Anastasia and Taylor, the quietly magnetic duo behind TALC STUDIO, have an unusually cinematic way of looking at landscape. Based in California, their work resists the expected visual rhythms of West Coast design sun, succulents, and showy formality in favour of something more elliptical, more tender. A garden, in their hands, becomes a vessel for memory, a stage for slow gestures, and a way of thinking about space that is as literary as it is lived-in.
Over cups of mint tea in their sun-dappled Highland Park studio its shelves lined with Japanese photobooks, shells, and dog-eared copies of Cinémathèque we spoke about the role of film in their practice, the sensuality of boundaries, and why the best landscapes begin in silence.

○
How would you describe the ethos of TALC STUDIO? There’s a particular sensitivity that runs through your work—a kind of stillness.

A We often say that our work begins with listening. That might sound vague, but it’s quite literal—we spend a lot of time just being quiet on site, watching how the light shifts across a wall, how the ground feels underfoot. The most important decisions come from that kind of slow attunement.

T It’s also about restraint. Landscape design can become very ornamental or overly diagrammed. We’re more interested in how to create emotion through nuance—through editing, withholding. There’s a line from Agnes Martin: “Beauty is the mystery of life.” That’s always been a touchstone for us.

○
You’ve both spoken about the influence of film on your work. How does cinema find its way into a garden?

○
How would you describe the ethos of TALC STUDIO? There’s a particular sensitivity that runs through your work—a kind of stillness.

A We often say that our work begins with listening. That might sound vague, but it’s quite literal—we spend a lot of time just being quiet on site, watching how the light shifts across a wall, how the ground feels underfoot. The most important decisions come from that kind of slow attunement.

T It’s also about restraint. Landscape design can become very ornamental or overly diagrammed. We’re more interested in how to create emotion through nuance—through editing, withholding. There’s a line from Agnes Martin: “Beauty is the mystery of life.” That’s always been a touchstone for us.

○
You’ve both spoken about the influence of film on your work. How does cinema find its way into a garden?

A We often say that our work begins with listening. That might sound vague, but it’s quite literal—we spend a lot of time just being quiet on site, watching how the light shifts across a wall, how the ground feels underfoot. The most important decisions come from that kind of slow attunement.

T It’s also about restraint. Landscape design can become very ornamental or overly diagrammed. We’re more interested in how to create emotion through nuance—through editing, withholding. There’s a line from Agnes Martin: “Beauty is the mystery of life.” That’s always been a touchstone for us.

○
You’ve both spoken about the influence of film on your work. How does cinema find its way into a garden?

○
How would you describe the ethos of TALC STUDIO? There’s a particular sensitivity that runs through your work—a kind of stillness.

A We often say that our work begins with listening. That might sound vague, but it’s quite literal—we spend a lot of time just being quiet on site, watching how the light shifts across a wall, how the ground feels underfoot. The most important decisions come from that kind of slow attunement.

T It’s also about restraint. Landscape design can become very ornamental or overly diagrammed. We’re more interested in how to create emotion through nuance—through editing, withholding. There’s a line from Agnes Martin: “Beauty is the mystery of life.” That’s always been a touchstone for us.

○
You’ve both spoken about the influence of film on your work. How does cinema find its way into a garden?