Harry HarringtonArtist and Author, Bonsai4me · Author, Publisher, Webmaster, Bonsai Artist

The Bonsai Pot Display at The Trophy, Genk Belgium

4 Mar 2020 · 6 min

Watch on YouTube

6:20

The video opens with Alex Rudd, host of the European Bonsai Potter Collective (EBPC), introducing the Trophy 2020 bonsai pot exhibition in Genk, Belgium. He explains that the event showcases a 100‑foot display of the finest European, Japanese, and Chinese bonsai pots, many commissioned especially for the show. The winning piece, selected by Japanese bonsai master Akeyama‑san, is a semi‑cascade bowl with a crystalline glaze made by the French EBPC members Terre en Vatrouillet, owned by collector Guido Pezzoli. Rudd then turns to Italian collector Guido Pozzoli, who shares his three‑year journey as a pot enthusiast. Pozzoli recounts his trips to Japan, especially Tokoname, where he met potter Iko. Iko demonstrated five primary clays (dark brown, violet‑purple, white, orange‑red, etc.) and crafted a set of five pots, each representing a different clay and presenting unique technical challenges. Pozzoli emphasizes that each pot carries a signature that tells the potter’s biography and the story behind its creation, underscoring his passion for researching and sharing these narratives.

Chapters

Hi, welcome to the Trophy 2020 in Belgium. I'm Alex Rudd of the European Bonsai Potter Collective, and every year we put on a 100-foot pot display representing all the best European, Japanese, and Chinese pots in European collections currently. Some of the best potters in Europe are making bonsai pots especially for this display, so why not come down next year, have a look at the display for yourself? We'd love to see you here. Thanks very much, and enjoy the pots! The trophy exhibition asked Japanese bonsai professional Akeyama-san to select his favorite pot from the 70 pots in the display, and the winning pot is this semi-cascade bowl with a sublime crystalline glaze by EBPC members Terre en Vatrouillet of France. The owner of this pot is my good friend and fellow pot collector Guido Pezzoli. The display was organised by the European Bonsai Potter Collective, the EBPC, with a number of potters as well as collectors contributing pieces for the display. One of the main contributors was Guido Pozzoli from Italy, who I've asked to talk to you about a few of his pots.
Hello, my friends. I'm Guido Pozzoli and I come from Italy. And since three years, I'm a pot lover. I've started with bonsai, but I've learned that tree without a pot is nothing. And starting from the word bonsai, which means a tree in a pot. I've concentrate my attention to what the tree is, and then after to the pot. Pot is something very tight to the tree. So coming to different autos and bots, I had the opportunity to go to Japan many times and visited Tokoname and other places where bots are produced. And I had the opportunity to meet a friend. Now he's a friend. His name is Iko, and for me, he's an incredible artist. And he prepared for me this display. When I was there, I asked him about the clays he used mainly, and he showed me different kind of clays. And these are 5 clays he used most, from dark brown, violet purple, white, orange red, and so on. So I asked him to prepare for me a set of 5 pots with the 5 most used clays. In the most difficult shape here, and this is the pot. So each pot has its own difficulty, its own technique, and this kind of pot is really unique, and I love it so much. So I had the opportunity to get this set a few weeks ago, and here we are. And each pot has a story, each pot has a signature behind, and knowing the Signature means to know the story, the biography of the potter, to know which, uh, where the efforts he put making the pot, why he made that pot in that area, how he did it, uh, and so every information you get, uh, it's something you can tell. It's a story. So it's a living story. And so I love to tell stories. Stories about Pacheco. Of course, it's complex research, and I will continue this research for the next years because I'm so passionate about it, and I hope I can share it with you in the future.
Yeah, yeah.
Here we have some examples of different pots from old Chinese till old Japanese pots. And in this case, I wanted to show this time these 2 precious pots, among the most precious I have at home. So usually they are hidden in my home, but I was worried to bring them here. But really, believe me, I was so happy that I could show this fantastic pink, rare pink Tofukuji. And I got it from Japan, and it's really like a treasure for me. This pink pot, probably they have— they have, let's say, less than 10 in the world. じゃあどうも。