Bonsai Exotique

Bonsai scholar, Thor Beowulf, has been growing bonsai most of his life. His family kept bonsai gardens in Shanghai, China, before World War II and he has inherited a long tradition of bonsai knowledge.

As a teenager, Thor was further schooled in the art of bonsai by the then Principal of the Sydney Japanese School, Mr Yoshida, who had an abiding interest in promoting Japanese arts and culture in Australia.

With Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Social Studies (B.Soc.Stud.) degrees from the University of Sydney, Thor brings an academic discipline to his ongoing pursuit of knowledge about art theory, aesthetics and bonsai. Since the beginning of 2008, Thor has been enrolled as a PhD candidate at Australia's leading research university, the Australian National University (ANU), in Canberra. The working title of his doctoral research thesis, "Nature as Art: a Comparative Cross-Cultural Discourse on the Art and Aesthetics of Bonsai", establishes a new benchmark of inquiry into the art and science of bonsai. 

His eldest son, Thorsten, is a student at the University of Sydney, enrolled in a Bachelor of Horticultural Science degree, and brings horticultural and cutting- edge science to Bonsai Exotique. Thor's other four sons also all assist in the family business.

About Bonsai

The term 'bonsai' is Japanese for 'tree on a tray'. This ancient horticultural art is believed to have originated over two thousand years ago in China and was brought to Japan some time after the 8th century CE by Buddhist monks. Throughout Asia today, bonsai is recognised as a serious art form.

Bonsai should be thought of as ordinary trees living under extraordinary conditions, designed to shape and miniaturise them. Below is a bonsai fact sheet for further information. 

Bonsai Information Sheet