There is abstraction at the base of everything - Etel Adnan

Thanks to Flowerland Nursery in Albany, we found Thomas, Thomas found us. Five minutes into his cold call, we knew our work-friendship stars had aligned. Thomas is one of Talc Studio’s soulmates. Working together meant long, winding days of conversation—about life, design, doubt, color, art, theory. Pure gold Gemini whirlwinds. The best kind.

We started with the entry. We consulted on everything, and Thomas did all the work himself. There was a kind of intuitive masterplan, but we moved area by area, season by season, refining as we went. He built the concrete walls, the cedar and redwood hot tub—he even made a model for it. We focused on the planting plan and consulted throughout. He cared deeply about every detail.

Thomas’s recent creative work has centered on restoring and nurturing his family home at the top of the Berkeley Hills. He is an inimitable woodworker, thinker, and friend. Our hearts and hands came together in this garden—what grew from it was both a landscape and a collaboration.

The plantings are suited to the environment: resilient species that coexist with the deer, thrive in the hillside conditions, and are the place itself.