Garden Family
Tonkin Liu, Studio Mama, Hildrey Studio and Under One Sky Together with Exmouth Market community
A hyper-local social infrastructure of guardians to protect and nurture care-leavers
Each year, 100,000 young people in England face the care cliff. When they ‘age out’ of the care system, young people are left to set up their own homes alone, often lacking skills and support networks. Full of potential and pitfalls, 20% of them become homeless.
For most people, home is where family is. But without a family, establishing connection and purpose is a struggle. As described by Under One Sky founder Mikkel Juel Iversen, the vulnerable seek to establish their lives through safety, connection, and purpose. Having food and a bed provides safety, knowing people provides connections, exploring hopes and dreams creates purpose. As poet, author, broadcaster and care-leaver Lemn Sissay OBE FRSL once said: “I don’t just want to survive, I want to live!” Home is where we flourish.
Connecting the backs of the Finsbury Health Centre, the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and Spa Fields’ gardeners’ hut, the site metamorphoses from a living room to a chapel to a bandstand, hosting choirs, feasts, theatre and dances. This is a meeting place for the Garden Family – a hyper-local social infrastructure of 50 guardians recruited from the local neighbourhood across a diverse spectrum of ages and professions. From pensioners to artists to shop-owners to students, they embody life skills and represent a true lifeforce of the neighbourhood. The Garden Family provides care-leavers with a route to jobs, a sanctuary for exploring what they love and a place to discover what the world needs from them.
Tonkin Liu
Anna Liu, Architecture
Studio Mama
Nina Tolstrup, Furniture, Brand, and Graphic Design
Jack Mama, Furniture, Brand, and Graphic Design
Hildrey Studio / Proxy Address
Chris Hildrey, Concept
Sounding boards
Under One Sky
Mikkel Juel Iversen, Founder
Royal Literary Fund
Edward Kemp, CEO
Louisa Broad, Deputy Designated Safeguard Leader
Jane Edwards, Therapist, working with Dr Jane Myat, Caversham Group Practice
A care-leaver
