Garden Fountains
A garden can be large, well kept and expensively planted, and still something is missing. Usually it is the centre. A fountain provides it: a point the paths run towards, where the eye comes to rest, and where the day becomes audible.
A garden finds its centre
Historic gardens never left this to chance. The fountain stood on the main axis, where the paths crossed or where the view from the house came to an end. Everything else arranged itself around it: the hedges, the beds, the seating. That logic still works, in the park of a villa as much as in a walled town garden.
You notice it the moment it is right. A garden without a centre reads as a sequence of beautiful details. A garden with one reads as a composition. The fountain is the most rewarding way to achieve it, because it is the only element that brings form, movement and sound at once.
The sound of water
Water is the only material in a garden you can hear, and it sounds entirely different depending on the form. Over a wide bowl it runs soft, almost whispering. Falling from several jets into a basin it becomes a full, even rush that separates a terrace from the street. Over a polished sphere it slides almost silently, and instead you see every movement of the light on it.
It is worth closing your eyes for a moment before deciding and asking what you want to hear. If you sit outside in the evening and want the neighbourhood to disappear, you need water that falls. If you want to listen to the birds, choose a fountain that keeps quiet.
Stone that improves with the years
Our fountains are made from a fine cast stone, a dense mix that is harder and heavier than ordinary concrete. That is not a technical footnote but the reason these pieces are allowed to stay outdoors: the denser the structure, the less water the stone takes up, and the less frost can do to it.
The best part happens on its own. A new fountain looks new. After two or three years it has darkened on the weather side, moss has settled in the hollows of the ornament, the edges have lost their hardness. It then looks as though it had always stood there. That ageing is intended, and it cannot be bought, only waited for.
For figures where every detail has to survive, we work in bronze. Bronze outlasts practically everything and takes on the green patina familiar from historic settings. Marble appears where a bowl or a plinth should read as especially fine.
Where the forms come from
Most of our fountains speak one of two languages. The first is baroque: heavy curved bowls, volutes, shells, putti, a structure that grows lighter towards the top. It carries ceremony and it needs space.
The second is art nouveau: slimmer columns, calmer surfaces, plants and figures that grow out of the form rather than sit on it. It works where baroque would be too loud, next to a clean house from the twenties, say, or in a modern garden with strict hedges.
Both are newly made after historic models, not antiques. They are newly cast, without prior damage, and therefore sturdier than any original that spent a century outdoors.
Axis, viewpoint, proportion
Three questions decide whether a fountain looks inevitable or merely placed.
Where does the view end? Stand where you stand or sit most often: at the terrace door, at the kitchen window, at the head of the garden. What you see from there is the right position.
How large may it be? As a guide, a fountain takes up roughly one sixth to one quarter of the width of the area it stands on. Too small disappears, too large overwhelms. If you are unsure, mark the intended height with a pole and leave it there for two days.
Standing or sitting? A fountain seen in passing may be tall. By a seating area a low, wide bowl works better, because it does not cut the view in half.
The courtyard and the narrow plot
Not every beautiful garden is large. For courtyards, terraced house gardens and roof terraces there is the wall fountain: a back panel with a spout and a catch basin, mounted on a wall that is there anyway. It needs almost no ground and still transforms the whole space, because the sound stands between the walls.
In a tight courtyard this produces something large gardens often lack: intimacy. A lion head above a basin, a bench opposite, a climbing plant on the wall, and nothing more is required.
Light in the evening
The finest moment of a fountain comes after sunset. Two or three uplights, warm and low, are enough: the water picks up the light and carries it upwards, the ornament gains shadow, and the fountain stands as a bright body against a dark garden. Plan the lighting from the start and you save yourself digging later.
Suitable outdoor lights are under garden and terrace lights.
The fountain through the year
In spring it is started up and becomes the first sign that the season has begun. In summer it is a meeting point for birds, bees and everyone who wants to sit in the shade. In autumn the water is drained and the pump stored away, because it is not the stone that suffers from frost but the water inside it.
And in winter its quietest time begins. An empty basin with hoarfrost on the ornament, in front of bare trees, is an image that justifies the whole undertaking. If you like, leave the lighting on through that season and let the fountain stand dry.
Made to your measure and colour
Many of our fountains can be produced in a different colour. That is asked for above all when several pieces of one scheme belong together, or when the fountain has to follow an existing facade. Dimensions and structure allow more than the catalogue shows. Talk to us before you settle for a compromise.
This is especially true for hotels, restaurants, wine estates and contract projects. A fountain in the driveway or the arrival area is photographed, shared and remembered. It has to work from thirty metres, and that is what the large installations with a surrounding basin are made for.
The full range
The complete selection with all sizes, colours and dimensions is under fountains and water columns. If you would like to think about the setting at the same time, look at garden sculptures, columns and pedestals, planters, rose arches and baroque and art nouveau garden furniture.
If you would like the practical detail: pump and power supply, ground and foundation, care and wintering are collected in our full guide to garden fountains, with all six types compared side by side.
See it at the Castello in Essen
A fountain is a piece you should see once before ordering it. Our showroom in Essen holds furniture and garden pieces from the current range across around a thousand square metres, in a listed building from 1870.
Castello Casa Padrino, Hammer Str. 64, 45239 Essen, Germany. Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday 10 am to 2 pm. Call ahead if you want to see a particular piece: +49 212 14912917.
Questions we are often asked
Can the fountains stay outdoors all year?
Yes. The cast stone is frost resistant. Before the first frost the water is drained and the pump stored away, so that freezing residual water cannot break anything.
Is a pump included?
No, the fountains are delivered without a pump, because the right output depends on the form and on how high you want the water to rise. We will put together a matching one on request.
Do I need a water connection?
No. The water circulates: the pump lifts it and it falls back. You only top up what evaporates. What you do need is a protected outdoor socket.
What kind of base is required?
A load bearing and level one. On undisturbed ground a compacted gravel layer with a slab on top is usually enough. Being level matters, otherwise water runs over one side.
Are these antiques?
No, they are newly made in the baroque and art nouveau style, cast after historic models. They age beautifully but reach you without the damage of a genuine original.
Can a fountain work in a small garden?
Yes, as a wall fountain on an existing wall or as a low bowl fountain. Neither divides the space, and both make a small area feel larger.
How is the fountain delivered?
By forwarding agent to the kerbside, as these pieces are too heavy for parcel services. Moving it on your property is usually done by a landscaping contractor, and multi part fountains are assembled on site.
Are other colours available?
For many models, yes. That is of particular interest for contract projects and for gardens where the fountain should follow an existing facade. Please talk to us.
