Bamboo is perfect for Japanese craft

JAPANESE artists have travelled to Cornwall to work with bamboo growing in a renowned Cornish garden.

- by WEST BRITON REPORTER

Floral artist Alice McCabe at Trebah Garden, near Falmouth. Below left, Yoshika Yakabe at work Trebah Garden/SWNS

(Trebah Garden/SWNS)

Experts in the centuries-old art of takezaiku - bamboo craft - demonstrated their skills in a plantation at Trebah Garden, near Falmouth.

Over the past 10 years Trebah has started to produce some of the largest bamboo canes in the UK because of its mild microclimate.

The 190-year-old, 26-acre subtropical valley garden offers ideal conditions for growing bamboo, tree ferns, palm trees and magnolias.

Japanese craftsman Akihiro Mashimo, 48, and apprentice Yoshika Yakabe, 24, demonstrated how they select and cut the right canes for their woven designs.

Akihiro, from Kyoto, said he was pleased to find the specific canes he needed here in the UK.