ABOUT
THE ATELIER
In her studio, Maike Kristina Harich designs gardens and outdoor spaces, as well as the connection and transitions between buildings and nature. She pays particular attention to small spaces in urban areas.
Maike founded the studio in Bremen in 2008 as a design studio. Since the end of 2024, it has specialized entirely in gardens and outdoor spaces, with projects and clients throughout Germany and Europe.
The focus is on personal consultation, to provide inspiration, impulses and ideas about the potential hidden in outdoor areas and how a green place of well-being can be created here.
Maike places particular importance on the integration of nature and natural materials, as well as the focus on a beneficial and regenerative spatial effect, in her personal consultations and design concepts.
"I have often experienced firsthand how much the quality of life, and therefore the overall quality of living, improves when we surround ourselves more with nature and live in harmony with it. With plants around our house that welcome us when we come home and that we can see from inside. With natural and healthy materials like wood, natural stone, or clay paints, and with indoor and outdoor spaces designed to meet our needs, providing us with peace. This is restorative, sustainable, and also of high aesthetic value."
ABOUT MAIKE KRISTINA HARICH
Maike Kristina Harich designs stylish and atmospheric outdoor areas as well as seamless transitions between the building and nature.
Having started in the corporate world, after a career as a communications consultant with her own agency, she consciously left behind the "higher, faster, further" mentality, sold her company and founded her studio in 2008.
She began with drawings of botanical illustrations and nature motifs, which she has since regularly published as exclusive fine art prints and stationery, and which have been featured in magazines such as Homes & Gardens, Landlust, and Wohnen & Garten. Soon after establishing her studio, she began receiving requests for interior design services. From the very beginning, Maike's passion has been for outdoor spaces and the view from indoors out into nature.
Over the years, Maike deepened her knowledge through various qualifications, including in spatial design and architectural psychology, and fulfilled her dream in her late 40s of studying to become a garden designer at the British Garden Design Academy and has since specialized entirely in outdoor space design.
Vita
Nature, space, and people – these three elements have accompanied Maike Kristina Harich throughout her life and are now interwoven in her designs. She began with people. A trained communications consultant, she founded her own agency in 1998 at the young age of 23, built it up over the years, and, together with her team, advised national and international clients on interpersonal communication. She also lectured at institutions such as the University of Bremen and held various board positions in business associations. A life in the fast lane. With many successes, but also with the persistent feeling of living the wrong professional life. In 2008, she therefore decided to sell her agency, step out of the "higher, faster, further" mentality, and establish her own studio. Throughout her life, she had a close connection to nature, roaming through meadows and fields as a child. Even later, in her hectic job as an agency head, she sought respite in the tranquility of walks through the North German countryside, on horseback, or by embracing a lifestyle as close to nature as possible, for example, in her diet. With the founding of her studio, nature also entered her professional life. This took the form of nature illustrations, linocuts with botanical motifs, and abstract landscapes, which she drew and painted. Magazines such as Homes & Gardens, Landlust, and Wohnen & Garten featured her prints. And so, she found, and continues to find, a loyal clientele in a wide variety of countries. At the same time, in response to requests, Maike Kristina Harich began to apply her atmospheric style to three-dimensional designs, creating her first spaces. Always with a focus on nature, whether through natural materials in the interior or by integrating the garden into an aesthetically pleasing overall design. When she designed her first garden, it felt like coming home. As if it had always been the goal of her career path – with a few twists and turns along the way. In the following years, she completed a certificate program in spatial design, participated in various international advanced training courses in garden and landscape design, as she was particularly inspired by English and Dutch garden designers, and also learned a great deal about architectural psychology and therapeutic architecture. Finally, at the end of 2024, she specialized in the design of outdoor spaces and gardens. In her private life, she lives with her family in a green area of the northern German Hanseatic city of Bremen, near the dike.
ARTWORK
The tranquility of the vast North German landscape is reflected in the illustrations, paintings and objects of Maike Kristina Harich.
The designs are inspired by nature. This results in abstract landscape paintings, linocuts, or – a particular focus – minimalist nature illustrations for exclusive greeting cards on fine paper – as a tribute to analog writing culture.
Occasionally complemented by special objects made from natural materials, such as linen or wood, which combine utility and aesthetics.
Some are unique pieces, others are small series produced in regional printing houses and manufactories. In this way, Maike combines art with craftsmanship and creates individual pieces that have already been featured in magazines such as Homes & Gardens, Landlust or Wohnen & Garten.
Currently available editions can be found under "Artwork".
JOURNAL
In her journal and on Substack , Maike Kristina Harich regularly writes about garden design, atmospheric spaces, living with more nature, and about inspiring people who have created beautiful, livable, and sustainable places and projects.
Subscribers to "Greetings from the Atelier (free registration at the bottom of this page) receive a summary of all published articles by email 3-5 times a year, plus personal insights into the studio.
Anyone who wants to receive every new article automatically as soon as it's published can subscribe to the "Natural Living Letter" for free via the newsletter platform "Substack". Every article is also available in German, alongside the English version.
We only work with people who share our values. Above all, decency, respect, tolerance, a friendly and peaceful approach in word and deed, and always a good dose of humor.
