At craft markets and fairs, rows of tables stretch like a succession of small stages. Each one is curated by a maker who orchestrates a dialogue between the objects and the passing visitor, and between the objects themselves too. These displays do their job in drawing their audience, yet they are rarely seen for what they are. For in their careful compositions, they actually echo a fine art tradition: the still life . When I walked among the stalls at Potfest Scotland last

Before you step into Garden Futures: Designing with Nature, prepare to enter a parallel world, both removed from everyday life and...