26 April 2008

Extreme tree shaping


For centuries people around the world have trained trees and other plants to grow into "designed" shapes. The best known example would be the Japanese art of bonsai. Topiary has been done in Western cultures since Roman times. Perhaps the most innovative current practitioners are the Pooktre Tree Shapers of Queensland, who fashion chairs, benchs, picnic tables, and surreal art forms from living trees. Their website is HERE, and THIS LINK has many additional interesting photos.

Addendum April 2009: Wikipedia now has an entry on this subject.

3 comments:

  1. Hi this is Becky form Pooktre.
    Arborsculpture relates to Richard Reames's method of shaping trees.
    At Wikipedia there was a consensus that a neutral name was needed for the artform, and Tree shaping was decided upon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping

    You may be also interested in visiting this website http://www.treeshapers.net, which shows photos from all the different tree shapers from around the world.

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  2. Entry amended per your suggestions. Thanks.

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  3. All i can say is WOW,I am currently working on a project about Soil Creep and luckily for myself,I happened to stuble upon this.Dear Becky what you have accomplished is a real work of art.

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