Damien Hirst has designed a deckchair as part of a collection created to raise money for the Royal Parks Foundation.
Chef Anthony Worrall Thompson, TV presenter Ben Fogle and singer Will young are also amoungst the 23 celebrities who have designed the canvases which will replace the common striped deckchairs in London's Royal Parks this summer.
The foundation is close to the heart for Ben Fogle. He was born within crawling distance of Hyde Park and claims to have walked nearly 20,000 miles of it. “I know every tree and each blade of grass. I have revised for exams and failed exams, walked puppies and mourned the loss of older dogs, courted and split up, trained for arctic expeditions and desert adventures, I even met the love of my life in Hyde Park. My deckchair, like my park represents my life so far. It is a story of adventure, dog walking and marriage.”
This is the second year that the Royal Parks Foundation has initiated Deckchair Dreams to raise vital funds for London’s treasured green spaces. Sara Lom, Chief Executive of the Foundation explains: “There are over 130,000 trees in the Royal Parks and it costs £300,000 a year to look after them. With hotter, drier summers and increasingly unpredictable winters, it is proving harder to establish young trees and to care for existing trees. It’s important that we do so, because trees work hard to help clean up the city atmosphere, they provide homes for wildlife and just looking at them makes us all feel better! By buying a deckchair, you can help safeguard the trees’ future for future generations to enjoy”.
The new collection will be on display in Selfridges, Whole Foods Market new store in Kensington, at the PROUD gallery/nightclub in Camden, at Henley Festival, the Tour de France, Taste of London and Frieze Art Fair.
The deckchairs will be available for hire in the Parks from mid June to late September. Limited edition deckchairs will be available to buy online from The Royal Parks Foundation for £83 + p&p