Mint Pool and Landscape Design brings a different perspective to the landscape and swimming pool industry with its modern and contemporary designs. Mint Pool and Landscape Design designs timeless living solutions as a team specialising in creating inspiring designs in swimming pools, horticulture and landscaping with their company based in Victoria, Australia.
We talked to Darin Bradbury, Landscape Design Director of Mint Pool and Landscape Design, who has award-winning projects with impressive designs, about their design solutions in the field of landscape and swimming pools, the secrets of landscape design, the award they won at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show and current landscape trends…
We would like to get to know you briefly. Could you briefly tell us about yourself and your career life?
I started my career in horticulture 10 years ago before entering the landscape design business. I have been described as a horticulturalist, working in a field that combines my two great passions, plants and design.
I specialise in contemporary and modern pond and landscape design across Australia.
“The secret to good landscape design is to ensure that the garden beckons you outside and has the ability to grow with the needs of the people enjoying the space”
Mint Pool & Landscape Design offers both contemporary and timeless outdoor living solutions. How do you reflect the beauty and poetry of landscape to your design solutions? What do you think is the secret of landscape design? What should be considered in this context?
We design beautiful outdoor spaces that help facilitate and enhance the lives of busy people. We take our design lead from existing architecture or work with the architect of a house to balance the landscape with the style of the house. For me, the secret to good landscape design is to ensure that the garden beckons you outside and has the ability to grow with the needs of the people enjoying the space.
“The priority is to think about the overall design”
Landscaping pool applications add spaciousness and serenity to the designed spaces. Pool construction is a branch that requires technical expertise. In this context, which visual, architectural and technical elements should be utilised to highlight the aesthetic elements of pool projects?
One of my biggest recommendations is to think about the overall design first. Do not get too carried away with choosing each material according to its own value. The biggest mistake people make is to think that every material has to stand out in the landscape, and the result is a lot of ‘exciting’ materials fighting for your attention and looking too busy.
Choose materials that complement each other. Contrasting colours and materials may look good in the hands of design professionals, especially in interior design, but your landscape will be around for a very long time. That’s why choosing subtle materials that complement each other will be safer over time. They are less likely to age and easier to get right.
Recently, houses designed as a real healing place are being transformed into a paradise with their functionality and design. Home SPA-wellness areas, swimming pools add joy to our daily lives. Accordingly, how do you think landscape, garden and pool designs will evolve with technological innovation in the future?
Great question! We are seeing more and more demand for elements like mineral pools (magnesium pools). These add a great wellness element.
Home saunas are also becoming popular with the addition of an outdoor shower completing the installation.
The most important design features you should consider in Pool Design
What are the factors that make the landscape, the pool and the house interact with each other when building a new swimming pool? Why do you think landscape design is important for a backyard? As Mint Pool & Landscape, what advice would you give to readers in this sense?
When you think about adding a pool to your backyard, an exciting process begins. You think about all the fun and benefits, from fitness to entertaining your children, family and friends, and of course the aesthetic appeal and value it will add to your outdoor space.
Whilst there is no shortage of pool inspiration out there, there are many design features to consider to ensure your pool caters for every age and purpose you will need it for. Pool designs that grow with your family is an important feature that our landscape designs take into account.
From young children who can’t swim to teenagers lounging in the spa or adults relaxing on the pool’s champagne shelf, I’ll cover the most important design features to consider for your pool design.
Underwater Seating Bench
Oversized entrance steps are an equally important feature for children and adults to gradually enter and exit the pool.
In pool safety, underwater seating benches are everything for young children. To encourage trust in the water, provide a safe haven for children to play and learn to swim, underwater bench seats and shallow areas are a great design feature.
Bench seating usually works best when placed at the edge of the pool, giving swimmers uninterrupted space to swim laps. Running a bench seat along the entire length of the long pool is a great advantage. The side of the pool means that little ones always have an easy way to get out of the deep end of the pool and also encourages them to move safely into deeper areas.
The oversized entrance steps are an equally important feature for children and adults to gradually enter and exit the pool.
Champagne Rack
The champagne shelf is of course the bench seats in your pool, but who can resist a catchy name? Colloquially known as a champagne shelf, these seating areas are typically 600mm deep seating areas around your pool. Which is exactly the perfect depth for you to rest your arms and enjoy a glass of Veuve Clicquot. How convenient is that? Whilst you’ll want to sit and have a drink all around the pool, it’s best to position these seating areas near outdoor or social areas such as the spa or, if you’re lucky enough, near a spectacular view. SPA
We always tell our customers a little about SPAs. As a pool owner ourselves and judging by how our customers have used their pools over the years, we can say that a SPA, although an expensive addition, will maximise the use of your pool area more than anything else. A pool is a big investment, so it makes sense to get the most out of it. Due to its smaller dimensions, a SPA can be heated quickly and used all year round, even in the depths of winter.
Young people in particular use the pool more for lounging and chatting. They are often drawn to the SPA environment because of the cosy and comfortable sitting benches. Most modern pools have a SPA and it is often the most used feature of the pool.
Sporty teenagers and adults will also appreciate the hot hydrotherapy benefits of a SPA to soak tired muscles.
Game Play
As children get older and have more friends around to enjoy the pool with, there is a 100 per cent chance that pool games and water sports will take place. Children tend to head wherever they can keep their heads above water, which means that the angle between the shallow end and the deep end should maximise the mid-depth area. You can choose a ‘sports pool’ design with a shallow area at each end of the pool and a slightly deeper centre. We often advise our customers to maximise the width of their pool to provide space for ball games and side jumping. The more width you have, the less stress you will have about them hitting their head on the edge of the pool. This is just some of the practical considerations. I have shared some tips for you that will make your pool look great.
Pool Covering and Flooring
The flooring sets the scene for your pool. If you get this part right, it will be almost guaranteed that your pool will look good. You need to choose neutral colours without too much variation. Some subtle colour variations are great but too detailed paving will look busy. The biggest mistake people make with paving is that they choose paving based on a sample piece, but you should think of paving holistically as a collective product. The sum is greater than the parts. Paving is not a feature of the landscape. It is there to unify all the areas surrounding the pool, so it does not need to stand out on its own.
Pool Tiles
Now there are more colours than ever to choose from. Choosing a pool tile is difficult. Tile samples are almost useless if you try to measure how a tile will look with water on it. The light blue colour of the water affects the pool tile and this is even more pronounced with light coloured tiles. White tiles, for example, will result in a very light blue pool and give you a sophisticated, resort-style look. Darker coloured tiles will still be affected by blue water but to a lesser extent. On bright sunny days the water will appear bluish but on cloudy days the colour of the pool tiles will dominate. As I said, choosing pool tiles is difficult. The best advice we can give to our customers is to try to find photos of the pool tiles taken on site.
“We use advanced 3D rendering software”
Customer satisfaction is recognised as a factor that is prioritised in all sectors. What innovative solutions do you offer to your customers’ expectations in pool and landscape design?
Our customer service is about listening and understanding a client’s brief, offering our expert advice and staying in touch with our clients to answer any questions. In a sense, our client service is less about innovation and more about being there to listen and discuss. We use advanced 3D rendering software to show our clients what the design will look like and provide technical drawings.
You have been recognised with several industry awards for swimming pool and landscape design, including the Best in Show Trophy and Gold Medal at the Melbourne Garden Show. Can you tell us about these awards? As a landscape design professional, what inspires your designs? Can you share with us the milestones that challenged you and led you to success on this journey?
We have been very fortunate to have won many awards over the years and were particularly proud of our recent win at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. It was even better to win the “People’s Choice” award where the public voted for their favourite Demonstration Garden.
The difference for us when designing this Demonstration Garden was that we didn’t have a specific client in mind. It was just having complete creative freedom to design what we thought was a great design. Our garden, Aurum, is designed as a space for adults to indulge and entertain themselves; it features a pool and a custom-made champagne table.
Our plant design for Aurum focuses on drought tolerance. Almost all of our plant selections can cope with prolonged dry conditions. This doesn’t mean that the garden should only consist of natives. In fact, our aim was to combine natives, Mediterranean species and succulents to show how these various plant styles can be brought together to create something beautiful. We want to use the bold leaves of Agaves next to the soft form of Lomandras, or the silver leaves of Teucrium against the dark green of Rhaphiolepis. This is not a ‘native’, ‘Mediterranean’ or ‘arid’ garden, but an innovative fusion of all these styles.
Can you tell us about current landscape and pool trends and techniques around the world and in Australia?
Negative edge pools and SPAs have exploded in the last few years. It used to be a niche market but now they’re everywhere. They look great but I think in the next few years we’ll start to see them lighten up a bit. I think we’ll continue to see more plunge pools being installed. The land area is shrinking, so the demand for smaller pools will continue to grow.
On the landscape side of things, I think we’ll start to see more plant-orientated gardens becoming popular. I think after repeated curfews, people are seeing the health benefits of getting back into the garden, so people are even more ready to get out and work on their plants.
“I imagine Turkey’s landscape design scene could be a perfect blend of modern pools and landscapes with unique touches of Ottoman architecture added for interest and beauty”
How does the idea of realising a project in Turkey make you feel? If you were to realise a pool project in Turkey, what kind of a project would you design? Where in Turkey would you like to realise this project?
Turkey is a beautiful country that I would love to visit. With its breathtaking natural beauty, rich history and amazing architecture, I can imagine that it would be wonderful to recreate this natural beauty and colour palette in a way that people can enjoy every day in the backyards of their homes. I imagine that Turkey’s landscape design scene could be the perfect blend of modern pools and landscapes with unique touches of Ottoman architecture and curves added for interest and beauty.
What do you think about Turkey’s landscape and pool industry? How do you think Turkey is positioned in the world pool market, can you comment?
The landscape and pool sector is a growing area in Turkey and I will be following it closely for inspiration.
What would you like to say lastly?
Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you about pools and landscapes.
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