In a postindustrial corner of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, tucked behind a vine-covered fence, sits the studio and nursery of garden design firm Harrison Green. The two-story building, stuccoed jet-black, has the air of a modern farmhouse plunked down far from its country home. Past the gate, ivy climbs the walls, garden furniture and statuary dot the pebbled grounds, and potted boxwood flank a stone pathway. It makes a compelling case for Harrison Green’s particular expertise: creating thoughtful green spaces for cramped urban quarters.
Principals Damien and Jacqueline Harrison at the office, designed by Casey Kenyon and Weddle Gilmore Architects.Photo: Blaine Davis
Principals Jacqueline and Damien Harrison met in the aughts, when they both worked for the New York City–based landscapers Plant Specialists, and married in 2013. One of their projects at that firm was the West Village home of Marc Jacobs, for which they frequently coordinated with the fashion designer’s assistant at the time, Casey Kenyon. Soon after the Harrisons decided to go out on their own, Kenyon reached out to the fledgling enterprise for help restoring Jacobs’s garden, which had been damaged in Hurricane Sandy. “That call came, and we were like, oh, it’s on,” Jacqueline recalls. The pair quickly sketched a company logo, sent it through with a cost estimate, and hit the ground running. In the decade or so since, they have joined forces with Steven Harris Architects, Kelly Behun Studio, and Gachot, among other AD100 architecture and design studios.