, Lisa Ekdahl.

“Each year, the Landscape Design Project aims to add a completely new dimension to the Festival,” says Lisa.

“Day or night, the Peranakan Lights will simply be a stunning visual experience for locals as well as the thousands of visitors who attend the Festival – and will be on until 11pm every night of the Festival.”

For more information, visit www.gardenfestnz.co.nz or enquiries@gardenfestnz.co.nz

ENDS

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