editorial
Simple does it
With simple material you can make fine bonsai. To prove that this
isn’t just a hollow claim we started several projects and asked wellknown bonsai artists like Hotsumi Terakawa and Peter Warren, to
come to our studio and work on material which would normally
be left untouched. Of course we much like yamadori trees, but they
aren’t always available, or if your budget is tight, or when you live
in a very flat country like Holland. In this issue you can read how
Hotsumi recreates a dull Deshoyo maple into something worth
viewing. However, these projects need a little extra patience. With
the maple, for example, we had to replant it in the open field for a
couple of years to allow the trunk to thicken.
Patience was also needed to acquire a good tree from a pine with a
trunk like a pole. In an earlier 2005 issue, we showed how this long
project kicked off. In spring 2011 we invited new talent Dominique
Bosch to come and finalise the tree. The results are astonishing and
proved that our theory is correct — you really can make fine bonsai
with simple material. See the results further in this issue and agree
that the pine has come a long way to reach such a stunning result.
We really hope that this will be of great help and inspiration to you,
our reader.
To balance it all, we have our share of high end bonsai, too. See the
fabulous gallery from the British Shohin Association show, which
doesn’t only contain regular Japanese material. Learn how Taiga
Urushibata, the young Japanese Master (though, in Japan he is still
considered ‘a future Master’), changes a rock planted pine into a
new creation. And be fascinated by the work carried out on one
Japanese juniper by two pairs of hands when Andrea Trevisan tells
the story of his favourite tree.
Enjoy the read.
Farrand Bloch
Chief editor
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