Garden sculpture will honour blood cancer sufferers

A 12-foot sculpture about blood cancer by a garden designer from Chorley is set to be displayed at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018.
Garden designer John EverissGarden designer John Everiss
Garden designer John Everiss

The garden, to be created on-site by John Everiss, is inspired in memory of two Myeloma sufferers. It will also mark 21 years of charity Myeloma UK.

It will feature an enormous head and shoulder sculpture at the centre of the garden.

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The sculpture represents the role of the carer, who is often a pivotal figure in ensuring the patient remains the central focus of a myeloma diagnosis.

An artist's impression of the sculptureAn artist's impression of the sculpture
An artist's impression of the sculpture

Award-winning designer John said: “When Myeloma UK contacted me about doing this garden, I didn’t have a second thought about it.

“It’s been an amazing process and particularly enjoyable working with people that really believe in what they are doing.

“The Myeloma UK Garden is a wonderful tool for telling a story and for getting people emotionally involved.

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“I’m hoping visitors to Chelsea will come away from the garden knowing more about myeloma - and also how they can support the charity.”

The sculpture is modelled on Peter and Gill King’s daughter Gemma Peace, from Scotland. Gill and Gemma’s uncle Graham both passed away in 2016 after a short battle with the cancer.

The sculpture will weigh seven tonnes, be 12-feet high and is constructed from layers of transparent blue Perspex® acrylic.

It will be part-assembled before the show and, as the gates at Chelsea are nine feet high, will be fully constructed on the grounds.

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John and his team have used cutting edge technology to create the unique sculpture. First, they scanned Gemma’s head and arms to generate a very detailed 3D digital image, which was then turned into the slices of data used to create the multiple layers of the sculpture.

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