Pictured above is the plaque recording and celebrating all of the stamps and signatures used by Andrew Pearson of Stone Monkey Ceramics throughout his career. Currently the only such plaque in existence, Andrew kindly produced this for the EBPC to be used for pot displays and it can be seen above in the company of plaques by Japanese greats - Gyouzan, Bigei, Reiho, and Kakuzan.
Revered across the bonsai world, Stone Monkey Ceramics comprehends and is conscious of the the tree-pot marriage and produces excellent designs, in a variety of forms and finishes that suit trees impeccably. As the first Westener to have been invited to participate in the world's leading bonsai exhibition and small pot contest, 'The Gafu-ten', (which he won first place in the unglazed section!!) we thought it fitting to have such a plaque made by Andrew - the first by a European potter as far as we know. The EBPC are proud to support such artists, and we are very excited to be able to offer a range of 20 exclusive pots by this leading artist - COMING VERY SOON! Thank you for supporting the EBPC and great European bonsai ceramics.
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Exquisite new Ian Baillie pots! |
The fabulous designs and attention to detail have seen Kingdom Bonsai Pots create quite a stir, with their pots already in high demand. Please join us in welcoming this talented and passionate artist to the EBPC!! You can learn all about Kingdom bonsai on their EBPC POTTER PROFILE here: https://www.europeanbonsaipottercollective.com/kingdom... Kingdom Bonsai have created a special Edition, EBPC Dual stamped range of exquisite pots, which will be available for sale on FRIDAY at 6pm (GMT)! .. Don't miss it! Thank you for helping the EBPC support great European Bonsai Potter and Furniture Makers. |
Interview - with David Russel of D.R. Bonsai Tables
EBPC member David Russel of D.R. Bonsai Tables, Belgium has been making finely crafted bonsai furniture for over a decade. His tables are of the finest quality and can be admired at many of Europe’s high level exhibitions. For some years David had the desire to build some more intensive and detailed tables, however commission requests kept his diary full. He has now decided however to make a limited series of ‘Masterclass Tables’ … and we wanted to know more! |
Introducing the ‘MASTERCLASS SERIES’
- Hi David, Thank you for joining us to discuss your new masterclass series.
It is truly a pleasure to see such an intricately designed and refined piece of furniture made in Europe.
Can you tell us more please about the idea behind the Masterclass Series?
- Hi. Yes, of course.
After some years of wanting to create more intensive and detailed tables, but never having the time, a client asked me to look out for a best match table for his high level tree. This immediately reignited my aspiration and soon I agreed to making this special table, even if it will take a long time to build.
I have always taken inspiration for my tables from museums, antique tables, and the Gafu-ten exhibition in Japan. I read in the book of 'Edoardo Rossi' (Kazari) that there were masterclass tables in Japan, the photos of which were collated in a book , entitled ‘The book of tables’. This led me to the Idea of offering my clients such a limited series of intricate ‘masterclass tables.’
- How many of these masterclass tables will you be making?
I will aim to make one a year. The amount of work is very intensive and a table like this takes a lot of time to design and create. It is hard to know how many I will be able to make as each one will be unique. I will not repeat the same design twice. I cannot spend all my time on one table like this, so I will need to work on it between other commissions.
- The finish is fantastic, can you tell us which wood is this table made from?
The wood on the first model is a variant of Sipo wood from old stock I had the chance to buy, most of my money goes into buying rare wood for future projects.
I'm now making a second model using Ovangkol wood, which is more often used in musical instruments construction, such as for guitars etc.
I would like to use some Zelkova wood but we have none in Europe that I could find so far.
In most cases I like to use exotic wood because of the beautiful grain. The last table that I build for my own collection was from Imbuia wood. I imagine I'm the only one in Belgium with a small amount of this wood as the tree is now protected and export not allowed. Beside this, the wood is very expensive and it would make the total price of work and materials too high I guess.
- Can you tell us anything about the exquisite finish on this table?
The finish takes many hours of applying layers of oils etc. It also takes a lot of work to meticulously sand all the small details before you can start with the finish. All in all it is the kind of work you need 100% focus for - so it cannot be done in one go, and must be left to rest from time to time.
- These unique tables will no doubt be very collectable items and I expect a great investment for the future?
Yes, I think so. Every detail is carefully attended to. The transport case for example, will have a second fabric protection with the DR logo so you will notice directly when the box is opening that a masterclass table is inside.
In japan these tables are stocked in a special room separately of other tables because of their value and as a sign of respect.
I'm now busy on a new one, which I completely designed myself so I'm almost sure there will not be another like this in the world which for me makes even more interesting .
- Thank you David, it has been a pleasure talking to you and learning about the Masterclass Series! We very much look forward to seeing the next tables.
Japanese-Inspired .. Italian-made.
Discovering excellent artists and making their work accessible to you is what drives us at the EBPC. ...and today is a great day! We are truly delighted to introduce you to - and welcome 'Giuseppe Lombardo' of 'Yaruki Ceramics' to the EBPC. This exciting artist produces a variety of forms with inspirational glazes. Refinement and excellence in glazing are at the essence of Giuseppe's creations. Yaruki's 'EBPC Member Profile'Find out more about Giuseppe and his wonderful creations here. EBPC DIRECT |
Training pots especially for bonsaiThe EBPC now offer what we believe to be the best training pots available today for bonsai. Tie-Pots are strong plastic pots designed and made for bonsai development, with: ‘Air-pruning’ technology - for enhanced root development, 18 knobs for attaching guy wires - instead of, or as well as wiring your tree for styling. |
Perfect training pots for the serious enthusiast and ideal all round growing pots, with multiple advantages over traditional plastic pots.
The design of the pot, not only offers air-pruning technology, to reduced root circling and increase feeder-root mass, it also aids in drainage and air-circulation. Healthier roots mean healthier trees.
The potential to ‘guy wire’ rather than wire branches has many advantages, such as less chance of causing wire damage or knocking off almost invisible new buds.
Plant roots absorb most of the water and nutrients in the area closely behind the root tip. By air pruning the roots develop more branches and therefore more active root tips. The overall absorption surface increases significantly. In addition, the spatial structure of the roots improves.
In normal pots it can occur that 80-90% of the root tips are located in a relatively thin layer (6-12) directly at the pot wall. In air pruning pots the new tips grow evenly distributed throughout the entire substrate. The effects being:
- More intensive absorption of water and nutrients, less fertilizer is leached out of the pot,
- Trees are more resistant to temperature extremes as the roots in the centre of the root ball are better isolated
- Higher stress resistance e.g. against drought stress
- Increased overall growth of the plants.
There are numerous scientific studies about how much the growth of different plants is increased by this technique. The results vary due to the different species that were examined and due to different setups of the experiments. In most cases the acceleration was in a low double-digit percentage range.
Easier repotting
When you repot roots that grew in a normal pot you always have to cut off overlong circling roots. As a result, you often have to remove a significant part of the root mass.
In air pruning pots there are no/less circling roots. If you loosen up the roots you find a root ball that is hardly bigger than the pot. How much of this you prune during repotting is up to you. This is especially favourable when trees are moved from training pots into bonsai pots.
Welcome to ‘Honorary European Members’ ... Willow Bonsai Pots of South Africa!
We are excited to announce that Willow Bonsai Pots are producing a limited edition EBPC Stamped range of their beautiful pots, with some of their best forms and glazes. These will be available in the EBPC store, and will be released at ‘The Trophy’ exhibition, in Belgium at the end of February 2020.
Congratulations also to Willow Bonsai on their new website – being launched NOW – as this article is published!
- So please check it out at www.willowbonsaishop.com
But first, you can read more about them and see a selection of their pots on their ‘Potter Profile’ here.
AuthorArticles are written by Alex Rudd unless otherwise stated. |
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