In this interview, Swedish bonsai pot maker Tor Holmela explains the purpose and philosophy behind the Scandinavian Bonsai Retreat. He frames the retreat as a seed that will grow into a vibrant Swedish bonsai community, aiming to rekindle a fire of creativity, connect Sweden with the broader European and Japanese bonsai scenes, and overcome the isolation caused by the short northern growing season. Holmela reflects on his own apprenticeship, the cultural heritage of Dalarna—its ancient language, rune writing, and hunter‑trader dichotomy—and how these roots shape his sense of responsibility to ancestors and the art form. He emphasizes adaptation, continual change in art, and the need for fresh blood and exchange to keep bonsai thriving in the north.
Chapters
The Scandinavian Bonsai Retreat.
It's a seed that will become a plant, and what that plant is, we don't know looking at the seed, but I hope that the people that come, came This year.
Yeah.
My idea is that this is going to— I want to bring something back to bonsai because I have received so much and I'm just so thankful for that. But I want to bring something, a fire into the Swedish bonsai scene. I want Europe to— Sweden become a part of European bonsai scene. When I go down To meet other people out in the world, and especially in Europe. I can see that they are connected, you know, they share so much, and we are a little bit isolated. So I want to— I want people up here to see that.
Would you say that we are lacking that in Sweden, this connection that you talk of?
We are behind.
We are behind.
We are behind, and that's natural. I mean, we're up north, we have a short season, we don't have as many species and all that, but, but I think that we also— we are We are so few, so we don't have that, we don't have the different branches in the community, so we have to bring that fresh blood.
Walking around and talking with people, I have seen that people are a bit— I can see on their faces, they're smiling happiness, they're feeling welcome.
Oh, that's great, that's what we hope for, and that's why we call it a retreat, we don't call it a A camp or an event or festival.
Yeah.
We call it a retreat because that's what it is. It's retreating from the noisy cities and finding yourself and relaxing and being together 24 hours. Tor Holmela is Swedish bonsai pot maker, partially self-taught, partially schooled by. By being an apprentice for a ceramist, Paula Limfosh, for 7 years. I'm seeing myself as, you know, as— you have the people who carry the culture. You have the ones who repeat and keeping the art maintaining. But you also have those that you put in a canoe with a pig and a coconut. And you push them out in the ocean and say, like, paddle towards the horizon. If you find an island, come back and tell us. If you're not, bye-bye. And I'm the guy in the canoe. I'm paddling towards unknown territory, and I hope that I can bring something back.
Yeah.
A drop-off is the correct language.
How many drops?
One.
And I mean, like I said earlier, art is changing all the time, otherwise it wouldn't exist. And we have to be able to adapt all the time. And I think this is an— maybe this is adapting to what's happening in the bonsai world now, going to Japan and connecting with that and hopefully bring something back.
Yeah.
But I think that Japan also needs to reconnect or connect with, with the rest of the world and especially the West. Listen to your thoughts and follow your dreams and standing strong, and it's all about that. And I think also as a nation, Japan is very protective of their traditions, and I think that's just great. That's what we have up here as well.
Yeah.
The people up here in the north of Sweden is not traders like they are in the south. These people up here are hunters, and they adapt to the reality. Otherwise, they would be dead. I mean, yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. It's life and death for people here to be able to adapt.
One of the 3 legendary potters in Japan, Tsukinawa Yusen. And then you've got Fujikawa Yusen, who's one of my favorite painted— painting potters. And Hayan Yusen. Hayan Tofukuji, Hayan Yusen. There's quite a few Hayans because Hayan means peace.
Here in Dalarna, we are just on the border for— if you just go a few miles down to Mora, then you have the farmers and the traders that was selling iron and furs and leather to the Romans and all that, and was shipping it out in the Baltic Sea. And here was unknown territory. From here was— they thought that people, you know, with cyclops were living here, you know. This is really, really unknown.
Heathens.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And actually in Dalarna they still talk it. They have their own language. It's like Gaelic, you know.
Yeah, yeah, I know about that actually.
And they understand the people on Iceland. They can talk with the people in Iceland.
Really?
Yeah. And they wrote with runes.
Where's the connection with that?
No, it was just that it was so isolated here, so the language didn't get polluted from the south. So they talked They talk like the the Norse, the Vikings. They they still do, and they they wrote with runes until 1916. What does myron mean? What does it mean to you? A lot. I mean, I am, I am the, the product of all my ancestors. I, when I look at this land, I see a pyramid of people building this for us, for me, and I have to take care of that because if I don't— I mean, I believe that when I die one day, when I get over that line on the other side, my ancestors are going to stand there and they're going to say, what, what did you do with that? Why didn't you take care of that? It's not going to be God sitting on the throne and saying like, hey, left or right, you know. It's, it's going to be my ancestors, and I I can't. I want you to be in the picture. Okay, here.
