Botanic Gin Project

The concept is simple: To craft a gin from foraging urban botanicals to express the 'taste of our urban landscape'. The project explores multi-sensory ways of designing with plants, growing a design community and as a new boutique studio, defining Botanic's identity. Our opening event in 2022 involved an interactive gin crafting to create a 'Launch Gin'. As an annual event, the next spring we hosted 22 people to forage the local urban plantings and co-craft an 'Urban Gin' together. Each participant got their own sample and the additional bottles are passed onto our clients, collaborators and design community as appreciation gifts. The project elevates the cultural and natural values present in our local neighbourhood. It taps into the mahinga kai and ecosystem services resources provided in the post-quake landscapes, using them as intended, in a sustainable way. The foraging walks share botanical learnings, insights about the new spaces, and knowledge about Māori plant uses. Some people were experiencing these new urban spaces in Ōtautahi for the first time. Our ongoing gin and planting exploration has enabled new ways for people to experience the urban environment. The project captures many aspects of Botanic's values and identity: innovative planting design, knowledge sharing, creating community, being appreciative and having fun. The idea is simple, yet far reaching. We believe this innovative approach to planting design, branding, education and engaging people with their local landscape exemplifies what landscape architecture can be.