Before we cut into the middle and tell us what happened in our bonsai studio, we would step back one and introduce our guest to you for the first time. Although Marco Invernizzi is a well-known master in the so called bonsai professional segment of the world, so that no one is left with questions about him, we would mention a few things about him.

Marco Invernizzi initially studied at Salvatore Liporace’s bonsai school. After that, studied in Japan for nearly four years with Masahiko Kimura bonsai master, and this is also an interesting fact because he studied as the first non-Japanese student according to the traditional Japanese master-student nexus. Marco Invernizzi takes care of serious bonsai collections. He gives lectures in many countries, is a guest and lecturer at prestigious international bonsai events and constantly teaches and teaches and, of course, publishes in the most prestigious professional journals and magazines. The bonsai trees he created have won the most prestigious awards in Europe and America, but there is a bonsai tree that have won the three most prestigious awards in the world.

Three studio days

Marco was a guest of the Marczika Bonsai Studio for three days and during that time we talked and arranged several of his bonsai according to his seasonal needs. In addition, quite a few bonsai have been shaped or remodeled and in the meantime we have tried to learn as much as possible from it. Almost without exception, we selected Japanese bonsai for the three days of work and tried primarily to focus on getting them on a new path, as Marco Invernizzi saw it. In this post, we are now also presenting you with a tree that we have prepared for the shaping for two days, so that when it is in Marco’s hands you can concentrate on the actual remodeling. By the way, the tree is a very old Juniperus chinensis 'Itoigawa' bonsai whose history is relatively well known. This juniper is a plant from yamadori and was long grown by Takashi Iura in Shoju-en bonsai gardening in Japan. The tree has also been featured in bonsai exhibitions in Japan and has the special charm that most of the deadwood is natural (it was not created by human intervention). We have been growing here in Hungary for many years as part of the collection material of the Marczika Bonsai Studio and we exhibited at the international exhibition Noelanders Trophy, for example, but there was a moment when we decided to hide the plant from the public for a while and start training in a new direction she's life.

Immediately before shaping, one had to start from the sight of a plant abounding in shoots that had been let go far. It was felt that the usual implantation angle - which is strongly related to the main point of view - would need some change. The aim was not to completely overhaul the main structure and existing properties of the wood and to get as close as possible to the original shape / form already "forgotten" by the wood. This may seem like a simple need for reconstructive shaping at first, but since the branches have already changed a lot, they have required a little more than we would have guessed due to the growth. In the image below we can see the condition of this juniper many years ago and, of course, next to it, a picture of the fresh shape.

Even now, time has proven to be an unavoidable factor when it comes to bonsai. This time we were on the side of our “timeline” that we were beyond the time allotted for training and a reward of patience could ensue; the transformation. Master Marco Invernizzi did not start busy with juniper with real shaping. He was the first to call everyone around and said he showed me what it was necessary to see and think about before such a job. There was talk about the position and problems of wood and finally how to solve all this and strike a balance between the aesthetics and physiological needs of wood. The tree went through an infinitely refreshing change before our eyes, then the final little adjustments were made before the photo lamps and the result was that the future of this beautiful bonsai was reborn...

As soon as we got a little conscious and looked at our “new” bonsai, we took a few photos of it and listened to the master’s advice for the future - how to grow and care for this great Japanese bonsai.