The 'Trophy' bonsai exhibition this year, was a special 3 day event, to celebrate the '20 years of the Trophies continued success. 
It was an extremely impressive event and an honour to be a part of. 

In addition to the EBPC trade stand, my selfless and extremely generous friends (to whom I am indebted) and I organised a 100 foot display of Bonsai Ceramics, with 101 fascinating examples from across China, Japan and Europe - some estimated at over 300 years old!

It was also an incredible experience to deliver a 'Bonsai Empire 'mini-lecture' with leading potter Tom Benda, on the topic of 'Pot Selection'.  Thank you to Bonsai Empire for the opportunity and all those that came along and interacted with the talk. 

The EBPC had a fantastic weekend trading - at an incredible site within the trading hall. Many superb containers were taken home by our fantastic friends and customers - and we thank you all for your continued support. It is your support that enables the EBPC to keep expanding, support the potters, and offering you more free information and some of the best bonsai ceramics from around Europe.  ​

With the help and contribution of some of Europe's leading pot collectors, the EBPC also organised a display of 101 fine bonsai pots from China, Japan and Europe, ranging over a 300 year period. 
Rather than purely an aesthetically beautifully display, the arrangement contained a large number of rare and high class pieces, and was aimed more towards inspiring appreciation and interest. From a personal note, it was for me a sheer pleasure to have the opportunity to take my share of these pots out of their boxed homes and be able to share with friends and enthusiasts from across the world. 

I would like extend a warm thank you to all of the collectors that contributed incredible pieces, and helped with the arrangement, especially to; Guido Pozzoli, Harald Lehner, Dario Mader, Enzo Ferrari, and to all of the potters that made pieces especially for this show, or entered some of their finest (often award winning) pots, including amongst others; Martin Englert, Andrew Pearson, Igor Carino, Maria Jose Gonzales, Marc Berenbrinker, Thor Holvila, Tom Benda, Sami Amdouni, and Giang Nguyen (Lotus).

As with many other shows recently, bonsai ceramics comprised a more substantial part of the show; with this pot display, a larger proportion of ceramics traders, and even a visit and demonstrations by leading Tokoname's bonsai potters; Shuho, Reiho, and Koho. It was an honour to meet and speak with them, and fascinating to seem them in action!
​ It is evident that in the West, greater weight is being given to the importance bonsai ceramics within the bonsai scene, as is the case in Japan. This is an inevitable process, as the level and quality of bonsai exhibited continues to escalate in Europe, as does the appreciation of its ceramics. ​

It was an enormous honour for me to discuss the pots with Masayuki Fujikawa san of the famous Fujikawa Kouka-en garden, Japan. Fujikawa san also chose his 'winning pot' and kindly presented this award to me for the 'winning' pot at the Trophy Gala dinner. 

Tom Benda and I also gave a brief talk on 'Pot Selection' at the event. 
We discussed how much a pot and their features influence the overall image of a 'bonsai', how to identify the image you are striving for, and how to select the appropriate pot to harmonise with your tree and create that desired image. It was fascinating for me to hear it from a leading potter's perspective and Tom's insight was fascinating.
Further to this, I will be soon adding a free EBPC article on this topic. 

We would again like to thank our customers, incredible support team, and everyone involved in the exhibition, especially the Bonsai Association Belgium team, led by Luc and Christian. The event was superbly well organised and was thoroughly enjoyable and inspirational! 

... and this article has not even touched on the trees, traders, esteemed international visitors, or fantastic demonstrations including Ryan Neil of the U.S.A. and the Korean dream team! ... back to Bonsai Empire?! 

The bonsai workshop was busy again, and some great trees were worked on over the two days. A variety of games and raffles were also arranged, with many local businesses around Ashford kindly donating raffle prizes. In addition to raising money for a great cause, a fun weekend was had by all. 

The EBPC is very excited to offer for sale the 'Raku Series' from Stone Monkey Ceramics. 
Dual stamped with the EBPC stamp together with the Stone Monkey Ceramics mark, these superb pots come in a wonderful variety of forms and colours!

Raku is a Japanese technique of firing ceramics such as 'chawan' tea bowls. Rather than placing the ceramics in a cool kiln, raku ware goes straight into a hot kiln for a time, and then are cooled rapidly. Raku pots are cooked to around 1000 degrees centigrade, which is lower than stoneware, and as such they do not reach the heat required to 'vitrify' or make them 'frost proof'. They are however superb, useable bonsai or accent pots and the flames and extreme changes in temperature offer some quite stunning results. These were fired in a kiln belonging to a  friend of Andrew, as his new studio and kilns are being built. 

Please see the online store for the selection.