Starting Year: 2020;
Provenance: Italy;
Container: Ceramic Pot;
Source: Collected.

Style: Forest;
Height: 15cm;
Age: 5 years old.

Bindella Forest is more than a composition—it is a memory, a beginning, and a quiet homage to place and time. This forest planting of Celtis australis (European hackberry) was started in 2020, during the stillness of the COVID lockdown, a time when many turned inward and downward—to the earth—for grounding and growth. It was the very first bonsai project the hands behind Bonsaigers ever touched, marking the beginning of a now deeply rooted journey.

The trees that form this forest were all collected from a small woodland in Bindella, a quiet patch in Erba, Italy—the same forest where the founders spent their childhoods. The forest’s name, Bindella, ties the work forever to that origin, to the spirit of home and early wonder.

Originally planted on a flat rock slab, the composition was developed slowly over four years. The forest struggled at times—root growth was constrained, and the trees bore the marks of slow, patient survival. In early 2024, a significant change was made: the entire planting was moved to a shallow ceramic forest tray, with part of the slab resting on a natural stone, allowing for deeper root exploration and better drainage.

The transformation was immediate and powerful. After years of limited vigor, the trees responded to their new environment with a flush of fresh growth. Ramification increased, trunks thickened, and the overall health of the composition improved dramatically. What was once a quiet, struggling forest has now begun to speak with confidence.

Today, Bindella Forest stands as a living memory, blending rugged natural elements—stone, slab, shallow soil—with cultivated growth. It is a forest that holds the echoes of childhood, the resilience of early work, and the potential of what happens when we give roots a little more room to grow.