Bjorn Bjorholm

Bjorn Bjorholm (born 1986) is an American bonsai artist. At the age of 22 he became an apprentice under Keiichi Fujikawa at Kouka-en Nursery in Osaka. He apprenticed at Kouka-en Nursery in Osaka for six years before becoming certified by the Nippon Bonsai Association. In 2018, Bjorholm founded Eisei-en (Japanese: 永青園) Bonsai Garden in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.

Biography

Bjorholm was born in 1986 and grew up in Tennessee. At age 13, he received his first bonsai tree. Within three months, however, it was dead. In 2001, he and his father, Tom Bjorholm, founded the Knoxville Bonsai Society. At age 16, Bjorholm visited Japan as part of a student group. There, he met bonsai master Keiichi Fujikawa. Before beginning a formal apprenticeship, Bjorholm studied with several bonsai professionals in the United States.

After graduating from college, in 2008, Bjorholm became an apprentice under Fujikawa at Kouka-en Nursery in Osaka. He apprenticed for six years before becoming certified as a bonsai professional by the Nippon Bonsai Association. Thereafter, he worked as an artist-in-residence at Kouka-en, making him Japan's first foreign-born working bonsai artist.

In 2018, Bjorholm founded Eisei-en (Japanese: 永青園) Bonsai Garden in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Since, the American Southeast has become an epicenter of excellent bonsai art.

In 2019, Bjorholm dealt bonsai for the Government of the United Arab Emirates, which the nation gave as gifts to various recipients, including the Central Intelligence Agency.