Following the war, the
Council of Industrial Design commissioned Gardner to oversee various exhibition projects; the most significant of these was the
Britain Can Make It exhibition of industrial and product design in 1946. So began Gardner's career which included contributions to the Enterprise Scotland exhibition in 1947, and the
Festival of Britain in 1951, where he designed displays for the 'People of Britain' and part of the
South Bank exhibition. He was also Chief Designer of the
Battersea Park pleasure gardens. , Pleasure Gardens,
Battersea Park, London, UK. In 1953, Gardner designed the public decorations for
Elizabeth II's Coronation. Trade shows were a key area of Gardner's work, both at home and overseas. He designed exhibition stands for
Central Office of Information projects,
Ideal Home exhibitions, and the United Kingdom Board of Trade. At the
Brussels World Fair in 1958 and
Expo 67 in Montreal, Gardner's exhibition designs presented ideas concerning British identity. According to Gardner, his aim was 'to offer quirky reinterpretations of people's expectations'. Gardner worked extensively for museums and on cultural heritage exhibitions; in 1962, he designed dioramas for the newly relocated
Commonwealth Institute in London, commissioning artists such as
Barbara Jones to design murals. His 1972 'Story of the Earth' display for the
Geological Museum, London, was acknowledged as a significant breakthrough in science museum design and critically acclaimed and imitated worldwide. Amongst Gardner's other notable projects were: •
Pilkington Glass Museum (1965) •
Evoluon Museum, Eindhoven (1966) • Museum of the Diaspora, Tel Aviv (1978) •
Butterfly House, Syon Park, London (1981) • The
National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan (1988) •
Tower of David Museum, Jerusalem (1989) •
Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles (1993) ==Other commissions==