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Seven years ago, Daniel Taylor was on the brink of packing up his landscaping tools for good and taking up full-time music teaching when he stumbled into a job installing water features. Realising his passion for taking a blank canvas and creating a unique design to make the most of the space, Daniel went out on his own three years ago, forming Taylor’d Waterscapes.
Taylor’d Waterscapes designs start with basalt or granite rocks sourced from a rock farm. Estimated to be around 30 million years old, the gentle way in which they are farmed means that there are no sharp faces. And the environment thanks him!
Taylor’d Waterscapes can incorporate just about anything into a water feature, be it urns, bowls, core drilled rocks, ponds with sandy beach entrances, staircases, lights or fire.
Warm white or coloured lighting systems, operated from an app on your phone can transform the water feature to a glistening and flickering wonder in the evening.
Water features can be pondless if a lower maintenance approach is desired; or can incorporate a full fresh water filtration system to accommodate fish, turtles, plants and all kinds of wildlife. Most recently, Taylor’d Waterscapes collaborated with Garden Art Structural Landscape Designs and Earth Art Designs to create a stunning waterscape at the Queensland Garden Expo. The design began with a meandering 16m stream with multiple waterfalls, originating from a tree root placed in the water and holding up a red gum bar style table top. The perfectly formed stonework, gorgeous plantings, a bridge created out of a hollow log, sunken fire pit area and bench seat, made this a very natural earthy garden display. It also included a rainwater harvesting system fed via a rain chain from the rustic gazebo, then collected in an underground tank and circulated through to an outdoor shower.
Stunning waterscape at the Queensland Garden Expo
It is not unusual for Daniel’s installations to gain the attention of admirers at events like the Queensland Garden Expo, who then may follow Taylor’d Waterscapes for sometime before commissioning their own piece. It might be that they are waiting to buy their forever home or they just want to save up for the project, but once customer and designer have reviewed the site the water feature can come together quite quickly.
However, Daniel rarely provides detailed drawings prior to construction as often it is only when the rocks arrive on site that the final design crystalizes – their size, shape and form determine how they will be used and what the final product will look like. In many instances, Daniel will start with a specific design in mind but as the water feature is under construction new and creative ideas come to mind and the final design ends up looking very different. Then there are the customers who know exactly what they want, and the outcome differs little from the original concept.
Take the builder who designed his home around his dream water feature – a wetland emerging at the front of the home, running under a see-through glass bridge in the home and then cascading into a u-shaped design at the back of the house.
The water feature can be seen from any point in the house, bringing the outdoors in, the subtle lighting make the water feature glow and shimmer at night. The effect is just stunning and makes his home truly unique.
Other favourite projects of Daniel’s include a Japanese-inspired design in which the 3 different waterfalls fall from a pond and down to the front gate.
Another project included two 15m long and 5m high series of waterfalls into a spring fed dam. And one that stands out is a more formal project with a stone pitched wall with rock boulders looking like they have washed down and smashed through the wall.
Going into a design, Daniel advises that the customer has a budget in mind and preferably some ideas about what they would like to incorporate. The landscape and access all need to be considered, but Daniel is in the business of problem solving and prides himself on delighting his customers.
Each site is unique and every rock used has its own character. Taylor’d Waterscapes designs make sure that every water feature looks natural and makes best use of the space.
If you’d like to chat to Daniel about your own unique water feature, he can be contacted at Taylor’d Waterscapes on Facebook and Instagram or email at
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