“As Indonesia’s international window, Bali has welcomed many wealthy visitors and foreigners who show huge market potential for purchasing bonsai,” PPBI Bali chairman, Winarto Selamat, told Bali Daily on Monday.
He cited demand for bonsai from European countries such the Netherlands and Germany, as well as South Asian countries like India.
“However, Indonesia has not been able to make the most of these demands,” said Winarto, stating that currently bonsai buyers from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand usually make individual purchases from Indonesian collectors, while large-scale bonsai exports are monopolized by a Belgian national who only buys mass-produced bonsai plants from farmers in Malang, East Java.
“We hope to break that domination,” said Winarto, who is hopeful that within the next two years bonsai hobbyists in Bali would be able to break into the global market with more professional promotions in online media and at various exhibitions.
Winarto emphasized that Bali has been home to numerous bonsai hobbyists-cum-artists who are highly skilled at training the trees, planted in shallow tray-like pots, into the beautiful forms required; bonsai literally means “planting in a tray” in Japanese. There are more than 500 bonsai lovers here on this island alone, he estimated.
Winarto’s initial efforts since he started chairing the PPBI Bali last year include inviting more bonsai hobbyists in Denpasar to collaborate in reviving the bonsai market and take up places among the rows of decorative plant and landscape businesses along part of Jl. Hayam Wuruk.
One of the hobbyists joining the collaboration is bonsai lover I Made Simon, who has 300 bonsai in his collection, worth around Rp 500 million (US$54,000), displayed at an outlet belonging to the street’s most senior bonsai trader, Hadi Subeki, whose father Mohammad Tawi was the one of the island’s first generation of bonsai traders.
“The creative process for making bonsai never ends, which makes this art an eternal kind of hobby,” said the garment businessman, who developed his passion for bonsai over the past 20 years and started bonsai trading only three years ago. As more bonsai hobbyists join the collaboration, it will lead to better transfer of knowledge among hobbyists, who will be able keep improving the artistic form of bonsai from many kinds of plants, which in turn will result in increasing value.
“For example, I learned from Pak Winarto to prune the ficus species of bonsai, while he learned my specialty, pruning the santigi species [Phempis acidula],” said Simon.
According to Hadi, bonsai prices have a huge range, from as cheap as Rp 50,000 for a dwarf plant that simply looks pretty to the eye, to a starting price of Rp 200,000 for a bonsai that adheres to the basic movement of the tree and shows a certain character and style.
“The most expensive bonsai, however, could be worth up to Rp 1 billion,” said Hadi, citing a number of elements that determined its value, including the rarity of the tree, the visual balance, the basic movement, the harmony it creates, as well as the tree’s health, impression of age and the anatomical balance between its main stem and branches.
“In Bali, bonsai art has been a remedy for the Balinese who were previously addicted to gambling. That’s a good effect for the Balinese people, I believe,” said Hadi, whose father started bonsai trading in 1980s.
By Agnes Winarti
Photo by Zul Trio Anggono
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post Wednesday, May 16 2012
Miniature: Bonsai enthusiasts stroll through a spacious garden showcasing a variety of their beloved plants. BD/Zul Trio Anggono
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