When many of us think about industrial-style design, we tend to naturally gravitate towards architecture, lofts and interior design. But how can we bring that beautiful, authentic look outside?

It makes sense to think about industrial style in the context of interior design; after all, it is only fitting to incorporate the reclaimed scaffold boards that helped raise up cities into the design of our homes and celebrate the natural features of converted factories and warehouses.

However, is it possible to bring that design outside into your gardens? Could you incorporate, through the use of rustic garden planters, a green space that celebrates industrial heritage whilst also providing the calming benefits of a peaceful garden?

You absolutely can, and here are some of our top tips from 15 years of experience working with scaffolding and industrial materials for how you can incorporate them into your outdoor space, whether you have enough room for a garden or if you have a rooftop terrace or balcony.

We all know and love industrial style interiors; they are both eternally stylish and extremely 

trendy, and an industrial-style garden follows a very similar tradition.

The core concept of an industrial-style garden is very similar to an industrial-style room; it is the integration of rugged, authentic and honest materials and texture into an outdoor setting. 

Typically, this is a conventional garden, but it can be any outdoor space where plants can grow.

Much like industrial-style interiors involves the celebration of materials. Everything from salvaged vintage machinery, brushed metal elements and scaff brick cladding.

Industrial-style design has become a staple of modern design, maintaining the fundamental concept of truth to materials that has been at the centre of architecture, landscaping and interior design for the past century.

The materials that have shaped the environments we live in should be celebrated, and the best way to do so is to use them as the base for growing a verdant range of plants, shrubbery and trees.

Industrial materials are part of the environment, and the best way to create beautiful natural environments in areas which have been paved over is to integrate industrial materials and greenery.

Some of the most beautiful gardens in recent years have followed a theme of rewilding and the natural reclamation of built environments. There are few more beautiful industrial settings than former factories and houses where grass, vines and plants have grown through what was a sterile setting.

The concept of an industrial style garden is an intentional, controlled variation of this, with the functional forms typical of industrial design married to the natural beauty of grass and plant life.

Many of the elements you would include in an industrial-style interior would be suitable for incorporation in a garden setting, as long as they would survive or would be enhanced by the elements.

We have a wide range of outdoor furniture, including benches made from reclaimed scaffold boards and patio tables also developed from reclaimed materials that provide ideal centrepieces for an industrial garden.

Whilst there is such a wide scope for incorporating industrial style into your garden if you follow similar principles to interior design, here are some particularly effective touches you can add to your garden.

Rustic Garden Planters

Planters are a great way to section off and segment the different parts of your garden, and the best way to add an industrial touch to any garden is to use rustic industrial materials for these planters.

Whilst every garden is unique, industrial styles thrive on the contrast between the natural and the constructed, revealing the organic beauty of built materials and the beautiful golden ratio of nature.

What should you fill your planters with? Any flowers or plants you like will fit. The robust beauty of cactuses or succulents is perhaps the most fitting choice, but planting delicate, brightly coloured flowers will create perhaps the most ideal contrast.

Scaff Brick Cladding

Exposed industrial materials work best, and if you have a brick wall at the foot of your garden, by all means take advantage of the materials you already have.

As with interior design, however, scaff bricks can provide an optimal replacement for exposed brickwork if you do not have the option, and it can be a perfect backdrop for hanging plants, trellises and other suspended arrangements.

Scaffold Pipes

A key feature of an industrial garden is the merging of green spaces with the artistic use of functional materials, and one great way to take advantage of that is to use metal scaffolding to create art holders for plant pots and decorative elements.

Everything from planters to pipe display pieces will help to enhance the finish of your industrial garden.

Reclaimed Metal Art

If you want to take the industrial art aspect further, buying or making sculptures from reclaimed pieces of metal can be an incredible way to demonstrate the beauty of industrial materials within a green space.

Vintage Metal Machinery

Alternatively, you can dispense with intentional artistic design and instead juxtapose machinery, 

fans and metal industrial components with grass and plants to make incredible industrial gardens.

Whilst the more green space you have to play with, the more options you have for an industrial-style garden, that does not mean you necessarily need to have a conventional garden to take advantage of rustic industrial outdoor design.

Using reclaimed scaffold planters, you can turn any outdoor space into an industrial garden wonderland, whether you have a rooftop terrace to work with or even just a balcony on your industrial loft. 

As long as you have the right space to grow something, you can bring your indoor and outdoor spaces to life.

What if you do not have any outdoor space of your own at all? Many industrial lofts have a communal balcony unsuited for planters, so can you fit one indoors and bring the outside into your industrial loft? You absolutely can!

As long as you have enough daylight and you ensure that your industrial living space is not too crowded with the incorporation of greenery, a planter can be fitted inside just as easily as outside.

Ready to bring authentic industrial character to your garden and green spaces? Explore our collection of reclaimed and new scaffold board planters, each one carrying the heritage and durability that make industrial design so timeless.