Glow Wild 2025: Behind the glow

Dufaur has collaborated with Wakehurst for over a decade, drawing inspiration from the landscape. Working with materials such as willow, lantern paper, and steel, her pieces often reflect the delicate interplay between nature and creativity.

Inspired by Kew’s mission to protect biodiversity, this year, Dufaur’s installations explore vital themes of extinction, reintroduction, and conservation.

"Wakehurst has provided both the fuel and the opportunity for my work as an artist to grow. It’s inspiring to see how the more adventurous the build, the more skills and relationships evolve."

Same Sky is an award-winning community arts charity. Since 1987, they have been creating magical illuminated events such as night-time parades, puppets and floats, large scale fire shows, and imaginative costumes and concepts. 

The charity works with, and for, communities - empowering them to co-create events and installations to celebrate their unique perspectives on place and identity.

"We have collaborated with Glow Wild since the first event 11 years ago, which has been a great joy for us."

The OGE Group is a collective of light artists and architects that creates ‘social light art’ to convey inspiring stories. Their work blends joy with deeper social messages, promoting inclusiveness and societal values. Each work begins as a sketch and grows, like a seed, into an illuminated encounter where people, nature, and imagination meet.

"Wakehurst’s living collections feed our ideas, and in return we try to gift the night new constellations – fleeting, playful, and quietly thought-provoking."

Kerith Ogden is an artist, director, event organiser, and inventive maker based in West Yorkshire, UK. 

With over 25 years of experience in the outdoor arts sector, she specialises in creating vibrant, sculptural lanterns, giant puppets, costumes, and structures for outdoor events.

Her work combines creativity with a strong commitment to sustainability, using natural, recycled, and foraged materials such as sticks, paper, fabrics, and found objects to bring imagination to life.

"Glow Wild is easily my favourite event to work on – the whole team are amazing and have been such a joy to work with – the production team, the other artists, the horticulture team, tree climbing guys, volunteers – all have been so friendly, helpful and welcoming."

Brockman & Page dedicate their time to working with school and communities, using local natural materials to connect groups to their landscapes and celebrate the participants’ role as stewards of the natural environment. 

During their long-term residency at Glow Wild, they have collaborated with lighting designer Ben Pacey, and composer Lewis Gibson.

"We’ve been fortunate to work at Wakehurst over many years for both Glow Wild and other opportunities. Our work draws from the location it sits within – a communication between people and place. 

Wakehurst offers a varied landscape and materials, together with passionate people and individual stories that lead our paths to cross here and now."

ITHACA is a company of light artists, sound designers, composers, editors and experimenters based in Brighton, UK. They love to mix light, sound and technology in exciting new ways. Every year they design an original soundscape responding to the landscape, heart and themes in the trail.

"The Ithaca team have worked with Wakehurst to design and produce the Glow Wild soundscape for many years and have previously shown light artwork at Glow Wild Wakehurst too. 

We have spent many hours over the years both creating our own art here as well as supporting other Wakehurst artists to bring theirs to life with sound design and music and have a good understanding of both the unique landscape and Glow Wild psyche."

AndNow are an independent Arts Company formed by Mandy Dike and Ben Rigby who have collaborated together for decades, working to create site specific performances and installation. They work with a broad spectrum of material, form, scale and techniques, developing unique methods of working with fire, using its warmth and universal language to animate, illuminate and breathe elemental life into their creations.

"We enjoy and value working within the wonderful landscape of Wakehurst, creating imagery and conjuring up fire gardens alongside the permanent workers whose passion for the trees, plants, ecology and wider environment. It is an inspiration. 

We have made good friends over the past 11 years with the people and the place and have enjoyed being part of the ongoing evolution of Glow Wild, working together to make our installations congruent with the Wakehurst ethos."