Rivi Oren - Landscape Architecture

“A person is imprinted with the image of his native land.”

This quote is from Shaul Tchernichowsky, a renowned poet and doctor who emigrated from Russia to Palestine in the 1930s.

My imprint is from my father’s tiny terraced garden in which he grew more than 30 kinds of grapes, 15 different fruit trees as well as vegetables and flowers.

In one corner he built the most progressive and inventive home for chickens, ducks and a peacock, and in another he stored giant green bottles in which he made wine and experimented with making fruit liquors.

In this tiny property my father, who dreamed of becoming a self-sufficient Jewish farmer in the promised land, fulfilled his fantasies after his soul and health were crushed by the Holocaust.

As a little girl, I was more curious about what the garden meant to him than about the garden itself. How happy and at peace the garden made my father.

My journey to find my way of expressing my interests and talents took me first to study social sciences and history and only later in life did I realize that I enjoyed helping people find their particular way of finding peace and happiness in their gardens.

Through traveling, studying cultures, art, style and fashion, I learned how varied the roads are to creating wonderful gardens.

In my work, I become a sort of a chameleon. I focus first on the people, their native land and cultural associations. I consider their lifestyle and the natural characteristics of the land and the architecture of their home and community.

Only then do I improvise like a jazz player with a style that suits the particular person. The end result, I hope, is a garden as uniquely personal as each person’s song.

The most demanding, yet tantalizing aspect of garden design for me is to create a flow of ever changing buds and blooms of trees, shrubs and flowers in the ever changing seasons and natural conditions.

The image that often comes to my mind is of directing a play or opera, in which actors get up to play their parts at specific times in specific combinations, sometimes dominating the stage in colorful eloquence and at other times supporting with resounding silence.

A living, natural theater to be enjoyed by an audience of one in peace or of many in celebration.

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		“A person is imprinted with the image of his native land.” This quote is from Shaul Tchernichowsky, a renowned poet and doctor who emigrated from Russia to Palestine in the 1930s. My imprint is from my father’s tiny terraced garden in which he grew more than 30 kinds of grapes, 15 different fruit trees as well as vegetables and flowers. In one corner he built the most progressive and inventive home for chickens, ducks and a peacock, and in another he stored giant green bottles in which he made wine and experimented with making fruit liquors. In this tiny property my father, who dreamed of becoming a self-sufficient Jewish farmer in the promised land, fulfilled his fantasies after his soul and health were crushed by the Holocaust. As a little girl, I was more curious about what the garden meant to him than about the garden itself. How happy and at peace the garden made my father. My journey to find my way of expressing my interests and talents took me first to study social sciences and history and only later in life did I realize that I enjoyed helping people find their particular way of finding peace and happiness in their gardens. Through traveling, studying cultures, art, style and fashion, I learned how varied the roads are to creating wonderful gardens. In my work, I become a sort of a chameleon. I focus first on the people, their native land and cultural associations. I consider their lifestyle and the natural characteristics of the land and the architecture of their home and community. Only then do I improvise like a jazz player with a style that suits the particular person. The end result, I hope, is a garden as uniquely personal as each person’s song. The most demanding, yet tantalizing aspect of garden design for me is to create a flow of ever changing buds and blooms of trees, shrubs and flowers in the ever changing seasons and natural conditions. The image that often comes to my mind is of directing a play or opera, in which actors get up to play their parts at specific times in specific combinations, sometimes dominating the stage in colorful eloquence and at other times supporting with resounding silence. A living, natural theater to be enjoyed by an audience of one in peace or of many in celebration.