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saruyama29

@saruyama29

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#Bonsai professional. Trained in Japan in traditional way, but always looking to evolve the art
Based in #London but active throughout the world.

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Stills from a recent project!

Peter Warren ran away to Japan after studying astrophysics at university. After teaching English for a while, he stumbled upon a bonsai nursery in Tokyo and fell in love with the craft.

He spent six years apprenticing under bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi before returning to the UK, where he now runs his own studio and nursery.

Full film now out on YouTube! by @saruyama29

One of the things I have always thought about is the idea of perfection in bonsai, always trying to make it clean and tidy and perfect. Which nature isn’t. We bang on about bonsai being a representation of the natural form yet exhibitions are filled with perfectly presented idealisations of nature that do not have a single leaf out of place. We frown upon unsightly needles or branches out of place.

Looking around the garden, seeing the signs of the changing seasons I do not see anything striving for perfection of form nor presentation, I just see trees doing what they do. Going through their constant cycle of change. Growth and decay. Old needles fall when their job is done. Perhaps they should not be swept under the carpet and ignored but rather time taken to appreciate that which they have given us.

The light in the garden was glorious today but my photographs couldn’t accurately capture the beauty of the yellow needles. I pulled this tree in to the workshop tonight, not to clean it, or wire it but just to sit and have a cup of tea with and mess about with some lights to try and capture the essence of some impossible to describe feeling.

This tree is a Scots Pine Beuvronensis that I have had for a number of years. It has been a bonsai for a long time and since I have had it, I have been trying to make it without wire, partly because I am lazy like that and mainly because it has both form and structure as well as a sense of freedom with that shape. II will need to work open it and change the angle a little, maybe prune a bit harder in some places but I will try not to make it too perfect and take away all the character it has.

The old yellow needles look very much as though they belong there. Because they do.

#bonsaiart #bonsailovers #nature #bonsai #盆栽 by @saruyama29

What can bonsai teach us about our relationship with nature?

Peter Warren is a British bonsai professional and artist who discovered bonsai while living in Tokyo after studying astrophysics at university. He went on to spend six years as an apprentice to bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi before returning to the UK, where he now runs his own studio and nursery.

Watch to discover how bonsai has shaped the way he sees trees, nature, and the world around him.

Full film now out on YouTube.

Producer | Director | Camera: @filmmaking_bob
Editor: @aodant @filmmaking_bob
Featuring: @saruyama29 by @saruyama29

The doors are open at the MoA Bonsai Treehouses exhibition in Oxford Square Gardens with 25 architect-designed treehouses to ogle!

Dates: 4th July - 31st August

@melissawoolford has worked tirelessly to make this one happen, right down to persuading bonsai expert, and all-round lovely human, @saruyama29 that it was even possible. There's a really wonderful variation to the designs through the approach with materiality, scale, colour, and methods of production. A shout-out to Hari (@form_place) for, quite literally, flipping Yukitsuri on its head and to Steve and Bo (@mccloymuchemwa) for their playful deconstructivism - think park de la villette but distributed across branches. Final slide for bonus M+M shot and thank you @luke.odonovan for spontaneous modelling.

When you make it down, do make time for a stroll around Tyburnia, a reference to the gallows at the Tyburn tree. The architecture is just as diverse as the treehouses: neo-Jacobean, post-war, stuccoed Italianate frontages...

Tickets and workshops in @museumofarchitecture bio! by @saruyama29

Meet the architects building London’s newest summer exhibition and the trees inspiring them. 🌳

We’re welcoming @ruthcampbell.co @macro.micro_architects @whitearkitekter and @mccloymuchemwa to #BonsaiTreehouses and today we’re revealing the trees they’ll be working with.

Each practice has been paired with a bonsai by @saruyama29 - ancient trees that will inspire entirely new structures. Hawthorn, elm, oak, Scots pine. Each one a brief in miniature.

Opening this summer in Connaught Village. Want your practice to be part of it? There are still a limited number of spots available. Link in bio.

#BonsaiTreehouses #londonevents #architecturelondon #connaughtvillage by @saruyama29

It wouldn’t be a repotting season without a rock planting.

Scabby literati Scots I have had for years, found a new home on a rock today. I love this tree for it’s point blank refusal to die, despite my best efforts. A tiny pot, falling off the bench, lack of fertiliser and water. None of that could stop it. Now perhaps squishing it onto a rock will do it.

I jest of course. It is a cockroach tree.

The beautiful suiban is a tiny but small for it bit the best I have. It is by @kawasemistudios

#bonsaiart #bonsailovers #nature #bonsai#naturalart bonsaiwork bonsailife bonsaidisplay 盆栽　saruyamabonsai rockntree scotspine pinebonsai by @saruyama29

Its a little late but here is my display from the recent Expo show that was, as always, very busy but very good. Many thanks to everyone involved.

My display was a bit of spring time fun with some stuff that I like. The tree is a Euonymus / Winged Spindle that has been around for 13 plus years, making an appearance in a book many moons ago. It has developed a sense of age and dignity that I can only aspire to, whilst retaining a youthful, joyous vibe in the spring. It is planted in an antique Japanese container and displayed on an unorthodox stand made by the creative and talented Mark Beverton @sculpturalfurniture . I bought the stand at last year’s Expo because it was of interest and posed a challenge to use in a display situation. Not many trees would work on it and used in an orthodox way, it looks a bit heavy. I think it works here though and the little amuse bouche moss accent planted in a tiny Ian Baillie pot was a nice finishing touch. The position and angle changed depending on mood and lighting.

It looked better at home in the tokonoma, but everything does. The dark, shadows and space help more than the harsh glare of the sports hall lighting.

Thanks to @yuki_bonsai for the photo. I forgot to take one.

#bonsai #bonsaiart #bonsailovers #nature #naturalart bonsaiwork bonsailife bonsaidisplay 盆栽　saruyamabonsai by @saruyama29

After a marathon repotting season comes to a momentary pause, the body and soul recovers by removing spent flowers from one Blackthorn whilst another looks on in anticipation of an imminent deflowering.

Working at night allows complete focus, a lack of distractions and the possibility of putting on headphones and listening to melancholy music. Just like heaven for me

Dreamed of all the different ways
I had to make her glow
"Why are you so far away?", she said
"Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you
That I'm in love with you?"

For clarification of any doubt, that is what I was singing to my Blackthorn.

and I meant it.

#bonsai #bonsaiart #bonsailovers #nature #naturalart #bonsaiwork #bonsailife #bonsaidisplay #盆栽　#saruyamabonsai #prunusspinosa #blackthorn by @saruyama29

When people ask "what is your favourite species to work on", the answer is always a variant on "whatever is in front of me, unless it is a Needle Juniper"

If the question is "what species means most to you, defines your ideas and aesthetic of bonsai, speaks to you on more levels that simply just form and shape", the answer is clear. Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa. To work on them is a challenge and fun in a sense, but mainly to try not to work on them. It is the challenge of stepping back.

In true fashion, I am usually away or crazy busy when all my blackthorn hit peak flowering beauty, although they show different sides of their innate character throughout the year.

I love this specific tree for being so well behaved and teaching me so much about the beauty of chaos and not rushing into decisions. Being hard as nails but yet with a careful hand and a steel rod, it can be manipulated into the best version of itself.

It is much like the person who collected it. @13bonsai.uk

#bonsai #bonsaiart #bonsailovers #nature #naturalart #bonsaiwork #bonsailife #bonsaidisplay #盆栽　#saruyamabonsai #prunusspinosa #blackthorn #rebar by @saruyama29

I had the honour of being visited by my oldest friend in Bonsai , ̶U̶n̶c̶l̶e̶ ̶A̶l̶b̶e̶r̶t̶ Les Storey @lesstorey1 with whom both I and this amazing Blackthorn have a long and tortuous history.

I do enjoy being alone with trees, just working and appreciating the process of creating, maintaining and caring for bonsai, but the human interaction can occasionally be just as rewarding, especially in this case.

He is a legend and the tree is a living testament to our bond which will hopefully live on after both he and I shuffle off this mortal coil.

The pot by the late Andy Pearson, @stonemonkey1968 adds another layer of depth and connection to the tree.

The beauty of the flowers is fleeting but their indelible influence remains on in the heart. The same can be said for Les.

Except his beauty is less obvious and hidden behind a beard, bad jokes and a scouse accent.

#bonsai #bonsaiart #bonsailovers #nature #naturalart #bonsaiwork #bonsailife #bonsaidisplay #盆栽　#saruyamabonsai by @saruyama29

At the recent Trophy exhibition I was asked many times if I am still doing bonsai, partly because it was my first time there since the infamous super spreader Covid show of 2020 but also because I haven’t posted on social media for ages.

I can assure you I am alive and still doing bonsai as professionally as I possibly can.

This year has been unusually busy with a crazy Kokufu trip, followed swiftly by the Trophy and then balls deep into repotting all around the houses. I have barely been at home.

Also I put a time limit on social media so I don’t rot my brain.

My experiences of Kokufu and Japan are here in this photo dump of the random stuff. I spent barely anytime at the actual show for various reasons but it was an intense couple of weeks.

I also realised (yet again), that they set climbs for smaller and far stronger climbers than me, but having longer legs and arms does occasionally help.

#bonsai #bonsaiart #bonsailovers #nature #naturalart #bonsaiwork #bonsailife #bonsaidisplay #盆栽　#saruyamabonsai #kokufubonsai by @saruyama29

Japanese Maple displayed at Expo Bonsai Show 2025 by @saruyama29

#bonsai #bonsaitree #bonsaishow #bonsaiart #tree #bonsaiworld #bonsailife #bonsailove #maplebonsai by @saruyama29