Artificial Bonsai

Magic Tree Image

Do you remember those magic trees from when we were kids? I loved them when I was a little and I remember buying them from this little toy shop where I live called the Cats Cradle...which closed down so long ago I half think I'm making it up. There was something so fascinating about watching these seemingly boring cardboard cut out begin to bloom ...why there's cherry blossom on something the shape of a conifer, I'll never know, but pink crystals? I'm sold.

Prior to (as my friend has termed it) snowpocalypse, which has foiled any chance of doing the other practices, I had been researching ideas for displays & came across this, an Artificial Bonsai Tree by Jennifer Chan:

Essentially it is a CAD rendered, resin structure, the leaves made of a lattice work which is integral to the way in which the rapid prototype is formed. Unlike conventional manufacturing processes, rapid prototyping produces internal and external structures simultaneously from the base up, meaning the tree is a whole form rather than sections put together. The prongs making the lattice work of leaves is technically the waste material which allows the structural support to the piece being produce, and are usually disposed of once complete.

Chan has used this to her advantage turning the lattice work into leaves, which the owner then trims into their preferred form and doesn't have to worry about their lovely, expensive bonsai suffering an untimely death.

I kind of love this and for the less green fingered of us there's no fear factor from this Droog design. It is in my mind, a kind of grown up magic tree, but it won't disintegrate over time.

Wonder if they come in pink?

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Listening: James Taylor - Frozen Man