Living Matter is headed by Cheral Kennedy, a pioneer of transformation in the landscaping industry and a forerunner of contemporary garden design in South Africa. The company has a strong team of designers with specialist skills in illustration, 2D mapping in a CAD environment and 3D modelling and rendering for landscape architecture.
We are a design studio that concerns itself more with our clients' needs, hopes and personal ideals than with any preferences and prejudices of our own. We create landscapes for the people who are going to live with them and in them, day-by-day through the seasons.
We carefully select enthusiastic and dedicated team members. We have separate responsibilities based on the phase of the process that the team member is involved in. This is specific to the type of activities, thought processes and skill types required to do that job:
The Site Analyst is responsible for accurately measuring onsite and mapping out the client's existing property, including softscaping and hardscaping aspects. This person plots the site plan in a CAD environment and models the existing property in 3D where necessary. This person is of technical nature and accuracy for data, space and detail is important.
The Landscape Designer Assistant is responsible for taking the design ideas from the Landscape Designer and modelling them in their bare essential requirements into 3D. This person role is translator between design creativity and technical mapping. Overlapping with this job responsibility is assisting the site analyst with the physical mapping out of the client's property.
The Landscape Designer is responsible for meeting with clients, conducting client property walkthroughs, listening to the clients’ needs, wants and desires, and conceptualising them into reality. This includes merging the concepts and the existing site plan into a creative design. They are also responsible for training and supervising staff, both in the nursery and in the office. Unique aspect design and creativity is key to this persons’ role in the business. Overlapping with this job responsibility is assisting the Landscape Designer Assistant with modelling of the landscape or design components.
The Project Manager is fully responsible for taking the conceptualised design, planning the implementation and ensuring the quality of the final deliverables. This extends from contracting in suppliers for the quoting process, managing the process of the implementation, and ensuring the quality and precision of the implementation until final completion, signoff and handover to the client. They are also responsible for training and supervising contractors onsite in the right way to implement and finish off quality workmanship. Overlapping with this job responsibility is assisting the Landscape Designer with ensuring the design is feasible in terms of budget and timelines and value for money.
The Finance Assistant is responsible for collating and managing the expenses of the business, the invoices and the receipts of payments to and from clients.
