Shigeo Fujita’s Dry Bonsai Showcased in Milan, Blending Tradition and Color

If you want bonsai-style decor that needs no watering or pruning, Shigeo Fujita’s DRY BONSAI® offers a clear alternative, and about 20 of his colorful pieces were shown at Milan Design Week during the 7–13 April 2025 program, where they were “well received by ordinary visitors and interior design professionals alike,” Japan News reported.

Fujita is a Chiba-born bonsai artist, born in 1965, who began working in bonsai in 1992 and turned to his Dry Bonsai concept in 2016. He trademarked the term in 2018, and 5VIE’s March 4, 2025 press release used the DRY BONSAI® styling when placing his work in the “armonie invisibili” program at Milan Design Week.

The DRY BONSAI® pieces presented a deliberate mix of tradition and design experimentation. Japan News described examples including a Japanese black pine painted with blue leaves and a satsuki azalea adorned with cherry blossoms in full bloom, and noted some works were displayed with roots intentionally exposed. Fujita told Japan News, “Even if they are given new life, they each retain the unique dignity created by nature. I want people to fully appreciate their beauty.”

Fujita’s practice is also a reuse pathway for owners of withered trees. Japan News reports he accepts withered or dead bonsai from owners and converts them into DRY BONSAI®, and he currently produces 300 to 400 pieces monthly. That production scale underpins the work’s growing presence beyond his Tokyo gallery in Ginza, where he has promoted the concept, and into commercial and interior contexts.

The Milan presentation was curated as part of 5VIE’s “armonie invisibili” frame, which the press release described as “design as a threshold between matter and intuition” and positioned Fujita’s pieces alongside pictorial work by Takako Lida and installations within the Metropolitan Jungle initiative. 5VIE’s press materials noted, “To enhance the appeal of the exhibition, visitors can also see examples of DRY BONSAI®, an artistic reinterpretation of traditional bonsai by Shigeo Fujita.” Collaborators and program contributors listed in 5VIE and Assets Fuorisalone materials included Takeda Katsuya Design Studio, the Tatehiko brand of Shoei Furniture Studio Co., Ltd., Angela Florio’s DecorAzione project, and the INPS venue at Via Circo, 16.

Japan News and the 5VIE program materials together frame DRY BONSAI® as both a design object and a cultural reinterpretation; the Milan exposure in April 2025 and the continued coverage into February 2026 indicate Fujita’s approach is gaining international attention while remaining rooted in the bonsai lifecycle he has worked with since 1992.