Netflix glassblower and Repair Shop expert unite for Chelsea Flower Show

At their workshop in Scarborough, Matthew Nickels, the BBC ‘The Repair Shop’ glass expert and established Yorkshire artist and University of Sunderland Academic Tutor Rachel Welford, have created a 28-piece glass installation for The Children’s Society garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Designed by renowned landscape and garden designer Patrick Clarke and co-funded by charity Project Giving Back, the RHS Chelsea garden’s design aims to shine a light on the UK’s growing teenage wellbeing crisis. Creative elements within the project have been informed by a team of ‘Young Creative Partners’ from The Children’s Society youth club network. Guided by artist Rachel Welford and glass expert Matthew Nickels, ‘Young Creative Partners’ aged between 14 and 20 from The Children’s Society youth club network designed and created sample fused-glass artworks. These have then been used to

guide and inform the artistic process which has been fully undertaken in the artists’ Scarborough workshop.

Mouthblown cylinder sheet glass is also included within the artwork, made by the Netflix ‘Blown Away’ winner Elliot Walker, who currently is the only person commercially making mouthblown sheet glass in the UK.

Having glass artwork at RHS Chelsea which is created in Yorkshire showcases the quality of arts and crafts being made in the North of England.

Rachel Welford said: “This has been an amazing opportunity. This will be my first visit to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and I’m proud to be bringing a northern contribution to this prestigious event.

“To work with such a renowned international garden designer as Patrick Clarke has been such a privilege, and to be bringing the voices of young people into our work too just adds to the experience.”

Matthew Nickels said: “There is a very strong arts and craft community in Yorkshire and the North East which can often be overlooked nationally.

“This glass creation and the garden as a whole is a fantastic example bringing together creative talent and youth inspiration from all over the country.

“I hope that this brings recognition for Northern arts and is inspiration for local artists to think big.

“Young people’s mental health and wellbeing is such an important issue to be shining a light on, this project has been so fulfilling” After RHS Chelsea, the garden will be relocated to Central Bedfordshire Council’s Leighton Buzzard Youth Centre, where The Children’s Society Youth Club is

The garden will offer a place where young people can pause, reflect and reconnect.

The installation at RHS Chelsea will be open to visitors between the May 18 and 23. RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London a world most famous flower show which aims to inspire, educate and excite visitors about horticulture.