Oct 18 2018

Bonsai Potter Martin Englert plus Video

Earlier this month I met up with Martin Englert at the European Bonsai San Show 2018. An inspiring bonsai potter from Osnabrück in Germany, his exquisite hand-painted porcelain works completely contrast with his earthy honest wood-fired pots. By the time I got over to his vendor table a lot of his work was sold. If you do get to see his work buy NOW, it will only become harder to find and DEFINITELY collectable.

Take a look at his website HERE

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May 30 2017

Beautiful Pots and Kusamono

Here are a few pots that I have purchased recently, for sure the skill of kusamono potters in the West is getting better year on year. Pots from these potters can be purchased at Bonsai Europa 2017 even though the pots are beautiful, they reach a higher level of beauty when the best plant is paired with the pot.

Sep 16 2016

Sara Rayner Bonsai Potter showcase

Last week I was in East Rochester for the US National Bonsai Exhibition, I was a demo artist and Judge, one of the highlights for me was meeting Sara Rayner. Sara is a bonsai potter of immense talent, I have admired her work from afar for many years. This was my chance to buy a few of her amazing pots and interview her for my Bonsai Potter Showcase

Find out more about Sara Rayner here

Apr 23 2015

Pistachio from the hot South in a pot from the cold North

This yamadori pistachio was collected in Croatia 5 years ago and has still some way to go with the foliage mass. It has wonderful craggy bark and graceful twists and turns to the trunk line. Last week the tree flowered profusely however here in the cold damp North of England I do not expect to be blessed with Pistachio nuts as this species does not produce them (shame because they are my favourite)

I asked Thor Holvila to make a pot for the tree, I was looking for a different approach … This from Thor “I call this design Nidhögg since its depicting the dragon snake in Norse mythology that guards the world tree Yggdrasil. It’s carved by hand from one piece of granite grey Danish clay. Thor Holvila‘s attention to detail is wonderful, unseen are the faces of of Nordic characters with the eyes being the wire holes, each face different, and the feet are characteristic of of the carvings on Viking longboats.

The tree pot combination is great and the colour matches well with the rugged silvery bark, and when the foliage fills out it can only improve.

Take a look at more of Thor’s amazing pots in the links above

Dec 22 2013

Tom Benda Bonsai Potter and The Kifu Taxus Baccatta

Toms trade stand

I have seen the work of Tom Benda develop over the last few years however his most recent work is up there with the best bonsai potters in Europe. At the recent EDA UCHI KAI exhibition in Belgium Tom’s Trade stand was the busiest by far.My Yamadori trade stand backed onto Tom’s and we had a great weekend together. It was a classic case of “buy the pot NOW” because if you don’t somebody else would! So many pots were purchased in the first few hours of the weekend.

As he would have nothing to display the scope of his work, Tom requested that the buyers collect their purchases at the end of the show. Mario Komsta and Mark & Ritta Cooper snapped up dozens of pots between them, so often through the weekend I heard “Sorry that’s been bought by Mario”… “Mark and Ritta’s” “yes… that’s Marios too!” “no… sorry Tony Tickle has bought that”

This brings me to one of the Pots that I purchased, considered by Tom as “The best bonsai pot I have ever made” (what sales technique!) This was to be for a Kifu size Yamadori Taxus Baccata that I have been working for quite a few years. The current pot is by Milan Klika, lovely but not quite right for the tree, I will be potting the tree into the new container in April 2014. To ensure that the pot will indeed suit the tree I always produce a ‘virtual’ image.

NOTE: I am now the distributor for Toms pots and will be selling them on my stand at next years Noelanders trophy, so if you DO want to purchase one of Toms amazing Pots I suggest that you get there early