Arborisculpture

An ancient art is being revised, pleaching or arbori-sculpture has been around for centuries. Many of us have seen braided ficus trunks on our potted specimens at our tropical plants store. This is the same in a go big or go home manner. Pleaching has also traditionally been used to make wattle fences; a method which involves bending and weaving live pliant saplings of species like willow. They are planted in a row, woven into a fence, and in time grow together to form a solid structure. Here are some pics where this technique has become although practical, I think for fun, or Art's sake.

Here is nature creating her own version.

Ficus tree hut

How to grow a Chair interview with Richard Reames

Using ancient grafting techniques and a few basic tools, Richard Reames shapes living trees into furniture and sculpture near his home in Oregon for clients worldwide. He is the author of two self-published books, How to Grow a Chair: The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary with Barbara Delbol, and Arborsculpture: Solutions for a Small Planet, published in June. His work was on display this summer at the World Expo in Aichi, Japan. Joshua Foer spoke to Reames in July 2005 by telephone. http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/20/foer.php