We celebrate the elemental forces of landscape
Our vision brings together a modern design aesthetic with a practice of relationship with the land our projects touch. This process resolves the garden into both a designed space and a living ecosystem.
We're drawn to an honest, refined expression of design and materials. Clean lines and warm palettes that stand the test of time.
We seek to restore plants as active, functional elements of a local dynamic system. Not as simple, decorative elements.
We believe in integrity across the board. In the design of gardens themselves, how they relate to the larger landscape, and the values with which we practice our work.
The resulting gardens reconnect us to something essential. Ourselves, each other, the landscapes around our homes.
A grounded design language
We look for an easy, unforced expression of a material's natural properties allowing for outdoor processes like weathering and sun exposure.
This philosophy extends to the structural design of the garden as well, with usable spaces aligned to the needs of people.
Together, this brings a grounded sense of belonging to a place and spaces that invite ease and calm, setting up both a foundation and counterpoint for the planting design.
Purpose in planting
Our planting designs sustain life in alignment with natural processes, restoring plants to their proper function as the foundation of local ecosystems.
By designing with locally native plants, we harness eons of evolutionary adaptation to place, providing usable habitat to insects, pollinators, birds and more.
This creates a garden at one with itself and the surrounding landscape, deepening the experience of time spent outdoors.
Commitment in practice
Our goal is a garden that will bring years of enjoyment, outlasting trends and standing the test of time.
Our hope is to have a positive impact for our clients, for the land, and by giving back through non-profit partnerships.
To leave a place just a bit better than we found it.
Steve Ritchey has worked in the field of landscape design for over 25 years. Inspired by his passion for nature and a love of design, Seed Studio is the culmination of his experience in the disciplines of landscape, architectural and ecological design.
My love of landscape started with a love of spending time outdoors. Growing up I roamed the wild areas near my home in rural south Georgia. Family trips to the Appalachian mountains deepened that connection.
A natural aptitude for drawing and the arts led me to pursue architecture after high school, however something was missing. Through the guidance of a professor, my interest in the outdoors surfaced as the missing component. The suggestion I consider landscape architecture, a field I hadn't heard of, immediately felt right. So I transferred to the University of Georgia and completed my degree in Landscape Architecture in 2000.
Upon graduation, I relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, drawn by the culture, natural beauty and outdoor lifestyle. After over a decade working under local landscape architects, I started Seed Studio in 2012 to explore the intersection of modern design, local ecosystems, and sustainable landscape practices.
Currently living in Marin, I'm grounded in the wonder of nature every day. Grateful for the opportunity to work with these elements through the creative practice of landscape architecture.
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture | University of Georgia
Ecological Design Degree | San Francisco Institute of Architecture
Permaculture Design Certificate | Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
Certified California Naturalist | Tuleyome
Licensed Landscape Architect | California License #6639
