About
Studio Stassen was founded by Caroline Stassen. Caroline brings her unique perspective to garden design, shaped by her life-long interest in art and design along with a background in environmental engineering.
After graduating from university with a Masters in Engineering, Caroline began her career working in the construction industry at a world-leading architecture, engineering, and landscape design practice. As a Chartered Engineer, she went on to run a successful engineering design consultancy working alongside architects and interior designers from the field of luxury retail and luxury residential. From this experience, she developed a deep understanding of form, precision, attention to detail and the art of creating inspiring spaces.
Running her own small business further reinforced the importance of quality control; producing accurate drawings and documents so as not to leave contractors guessing- guessing on price, guessing on materials or guessing on details.
Despite her success in her engineering career, big changes were on the horizon. And now, over to Caroline to share some of the personal motivations that led to the change:
“It was the sudden loss of my mother while pregnant that made me pause and reevaluate what truly brought me joy and fulfillment. I had always loved design, balance and composition- and the art of making places and spaces look and feel better. I have also always shared my mother’s love of gardening and plants, and have been lucky enough to live in houses with outdoor spaces to allow me to feed my passion for garden design along the way. Marrying those two disciplines made complete sense. In fact, the answer was always staring me in the face.
People often remark that engineering and art are so diametrically opposed. Having ‘lived’ both, I know they truly are very complementary. Form, composition, balance, creativity, and flow are all key components of both disciplines.
Now I am able to bring all of that passion, and all of my construction experience to every garden I design.”
– Caroline Stassen