6 ms·
'We mould trees to grow into the shape of chairs'
- benced 5mo agoI'm sure he copied it from somewhere but this reminds me of Paolini's elves in Eragon singing (magicking) trees to their desired shape.
- seobot_dk1289 5mo ago[flagged]
- dyauspitr 5mo agoI think these are very beautiful.
- xnorswap 5mo agoI've seen this couple discussed on HN before, although my searching abilities are failing me, I just found https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21051965 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21051965 which is the same couple, but with 3 points and 1 comment, isn't likely to be the discussion I remember. There's also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9344837 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9344837 4 points 11 years ago, although the link is dead.
- thrownthatway 5mo agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23956504 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23956504 46 comments 2015
- xnorswap 5mo agoThank you.
- thrownthatway 5mo agoWould you like me to reveal my Angolia-fu?
- shmeeed 5mo agoPlease do!
- thrownthatway 5mo agohttps://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Munro%20chair&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- xnorswap 5mo agoInteresting, thank you.
- ramon156 5mo agoIt's quite weird. When I type in "Chair grow" I get nada, but "Chairs grow" provides a bunch of results. You'd think Chair and Chairs would be very close together in a search engine.
- ycombinary 5mo ago[dead]
- euroderf 5mo agoAn issue of WET magazine (from the 1980s) profiled a similar operation. Always beautiful to see.
- euroderf 5mo agoAnother comment posted them: https://www.gilroygardens.org/circus-trees/ https://www.gilroygardens.org/circus-trees/ IIRC the article said that the "circus trees" were almost cut down when the property changed hands. It stunned me that someone could be so callous about something so unique and creative. https://www.wetmagazine.com/#/wet-issue-33/ https://www.wetmagazine.com/#/wet-issue-33/
- noworriesnate 5mo agoThis field is called Tree Shaping[1] and while it has been tried throughout history, I think there's still a lot of cool stuff that has never been tried. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping
- lukan 5mo agoThe living bridges were new to me. I like the concept, would probably also work in more cold areas, but with more effort. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_root_bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_root_bridge
- Rendello 5mo agoOne of my favourite examples is bonchi, or bonsai chili. It's exactly what the name implies. Unfortunately I've struggled to keep a regular pepper plant alive, let alone bonsai it: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bonchi/top/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Bonchi/top/
- miniBill 5mo agoHoly cow this is so cool <3
- aaron695 5mo ago[dead]
- oytis 5mo agoCarpentry is dead
- analog8374 5mo agoThe trees are taking our jobs
- luqtas 5mo agoGMO seeds from OpenTree
- uolmir 5mo agoSo elves in dwarf fortress.
- Jedd 5mo agoCouple of Australians have been doing this since the 90's - I think they coined the term 'pooktre' to describe the form - https://www.pooktre.com/ https://www.pooktre.com/ Searching `Peter Cook Becky Northey tree furniture` gets you some nice pictures of their work, as they don't just 'do chair' -- though I suspect plenty of people have been doing this in various forms for centuries.
- thrownthatway 5mo agoWell that’s flabbergasting.
- lofaszvanitt 5mo agoImagine an alien species comes here and sees all this totally fucked up human centric thinking. They put fish in small fish bowls, for their own enjoyment. They deform trees for their own enjoyment... and the list goes on. Bleh.
- wing-_-nuts 5mo agoI assure you, any species capable of interstellar travel will have a capacity and willingness to bend their environment to their will that absolutely dwarfs our own.
- dmos62 5mo agoCapacity and willingness are orthogonal.
- lofaszvanitt 5mo agoAssuring me, based on what experience? :D
- TFNA 5mo agoWhy do you think they would be so bothered by what humans do, when the same kind of thing is done across the animal world? Read about ants milking aphids, for instance.
- lofaszvanitt 5mo agoThat's a mutual thing since ants give them protection.
- TFNA 5mo agoThe topic here is a mutual thing, too. You can see that people sculpting trees are keeping the tree alive when it might otherwise be cut down. Possibly taking pains to ensure it gets enough water, too. After all, the sculpting process relies on the tree continuing to grow.
- analog8374 5mo agoWhat species of tree is good for this? relatively durable relatively fast growing and amenable to bending and grafting willow? anybody ID those trees?
- tedd4u 5mo agoFrom the article: "The couple, who work with a range of trees including willow, oak and ash, said there were currently "a few dozen" growing pieces in their orchard, including stools, benches and "the odd chandelier" in progress."
- analog8374 5mo agoan oak chair would take forever I wonder if this could be done with bamboo. Can you graft bamboo? Maybe join it by weaving or twisting
- shmeeed 5mo agoYour comment made me think of those helix-shaped bamboos from IKEA. While this is of course on a whole different level, it does suggest some kind of shaping is possible for bamboo as well. And it wouldn't take decades...
- AltruisticGapHN 5mo agoTalk about patience...
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- shevy-java 5mo agoOn the one hand this is pretty cool. On the other hand ... those chairs look damn incomplete. Even the supposedly "finished" ones ...
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- waltbosz 5mo agoI first read about tree shaping in a Readers Digest magazine in the 1990s. It featured a man who would shapes trees into chairs and other sculptures. Even since then I wanted to do it. I got started on a white cherry tree that started growing in my yard. Once it got large enough, I would braid and weave the branches every spring. I didn't do anything as complicated as a chair. I would try to create loops by braiding two distant branches into each other and fastening with wire. Or I would take a long branch, and bend it back to the trunk, and braid it into a branch heading in the opposite direction. The most difficult thing was not accidentally breaking the branches while braiding. Sometimes strong winds would create too much tension on the already stressed branches and cause them to break. I did that for about 5 years before I sold that house. The tree is still there last time I checked, but I haven't gotten a close look at how it has progressed. At my new house, I've tried it with a red maple, but haven't had much success. The branches that I've shaped end up dying. Sharing this story makes me want to take up the hobby again. I've got some fast growing trees at my current house that I could use. Edit: here is a photo of my tree (if you can abide imgur) https://imgur.com/a/PjwqWzo https://imgur.com/a/PjwqWzo
- DigiEggz 5mo agoThat's really cool and I wish you success on future braiding attempts. If you keep trying at it I'm sure you'll find or pioneer some ways to avoid damage.
- yummypaint 5mo agoI have dozens of volunteer red maple trees about shoulder to head height in my yard. I have been trying to find information about training them at this size. Do bonsai methods for Japanese maples work? Can two red maples be joined together to make an arch? I need to learn more about plants
- waltbosz 5mo agoI believe Japanese maple are a popular bonsai plant. I've never seen one as an arch. I have seen Chrysanthemum bonsai made into a small arch.
- nodeflare 5mo agoThis feels closer to structural design using living organisms rather than architecture.
- abhi_kr 5mo agoI thought the title was some kind of metaphor. Quite surprised at being a literal thing.
- lukan 5mo agoI don't have a picture at hand, but on frequently used rock climbing spots, the young trees at the bottom, where the partner with the rope stands, can be very chairlike, too. I once asked myself why are they so conveniently formed, while leaning against one, but then I got it.
- constantius 5mo agoI had to re-read your comment, even thought it was a joke I didn't get! So for others who are as tired as me: the people holding the rope kept leaning against the tree for support, but not too much, as long as it existed, so that's how the tree got shaped into a chair.
- tempodox 5mo agoAre they ergonomic?
- lantry 5mo agoThey're agronomic
- applicative 5mo agoWeaving saplings and coppice sprouts and growing them in place is incredibly ancient, maybe neolithic. Julius Caesar was freaked out by the living woven defenses of the Nervi in Gaul. In general the deeper you go into the past the more people were aware of the possibilities of sprouting wood, coppicing, etc.
- themaninthedark 5mo agoBritish hedgerows are (sometimes? often?) woven: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-english-hedgerow-21854933.html https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-english-hedgerow-21854933.... Wiki talks about Caesar in reference to hedges: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgelaying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgelaying
- jamiecurle 5mo agoIt's not the hedge that is actually woven, it's the binders at the top. Made of hazel, their purpose is to hold the stakes solid whilst the living hedge recovers after being pleach cut and laid over. It's a very enjoyable craft. Last year I planted up about 600 metres of new hedge that should be ready for me to lay in about ten years.
- halfnormalform 5mo agoIn Northern California there’s a small amusement park that has several of these. Haven’t been, but it’s on my list. https://www.gilroygardens.org/circus-trees/ https://www.gilroygardens.org/circus-trees/
- BashiBazouk 5mo agoThey are really cool. I went to see these trees as a teenager when they were in Scotts Valley. From the images, they have grown a bit in the decades since...
- hn_acc1 5mo agoThey are quite amazing to see.
- cocothem 5mo agoSeems cruel towards the trees, for human enjoyment
- maheenaslam 5mo agoYour patience and creativity is incredible. I wish someone doesn't ruin it in the name of finding a modern fast pace solution
- chancek 5mo agoI love the idea, reminds me a lot of gardening and growing fruits in special containers.
- travisgriggs 5mo agoThere will rise a PETA like organization that will protest this. Probably call themselves the Lorax and protest that we're practicing colonialism on plants now. All satire aside... this is pretty cool. And so are groups that look out for the little guy.
- perilunar 5mo agoPETPEEV — People for Ethical Treatment of Plants, Ecosystems, and Vegetation
- johnea 5mo agoIsn't that cute. I've been thinking since the 1970s that we'd decrease the 2nd biggest use of petroleum, plastic, using genetic engineering. Many biological substances could replace plastic, such as chitin and cellulose. But "lab grown meat", like "full self driving" and "artificial intelligence", is a name that's a giant leap of faith beyond the actual technology. Lab grown meat is still only the flesh protean cells grown in a mold to look like a fish fillet. None of the structural components of the real thing are reproduced. To use this tech as a structural plastic replacement, we'll have to reach the point of controlling the shape of the material as the cells proliferate. Of course, before that, we'll have to overthrow the petro mafia's control of the US.