We exclusively design projects to bring the best solution to our customers. Our creativity allows us to offer an identity to the garden of your dreams. We are used to working with our customers to meet their expectations. For example, if a client wants a certain type of landscaping, our role is to present a project in line with the budget they will submit to us.
The landscape architect plays a key role in the landscape design process because he knows how to work in space.
The landscape architect will lead the teams and ensure the success of your garden project. The landscape architect works as the architect for your home, he knows how to use space, how to create volumes, how to divide space, how to create different places etc.
We are used to working with a foreign clientele and therefore all reports are done by email with a sending of photos that justify the progress of the work.
For more than 25 years, BDM has been creating Mediterranean gardens with the testimonies of its clients. Over time, customers have become friends whore commend her work for her creativity and seriousness, and especially for this “French elegance” as they say.
The landscape profession is very broad, since it encompasses everything that has appealed to the landscape. It ranges from the pruner to the phyto xxx, from the plant cutter to the draughtsman, from the acrobat that climbs to dizzying heights to the brush cutter, from the design office to the garden company.
Most of them don’t have time to put the drawing, or the mass plan. They are garden companies, not design offices.
The first thing to do is to make sure that the person you contact is a professional who exactly matches your need.
Also make sure that it is properly insured, this will save you many inconveniences.
When you meet » your» draughtsman for the first time, it must be about alchemy, because we will work side by side to carry out the project that is dear to your heart. Trust has to be set up automatically to achieve perfect achievement.
We create a lawn, a massif and therefore a garden since we realize it, but there is no question of creativity.
We have always worked with an international clientele who are constantly on the move and who are very keen to know how the project is progressing. It is our practice to prepare a report 2-3 times a week with supporting photos to assess the progress of the work.
Authentic. Because the Mediterranean garden is by definition authentic, clean and can also play with a contemporary mix depending on the place and the villa.
It is always a pleasure to explain the reasons for the “creation” of a “creative” garden. Why the arrangement is placed in this way rather than another, why such plants according to the richness or constraint of the place.
Every where we’re asked. The offices are based on the French Riviera, and we can work anywhere in the world where people are eager to experience the authenticity of the Mediterranean garden.
We can help you with your project all over the world. Communication is no longer a problem thanks to e-mails, plans and drawings as well. We will come and meet you if you wish.
All the teams I work with know the quality I ask of them.
We are used to responding to all the demands of our clients and for this, we surround our selves with various teams who intervene according to the needs of the project: digger, ironworker, paver, tiler, bricklayer, pool constructor, carpenter etc… Each of mypartnersknows how important itis to create a garden for twenty or thirty years and often more.
I used to say that Beauty is in the detail.
We are required to deliver construction sites of out standing quality. It is the signature of the house and for this, we must demand the maximum quality for the realization of the works and so that the shedule is well rhythmed between each corps of trades when the construction site is carried out. That is why we are not working with companies, but with partners with whom we are used to working.
You have to make sure that your approach is the right one because we will go a long way together. You must be convinced of the time, money and worries you will save by using a qualified study office.
Most people are looking to save themselves from a landscape consultant, a design firm or a landscape architect, because they are convinced that they have this “famous know-how”!
Most choose the shortest way between their garden and the local nursery, to make a well-calculated economy! … because we can witness the number of gardens to be taken back after many attempts. But the harm is done! The money and the time have already been spent and every thing still needs to be done.
We discuss your way of life, the places you particularly love, depending on the hours of the day. We are convinced that the garden must look like the occupants. Your garden must look like you.
We are discussing your desires…and your budget.
The design of a garden must take into account many constraints: the nature of the soil, the climate, sunshine, slope etc. and it is all these constraints that will allow the design office to propose a solution that you will not see anywhere else since your property is unique thanks to these constraints.
The customer, on the other hand, has only one constraint and the budget is huge! That is why it is always important to define it from the first appointment.
It takes about one or two hours. It can be longer if it is necessary.
Of course! Brigitte DEMATTEIS will be the reference contact for your project. From the first appointment, to the turn key garden, Brigitte DEMATTEIS takes charge of everything, the choice of plants and their location on the ground according to the mass plan.
Different options are available to the customer. Some people want a mass plan accompanied by the preliminary projects to realize their own garden, it is extremely rare but it happened! I wouldn’t say it had to be done every time, but it’s an option the customer can look at if they want to…. and if he think she has the famous know-how!
BDM has a very special way of working on preliminary projects. It offers more realistic photo editing than if the project were carried out.
People love architect’s designs but rarely know how to interpret them. In fact, it was following a very large 18 hectare property that Brigitte was confronted with this problem for the first time. The customer’s request was for a landscaped pool located on a huge hill overlooking St Tropez Bay and the more drawings were provided, the less the customer understood. It is in the face of such an inability to communicate that BDM discovered this method almost by chance, which has now be come its signature for a long time. Thus , the customer no longer has to project and imagine his future space but simply to look at it.
Several drafts are always presented from different angles, all equally aesthetically and technically compatible. To date, it has never happened that a single draft has been rejected, since BDM proposes a large number.
Our offices are contacted for all types of landscaping, from the largest to the smallest, from 18 hectares to 4 m2 for the pharmacy of Cabris, because for us, there are no small or large gardens but simply people who are tired of making mistakes and who finally want to have a real garden on which they will never come back.
Of course. The client is the owner of the drafts and the mass plan provided by the design office. Just as you can choose your mason’s teams to build your house according to the architect’s plans, the customer can do the same for his garden, with or without a construction site follow-up. All solutions are possible since the goal is to satisfy the customer’s request.
This is what is achieved in 99% of cases because directing the project from beginning to end allows the client to avoid all the pitfalls, time wasted, errors, bad choices, inappropriate technicality and many other things.
A mason will have a hand to mount the stone walls, the painter has a brush stroke and a palette that are his own, the landscaper that I am will position the plants with «sound» and it is this turn of hand that will give the soul of the Garden
The design of a small space is just as difficult to achieve as the design of a huge space. The technique is as you understand, diametrically opposite and just as interesting. The advantage of a large garden, is that it renders in a more grandiloquent way the design work of the landscape owner, therefore his creativity.
The mass plan shall be accompanied by the designation of the plants and a quantitative description. This is a rather precise list since this description also notes the strength of the plants that the landscape architect wants to place in the future garden and it is this combination that allows to quantify the cost of the garden. The enterprise of gardens (as well as the mason with the architect) will rely on this designation to provide the estimate accompanied by the various other estimates of lighting, watering, masonry.
The work of Brigitte DEMATTEIS’ office proposes “her” signature by her hyper-realistic drafts. Many preliminary projects are proposed only for portals, entrances, swimming pools, pool houses, in fact various places of the property. Many guests who want to build a swimming pool wonder what is the most suitable place of the garden for this future location. They are afraid of making a mistake and they are right. This is how I work in partnership with the pool constructors in order to allow their clients to choose in peace the future shape, the future color of the water, the future location of their pool.
Yes. It is important to work without surprises. From the first appointment, everything is notified and quantified with the amount of fees to be collected. My work only begins with the client’s agreement.
To that question, I have to give several answers. There are different degrees of study for this profession, which is very poorly protected.
Recently, the gardener became a landscaper (which is normal since he works in the landscape) and, as a result, the design offices had to be different. As a result, we have seen a number of new “names” appear as landscape planners, gardeners and landscapers, and I certainly forget some.
The landscape architect has a diploma that certifies certain skills as the apprentice landscaper will have at the end of his studies a certificate. Many are mostly self-taught like me, and in this regard, in my defense, I would like to explain that I never had the slightest regret to consider myself a full-fledged landscape architect, This is to the extent that I can say that creativity is not taught at school and proof of this is with the very best landscapers on the planet who have given me this same path.
To conclude this chapter, I will make a comparison with the starry chefs who make our gastronomy known around the world. All these big names are nothing more or less than creative people, who have learnt from their grandmother for some, from their former bosses for others…. and the others … a little less starry, also make food… with a little less creativity.
Yes, we can do that.
We charge monthly based on the progress of the design work.
Brigitte DEMATTEIS gives you a rough idea of the budget based on your design expectations.
We offer you options and alternatives. We will never impose them on you. You are free to choose the cheapest and keep control over your investment.
The first appointment is free. Travel costs may be charged and then deductible upon signature of the project. If travel abroad is to be considered, reasonable costs should be considered.
From our first appointment, the amount of the fees of the design office will be proposed and the client will have time for the reflection he wishes. As soon as the agreement is signed and a deposit is made, the work of the design office on the preliminary projects can Begin.
We are used to working in harmony with the nurseries of the region and this according to the place of landscaping. Depending on the size of the project, we travel to Italy or Spain to choose the plants and the subjects of exception ourselves.
These are two completely different trades. The architect works the forms and volumes. The landscape architect works the forms and volumes with living matter, that is, it is essential to know the fate of the plants placed in such a place to obtain the desired effect, and know how to play with shadow and light. That is why I always say that creating a garden is a “living” art.
The architect and landscaper often work hand in hand because the garden is the extension of the house. The two are hardly inseparable.
The BDM gardens have the signature of the Mediterranean garden, that is a garden always green since the Mediterranean climate allows to work with evergreen plants. Brigitte Dematteis is always keen to point out that a garden is created with a base of about twenty plants and that it is the different associations that each time present different aspects of the garden. This is evidenced when looking at BDM creations. No garden is alike, each one offers its own soul while the plants used are always the same in any variant.
The comparison can be made with the masterpieces of French cuisine. All these star-studded chefs … and others work with the same ingredient base. The only difference is “creativity”.
Of course and gladly since the basic structure will be made. Your prefered plants will easily find their place in an environment designed for them. And thanks to the preliminary projects, you will understand the potential of your future garden with your prefered plants if you wish.
The drafts will thus confirm the style you want.
The preliminary project allows dialogue, exchange with the customer. The mass plan is purely technical. Drawn by hand, to the good old Rotring, it allows to «put» the technical reflections on the paper and will allow each trade to provide a precise estimate then afterwards, during the realization of the garden to lead and coordinate teams.
A couple of weeks to three weeks from our agreement. The preliminary projects will thus allow a dialogue between the customer and the landscaper. The customer on one side understands the different ways of treating his garden and the landscaper notes the customer’s preferences. This purely creative stage of the pre-projects will allow us to move on to the next stage, the technical stage, that of the mass plan.
