INTERVIEWCEO of gardening club on mission to make cities greener

• Published date: 02 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Living in the hustle and bustle of a city, especially a heavily-populated metropolis like Seoul, often makes you want to push the pause button and look for a refreshing, peaceful break that only nature can offer. Would it be possible to introduce some lush green flora into the lives of busy city residents? That was the question Lee Ga-young, the CEO of Seoul Gardening Club, had in mind when she founded her green landscaping startup.

After opening in 2019, the company has provided a range of green services, including landscape planning, design, branding, and consulting.

Referring to itself as a "green lifestyle developer," Seoul Gardening Club provides unconventional ways to incorporate plants and nature into people's everyday lives, such as shared gardening. It runs two shared gardening spaces ? in Dongjak and Seongdong districts ? where members are each assigned their own spots to grow plants and create a community to share their gardening experience with others.

"Although we have four seasons, there aren't a lot of outdoor spaces. But the demand (for such spaces) is growing. So I thought there could be something that we could do with these spaces to plan and offer outdoor experiences to people," Lee told The Korea Times.

"A lot of people want to be closer to nature as they age. Many of us come to realize at some point in our lives that we are part of nature. So we thought it would be nice if we could help them to realize that sooner without having to wait until they get older, and in their daily lives."

Lee, who used to work at an advertising agency for about 10 years, came across gardening when she took some time off from her job. Discovering a new passion, she made the decision to pursue a career change and enrolled herself in a master's degree program at Seoul National University to study environmental planning.

"The advertising field has huge workloads and is tough. So when I worked with nature, I liked the cyclical elements it had. There's a cycle of certain periods or seasons and when they pass, you get flowers or fruit," she said.

"In the city, everyone's clock is a little bit off like their lives. But as I learned the fundamentals and logic behind these cycles, I felt like I found my clock. And I thought there is a lot to unpack from this and share with people."

The company's shared gardening, the community platform portion of its services, started as an experimental project. Lee used the small terrace of her rooftop workspace to invite people to create...