Ian Hutt - profile

Garden Design

Previously an IT professional, in 2004, Ian decided the time was right to to give up the daily commute and long working days. With an early interest in Structural and Civil Engineering and having recently transformed his rear garden, Ian decided to undertake a one year Garden Design course at Kingston University. Having realised that one year was not long enough to learn the skills of garden design, Ian went on to study for a further three more years at Capel Manor College in Gunnersbury Park, a specialised centre for Horticulture, to become a qualified Garden Designer, achieving a Capel Manor Diploma in Garden Design and Professional Practice and being awarded best student on his course in his final year.

2006 - 2008	Capel Manor College, Gunnersbury Park
	Planting Design and Garden Design, Principles and Practice
	Capel Manor Diploma in Garden Design and Professional Practice
	Certificate of Achievement for Best Student Garden Design, Principles and Practice
2006	Capel Manor College, Gunnersbury Park
	Green Heart Practical Gardener
	City & Guilds Horticultural Skills
2004 - 2005	Kingston University, Faculty of Art, Design & Music
	Garden Design Course

 

Previously On Life

Ian has 25 years experience in the IT industry, developing and project managing large computer applications for some of the worlds most prestigious media and financial institutions, including BBC TV, Reuters and Citigroup. Much of Ian's early work was at the cutting edge of computer graphics, including 5 years for the BBC Computer Graphics Workshop in late 80's/early 90's - you may have seen some of his work - the iconic Apple Macintosh based Vidiprinter used on BBC Grandstand during the 1990's, arguably the first standalone multimedia application ever to be regularly used on British television. By writing computer controlled presentation systems on behalf of a number of advertising agencies and large corporations long before Powerpoint was invented, Ian recognised that everything needed to be exactly as the client or graphic designer wished - there were no excuses for the computer being unable to present graphic based information exactly the right way. This is equally true when working as a Garden Designer.

Ian became involved in computers at his school. It is difficult to believe that it was not so long ago that computers were rare but things were soon to change. In 1981, the BBC launched the BBC Computer Literacy Project and before long, computers started to make their way into peoples homes. Ian played his part, teaming up with Tim Hartnell, an Australian journalist who sadly died in 1991. Tim was a best selling author of computer books and magazines who teamed up with specialists to write books which enthusiasts could use to program their own computer. Whilst studying for his BSc degree in Computer Science, Ian collaborated with Tim on three such books: The Giant Book of BBC Games (Fontana Publishing), 40 Best Machine Code Routines For The BBC Micro (Interface Publications) and the Acorn Reference Diary (Pitman Publishing).

During his teens, Ian was a very keen dinghy sailor spending much of his spare time at Thames Young Mariners in Ham, Surrey, being involved in teaching children and adults to become competent and safe sailors. At the age of 18, Ian became a fully qualified RYA Sailing Instructor, the youngest age that this qualification could be held. The training room was a 12 foot dinghy - one on one tuition was a way of life.

A career change to become a garden designer has allowed Ian to keep his hand in the computer graphics and IT solutions. It is an area that he still enjoys and is happy to pass on some of his experience that may benefit other garden designers.