Los Angeles-based Landscape Designer John Sharp Creates Outdoor Oases in Historic Homes and Contemporary Properties for Celebrity Clientele
A contemporary eye, a poetic spirit, an innovative approach and a disruptive style: John Sharp’s work is multifaceted and imaginative, customizing landscapes to their unique environs. Aiming to extend living spaces beyond the great indoors, he tells botanical stories through sensory designs, reflecting his profound love and extensive knowledge of the natural world.
“We work with nature to create a visual composition, designing drought-tolerant and water-conscious gardens for regeneration, wellness, play, dreaming, sustainability, relaxation and entertainment,” says John Sharp. “We are committed to creating expansive and wonder-filled experiences through personal, playful, and luxuriously designed environments.”
Based in Venice Beach, California, with his eight core team members and associates, John Sharp has shaped the outdoor spaces of the houses of actresses Hilary Duff, Sophia Bush and Zoey Deutch—among others—and reinvented the gardens of historic homes designed by iconic architects.
For example, for John Lautner’s Garcia House in the Hollywood Hills (renovated by Marmol Radziner), the starting point was “imagining the landscape through a retro-future sci-fi lens,” describes Sharp, who also drew inspiration from the Inhotim Institute in Brazil, a museum focusing on botanical and contemporary art.
“The landscape direction was to give a receiver-like grounding to the spaceship-like structure.”
One of the key project goals was to realize an original pool Lautner had designed for the home that had never been built. A variety of drought-tolerant Jurassic, low-water specimens was used along with sculptural, layered and colorful elements.
“The client had an impressive staghorn fern collection from their mother’s involvement with the Epiphyllum Society…so we designed a custom totem installation to serve as their base,” says John Sharp.
“For the shaded parts of the property we selected Australian tree ferns, aloe bainesii, red banana, philodendron, and monsteras. The major sun-exposed sections were planted with a spectrum of desert varieties.”
For Richard Neutra’s Hailey Residence, also in the Hollywood Hills, a complete outdoor living program for entertainment and relaxation was developed with a dining area, hot tub, kitchen, outdoor theater and fire pit.
“The client desired a very meditative and soothing, jungle-esque environment and an existing mature bamboo hedge, meaning that the back slope was relatively shaded,” says John Sharp. “Along the whole back hillside of the property we sought to establish a feeling of being transported to another world.”
In Rancho Mirage, the Gerald and Betty Ford estate project was inspired by Betty Ford herself (the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977).
“The modernist architecture of the house is regal and sophisticated — presidential, if you will,” says John Sharp.
“I sought to contrast this seriousness with a whimsical and sculptural landscape design direction. The owners own an amazing collection of modernist architectural pottery that they wanted to utilize and are passionate environmentalists, so I brought in a bountiful pollinator habitat in the species selections. There was also a historic Ginger and Betty rose and citrus garden that was important to preserve.”
Mostly native desert specimens were brought in as a counterpoint to the existing more Mediterranean palette consisting of olives, palms, citrus and roses. The structural cacti, yucca rostrata, barrel cactus, Mexican fence post, and palos verde trees complement the landscape.
Always finding the perfect plants, organic textures and materials to create uniquely art-driven and sustainable environments, John Sharp is never afraid to showcase his own visual language. And it’s always a hit.
John Sharp | studiojohnsharp.com
Images: Sean Hazen