My name is Lily Kwong, founder of Studio Lily Kwong.
I’m an alchemist, a landscape designer, a humanist.
My purpose is to reconnect people to nature.
My medium is plant life.
My magic is creating bespoke environments that combine botany, urban planning, architecture and visual arts.
My mission is to create cultural impact through
the lens of natural world.
Welcome to Summer in Winter,
where everything imaginable happens.
SUMMER IN WINTER by Studio Lily Kwong is a botanical garden, a landscape in the heart of downtown Manhattan at Cadillac House that merges species and typologies from 37 countries and 7 continents. Within the dense urban reality of concrete and commerce, this installation conjures the impossible.
Here, opposites collide—“summer” blooms in “winter,” tropical palms thrive on Hudson Street, plant medicine rituals from the Amazon basin can be heard merging with the sounds of the City.
Botanically, the landscape highlights ferns from Australia, flowering plants from the tropical Americas, rainforest trees considered sacred by Buddhists, succulents native to Southern Africa, and cycads known as living fossils. The planting palette is a celebration of diversity, equatorial beauty and rich environmental and cultural histories.
The immersive avant-garden entertains all of the senses. SUMMER IN WINTER reconnects people to their place in the natural world. It is a reminder that even in our darkest season, our raw creativity can trump misplaced priorities. SUMMER IN WINTER is a 1,000 square foot environmental challenge against the urban status quo—an alternate reality where the dreamers win.
In the midst of winter,
I found there was, within me,
an invincible summer
—Albert Camus
LILY KWONG is the founder of STUDIO LILY KWONG, a next-generation landscape design firm whose mission is to reconnect people to nature. SLK specializes in creating dynamic environments that combine horticulture, urban planning, architecture, education and visual arts. The goal is to create a cultural impact through the lens of the natural world. Lily earned her degree in Urban Studies from Columbia University, and was recently named by the New York Times as one of the “9 Young New Yorkers Poised for Creative Greatness” & inducted into Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Class of 2018 in the Art & Style category. Lily Kwong is a member of the New Museum’s GSAPP Incubator and the Landscape Editor for Cultured Magazine, where she is becoming a leading voice in the field.
VISIONAIRE, founded by Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos in 1991, conceptualizes and produces public art installations, films, experiences, branded content, art multiples, and products—all curated through the lens of art, fashion and contemporary culture. With its unparalleled roster of contributing artists, photographers, filmmakers, fashion creatives, and cultural icons, VISIONAIRE remains at the forefront of groundbreaking creativity across multiple disciplines.
CADILLAC HOUSE is Cadillac’s first-ever brand experience center—a public space that brings Cadillac’s design sensibility and passion points to life through a range of dynamic, curated programming and events across the arts, fashion, entertainment and hospitality. Located in downtown New York City, Cadillac House offers diverse experiences including a gallery, retail space, café and exhibition area for the brand’s vehicles—resulting in a venue with an ever-evolving point of view on subjects beyond the automotive industry. The Gallery is a blank space where Cadillac and Visionaire partner to curate non-traditional, interactive exhibitions with no boundaries, free and open to the public.
Original Music Composition by Gary Gunn / garygunnmusic.com
Fabric Installation by Aya Rodriguez-Izumi / iamaya.com
Thanks to DBOX, Kerissa Voldeck, Chloe Norgaard, Rebecca Chasin
Go to Cadillac House for holiday hours
For press inquiries
Visionaire c/o Black Frame
Beatrice Smith
+1 212 226 2196
bsmith@framenoir.com
For more about Visionaire
c/o Creative Artists Agency
Thao Nguyen
+1 424 288 2000
tnguyen@caa.com
@VisionaireWorld
@Cadillac
@Lily_Kwong
#SummerinWinter
#CadillacHouse