life-size, hand-planted 'burberry checks' dot the lands of canary islands and south africa

Larger-than-life earthworks ‘Burberry landscapes’

In 1967, a buyer in the Burberry Paris store had a flash of inspiration, removed the Burberry Check lining from a Burberry raincoat, and wrapped it around a piece of luggage and an umbrella. The British fashion house took it as a sign to devise a series of accessories dedicated to Burberry Check.

These luxury objects now sign the namesake of the fashion house, and its recent venture finds the Burberry Check expanding, so vast that it covers the grounds of El Hierro in Canary Islands and Western Cape in South Africa. Burberry plants a series of larger-than-life earthworks and illustrations crafted in collaboration with its creative community.

Named ‘Burberry Landscapes,’ the series not only celebrates founder Thomas Burberry’s reverence for the great outdoors but also pays homage to the tales of adventures that his family members embarked on. The open spaces in El Hierro and Western Cape have turned into temporary homes for these life-size installations that will soon gradually disappear.

images © courtesy of Burberry

El Hierro, Canary Islands – Elsie Burberry

Elsie Burberry, the daughter-in-law of Burberry’s founder Thomas, traveled to the Canary Islands by sea in the early 20th century and embraced the natural landscapes of the region. Her adventure inspired the fashion house to drape the island of El Hierro’s volcanic ground acted as a natural canvas for the Burberry Check. Burberry tapped Cuban-American contemporary artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada to bring the Burberry Check to life.

The artist used natural milk-based paint with the natural illustration having been carefully washed away with manual turning, wind, and local water sources to leave no lasting mark on the landscape. Rodriguez-Gerada says that one of the things he enjoyed about using the painting process was its roots in minerals.

‘It’s like alchemy. You don’t really know what amount works in one moment or another moment, because each type is going to come with a certain density and coverage and another comes with a different one. All of it unfolds before you, so you can enjoy mixing at the moment,’ he says.

close-up of burberry check in western cape

Western Cape, South Africa – Betty Kirby-Green

In the meadow of South Africa’s Overberg region, Western Cape, the Burberry Check emerges near where co-pilots Betty Kirby-Green and Flying Officer Arthur Clouston landed The Burberry plane into Cape Town. Local green experts hand-planted the illustration on the meadow whose land is nurtured and grown using water sourced from a rainfall catchment dam.

To ensure the pasture meadow was returned to its original state, the plants were turned over to break down naturally and compost back into the earth. ‘Together, these landscapes embody Burberry’s belief that creativity opens spaces. A body of work that celebrates Burberry’s heritage and encourages people to step outside and rethink the possibility of the world around them,’ Burberry writes.

western cape, south africa