Furniture, Art Made Out Of Living Trees
Richard Reames is a unique furniture builder who produces chairs, tables, treehouses and assorted other natural art from living trees. He’s so devoted to the trade and topic that he’s a frequent speaker and author of two books. He teaches how to shape, graft and train a living tree or woody shrub to grow into a usable form.
For more than a decade, Reames has applied bending and grafting techniques to thousands of young trees while creating “arborsculptures” at his Oregon nursery and studio and in the yards of his clients. “My growing works of art continue to live and grow thicker and taller with every season,” Reames says. “By using live trees for the things that we traditionally killed trees for, we can preserve the large living trees and plant even more to reap all the benefits of live trees.”
He started his unique business after being inspired by the tree sculptures of Axel Erlandson, who operated a roadside attraction called “The Tree Circus” near Santa Cruz, Calif. from 1947 to 1963, which featured 55 unique, shaped and grafted trees. He explains that arborsculpture, a term that he coined about 20 years ago, is actually centuries old. Historical illustrations show the practice being done in several countries as early as the 1500’s. “It takes several years to get results from our work,” Reames says, “but just look at your own life. How fast does 5 years go by? If you start an arborsculpture now, in 5 years it will be thick, tall and fantastic.”
Reames has produced several growing arborsculptures at his Oregon home and for several clients.
He now has almost 20 years of experience in arborsculpture, and his seminars and books are designed to teach others the art of clever growing designs. “My goal is to help people manipulate living trees or woody shrubs into something beautiful, functional, or both,” says Reames.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Richard Reames, 1607 Caves Camp Rd., Williams, Ore. 97544 (ph 541 846-7188; www.arborsmith.com).
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Furniture Art Made Out Of Living Trees FARM HOME Furniture Richard Reames is a unique furniture builder who produces chairs tables treehouses and assorted other natural art from living trees He’s so devoted to the trade and topic that he’s a frequent speaker and author of two books He teaches how to shape graft and train a living tree or woody shrub to grow into a usable form For more than a decade Reames has applied bending and grafting techniques to thousands of young trees while creating “arborsculptures” at his Oregon nursery and studio and in the yards of his clients “My growing works of art continue to live and grow thicker and taller with every season ” Reames says “By using live trees for the things that we traditionally killed trees for we can preserve the large living trees and plant even more to reap all the benefits of live trees ” He started his unique business after being inspired by the tree sculptures of Axel Erlandson who operated a roadside attraction called “The Tree Circus” near Santa Cruz Calif from 1947 to 1963 which featured 55 unique shaped and grafted trees He explains that arborsculpture a term that he coined about 20 years ago is actually centuries old Historical illustrations show the practice being done in several countries as early as the 1500’s “It takes several years to get results from our work ” Reames says “but just look at your own life How fast does 5 years go by? If you start an arborsculpture now in 5 years it will be thick tall and fantastic ” Reames has produced several growing arborsculptures at his Oregon home and for several clients He now has almost 20 years of experience in arborsculpture and his seminars and books are designed to teach others the art of clever growing designs “My goal is to help people manipulate living trees or woody shrubs into something beautiful functional or both ” says Reames Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Richard Reames 1607 Caves Camp Rd Williams Ore 97544 ph 541 846-7188; www arborsmith com
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