Experts in the centuries-old Japanese art of takezaiku, which translates as “bamboo craft”, have brought their skills to the bamboo plantation at Trebah Garden, near Falmouth in Cornwall.
Japanese craftsman Akihiro Mashimo and apprentice Yoshika Yakabe have been working alongside London-based floral artist Alice McCabe to explore how traditional techniques can be used on UK-grown bamboo.
First inspired by seeing a recent Monty Don visit, McCabe invited the Japanese masters to experience Cornwall’s bamboo first hand. While at Trebah they selected and cut bamboo, before hand-crafting an intricate fence panel, which they then kindly gifted to the garden.
Speaking on the collaboration, Alice McCabe, founder of London-based green art and education studio Metafleur said “It is a rare opportunity to be able to work with giant species of bamboo grown in the UK and a delight to partner with Trebah Gardens. Working together with Akihiro Mashimo, of Nagaoka Meichiku studio, I am particularly keen to emphasise the technical skill and beauty of Japanese fence making within our floral bamboo design collaboration. Working with cut giant bamboo from Trebah rather than imported giant species will make the display more sustainable and also allow the viewer to relish the fresh cut green exterior of the bamboo before it fades to a cream colour.”
Trebah is a 190-year-old sub-tropical garden with its own micro-climate, creating ideal conditions for growing bamboo, tree ferns, palm trees and magnolias throughout its 26-acre valley.
Head gardener Darren Dickey, who welcomed the collaboration, said “The timber bamboo, as it’s commonly known, grows really well in Cornwall and does well at Trebah because of our moist, milder winters. If you had this in very dry conditions, you would have very tiny, small canes.”
Supported by the Daiwa Foundation, the RHS and The Japanese Garden Society, the visit builds on McCabe’s earlier research trip to Japan.
The team’s goal is to create a joint installation, combining bamboo and botanical design, that could feature at the 2026 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, pending selection.
