Chelsea Flower Show Trade Stands 2023 - Supported by London Stone

September 26, 2023

A sunken seating area is a luxury feature. We check out some inspiring designs and list the things you need to think about before installing one in your garden.

David Harber's 5*-awarded trade stand, designed by James Boyle and built by Langdale Landscapes.

David Harber

David Harber’s trade stand at Chelsea always makes you feel as if you’ve been allowed to walk onto a show garden. A showcase for his sculpture, his stand takes full advantage of the design opportunities afforded by plants and hard landscaping. This year’s stand, designed by James Doyle, used Trendy Black porcelain in combination with Lucca clay pavers. Top-flight skills from Nik Edser at Langdale Landscaping, with whom we’ve worked many times over the years, show the perfect, crisp lines that can be achieved with spot-on cutting where materials meet.

Precise cutting by Langdale Landscapes and a design by James Doyle helped make this a 5* trade stand for David Harber.

Both clay pavers and porcelain are highly stain-resistant, thanks to their low porosity, making them ideal for high traffic areas where a quick brush and tidy is generally all that’s necessary. Their combination here, with sinuous curves leading the eye and echoing the curves of the sculptures, shows how hard landscaping is a vital element in supporting the design of a garden.

The Lucca clay pavers make a warm contrast with Florence Grey porcelain on Gabriel Ash's Chelsea trade stand, which was awarded 4*. Designed and built by Base Squared.

Gabriel Ash

Gabriel Ash’s stand, displaying their range of greenhouses, also combined materials. Lucca clay pavers caught their eye too. And they also chose a natural-looking porcelain paving for contrasting colour and texture. Florence Grey porcelain, from our Premium range, gives the impression of limestone, with “imperfections” in the surface texture that make it look like natural stone. It’s not the first time Gabriel Ash have used Florence Grey. In fact, they’ve used these very paving slabs before, in their trade stand for Chelsea 2021. This really underlines the robust quality of porcelain, its stain-resistance, and how it comes up like new when cleaned. The Lucca clay pavers were used as “runners” across the greenhouse entrances and showed how interesting outlines with low-growing plants can be used to soften hard landscaping.

Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean are known for their luxury outdoor furniture and parasols. So, their large stand welcomes you through a Corten steel entrance flanked by two giant armchairs into an intimate courtyard space which shows off different ways to style their furniture sets. Underfoot are our Verona clay pavers. Like the Lucca pavers, these are from our Kessel Garden range, benefiting from a price reduction this year. We loved this pairing with the Corten steel, chosen by Max Parker-Smith. What visitors sometimes don’t realise is that the trade stands are often designed by leading garden designers. We were delighted to collaborate again with Max, with whom we worked on his Silver Gilt-winning garden at RHS Tatton Park in 2021. Here he won Indian Ocean a top-mark 5* in the trade stand judging.

Indian Ocean's trade stand, designed by Max Parker-Smith, used Verona clay pavers as a warm-coloured foundation.

Max Parker-smith used directional laying of the Verona clay pavers to delineate areas on the Indian Ocean trade stand.

Planting, in the form of rich rust-coloured Verbascum and purple-tinged irises, echoed the tones in the pavers. The pavers were laid in different directions to subtly divide the space—a design tip that can easily be applied to patios. Brick paving is an ideal choice for a busy stand—extremely hard-wearing but permeable when laid with sanded joints, so if it rains the water soon soaks through. Sanded joints also mean that the bricks are easy to take up and recycle in a future design.

Garden House Design

We’ve loved our Jura Beige Porcelain since we introduced it in 2022. And this year, Garden House Design’s welcoming stand gave it a starring role. Jura limestone is a paving that everyone loves, but it doesn’t fit into everyone’s budget. The Jura porcelains offer a real alternative, in an authentic-looking facsimile that puts it within the pocket of far more design projects. It’s truly difficult to see the difference. Garden House Design are past masters at displaying how to create an outdoor living space with real panache. Jura Beige Porcelain fitted right in, picking up on wood tones in the furniture and providing a light, creamy counterpoint to the rich planting.

Garden House Design used Jura Beige porcelain for a low-maintenance paving to complement their stylish furniture.

Jura Beige porcelain on the Garden House trade stand at RHS Chelsea 2023.

Their Chelsea Flower Show trade stand is always worth visiting for ideas on how to really enjoy furniture, pots, pergolas and outdoor kitchens. The judges were pleased too, awarding a well-deserved 5* for the stand. Every year, London Stone supports a range of companies, as well as show gardens, with their display. Check out the Chelsea trade stands 2022, or stay in the present and take a look at the Chelsea's 2023 show gardens that employ our products. Post updated: November 2025