Pacific Bonsai Expo, Oakland CA, November 12-13, 2022

[NaoTK]

It was an amazing show! The quality of the trees was higher than Nationals imo, certainly a distilled down collection of the best of the best. The venue made the event really special because you could enjoy the trees under different lighting throughout the day.

Some glam shots



Best Large Conifer


Best Deciduous

Best Shohin display

Best medium size bonsai

Best Broadleaf evergreen



Best in Show. As others said the tree is MASSIVE and can only be appreciated in real life. The pot alone must weight 100 lbs.

 

[Sansokuu]

Before and after! and also the super secret thing Nao and I made: Trophy pots for the winners! I didn’t get a photo of all of them, but here are some photos of them next to their respective trees. Aaron Kupferman hand made the beautiful stands for them and he has nice close ups @Imager993 on Instagram.

 

[NaoTK]

subset of vendor area... I picked up an awesome Bob Shimon collected redwood and two antique pots






some loser:

 

[NaoTK]

More trophy photos. They were designed to be tall and trophy-like, but also useable bonsai pots. Aaron Kupferman made the beautiful hand-made walnut reversible stands/storage boxes



Best Deciduous


Best Conifer


Best Broadleaf Evergreen

Best shohin display




Best medium Bonsai

 

[NaoTK]

I wasn't a fan of the yatsubusa because the taper and apex could be better for such a fast growing species. Some of my favorites were the gingko in namako pot. This one was underrated and could have been in the Kokufu



I liked this trident forest a lot for its scale and composition (I need to make a new pot for it so I spent a lot of time studying the pot)



Dennis' hawthorn needs a new pot too...


Scott Elser's "accent plant" vine maple clump could have been a standalone display


Jeremiah Lee's juniper in Gyozan looking awesome as always. I enjoyed studying this pot.


Closeup of Jonas's hornbeam


Now that I own a redwood I enjoyed studying the structure of this one

moving trees...

 

[MACH5]

Yes. Ryan's Yatsubusa Elm was my favorite tree in the show. I'm pretty sure @MACH5 has its brother. Is that right, Sergio?

Yes!

 

[rockm]

Yes!

I thought that tree WAS Sergio's . Got a little pissed that Ryan was saying it was his...but then realized I was being an idiot. Both are REALLY nice trees.

 

[Shogun610]

Even the back drop is something we shouldn’t stray from as a standard moving forward

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Sorry I missed the show! Glad it turned out to be so awesome!

 

[Moridin]

It was awesome show! Thanks to @Eric Schrader and Jonas for all their effort putting it together. It was amazing seeing trees I has never thought I would see in person and getting to meet some great people as well.

My favorite personal moment was coming around a corner and seeing my girlfriend and her two daughters, all of whom were skeptical of what we were going to see, taking a docent tour with Dan Robinson fully enthralled. All they were talking about the rest of the day were gnarly branches.

 

[Eric Schrader]

Aaron Kupferman shared his awesome images - more on the detail / artsy side - we'll be using these on the PBE website. @NaoTK thanks for posting some good shots !

Full set (please credit if you use them!):

PBE 22 Selects - Use with credit only @imager993 - Aaron Kupferman by Aaron Kupferman

lightroom.adobe.com

Attached are three of Aaron's images including Mary's shohin award pot on Aaron's stand Sunday morning after the winners were announced.
Second is my juniper with a lovely shadow, third is a nice detail of Jonas' hornbeam, which won best medium display!

 

[BrianBay9]

Does anyone know how the vendors viewed the weekend? I know the area was packed, and I personally spent way more money than I anticipated. I imagine much of making this a regular event will depend on vendor support and profitability. If the crowd was any judge they should have done well.

 

[Eric Schrader]

I personally spoke with a dozen of the vendors and everyone was beyond thrilled. I'm guessing Nao takes the prize for highest percentage of materials sold....well deserved because I have NO idea how you make 275 pots when you have a kid, a full-time job and only 3 months to make them. Bro, do you even sleep?

 

[rockm]

I personally spoke with a dozen of the vendors and everyone was beyond thrilled. I'm guessing Nao takes the prize for highest percentage of materials sold....well deserved because I have NO idea how you make 275 pots when you have a kid, a full-time job and only 3 months to make them. Bro, do you even sleep?

Just got a message from Nao. He's sold out--no leftovers--

 

[Eric Schrader]

I think Vicki Chamberlain also left with either no leftover stock or something like 1% of what she brought. I wanted to buy all Mary's pots, but landed on just the anchovies.

 

[Sansokuu]

Attached are three of Aaron's images including Mary's shohin award pot on Aaron's stand Sunday morning after the winners were announced.

Oh! I love that angle! It shows the banana slug.

 

[Sansokuu]

I wanted to buy all Mary's pots, but landed on just the anchovies.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to you about that . I need to unpack and look at what I have..

 

[Sansokuu]

I personally spoke with a dozen of the vendors and everyone was beyond thrilled. I'm guessing Nao takes the prize for highest percentage of materials sold....well deserved because I have NO idea how you make 275 pots when you have a kid, a full-time job and only 3 months to make them. Bro, do you even sleep?

It helps that I take care of said kid full time. Even then, they have snacks together and read every evening too. I run a lot of studio back end logistics like ordering clay and glaze materials, tools, organizing the space for efficiency, prep and paperwork for the show, etc. so Nao can give the pottery his 100% focus this way. Working from home really eliminated time wasted on commuting too, before the pandemic he would be in bed by 9, be up at 5:30 and out the door at 6:50. Now he wakes at 7 and can stay up until 11- three extra hours is a lot of time each day! If they make him go in full time might be when you see him go full time potter.

 

[Sansokuu]

Does anyone know how the vendors viewed the weekend? I know the area was packed, and I personally spent way more money than I anticipated. I imagine much of making this a regular event will depend on vendor support and profitability. If the crowd was any judge they should have done well.

It depends on what they were selling, sadly we know two vendors who had a disappointing weekend which is a real bummer.

 

[ochong]

Lucked out here. 18" forest from @NaoTK just fit in my bag w/ a half inch to spare vertically and horizontally. Home safe and sound, but I was pretty nervous actually getting it in the bag and then transporting all the way home! I also purchased a wonderful pot from Mary and something more organic shaped from Vicki. Would have loved to have bought more of Nao's pots, but just couldn't get them home.

I'll post again with thoughts and some of my favorite photos later today.