Niwaki: Who, What, Where, Why?

How it all began: 1997. Jake goes to Japan as a wannabe sculptor, to investigate the cultural phenomenon of the cherry blossom season, hanami. There he discovers the gardens, and the trees, and vows to learn more. Back home in England, he trains as a TEFL teacher, meets Keiko, and drags her back to Japan. Year one is spent teaching, year two working at a traditional plant nursey in a rural part of Osaka, learning all about tree training, pruning and rootballing. Back home again, Jake gets work at Architectural Plants in Sussex, where he is shocked to find people using FOUR LEGGED LADDERS (Can you imagine?) Brother-in-law Haruyasu is enroled to ship over a couple of tripod ladders (still going strong today) which together with the robust Okatsune secateurs and topiary clippers Jake insists on using, cause quite a stir. And so begins the business.

What everyone starts to appreciate is that although these things are all Japanese, they work just as well in western gardens, and on a whole range of plants. Tripod ladders, it turns out, are just as useful for hedge trimming as they are for pine pruning; and of course topiary clippers work just as well on box topiary as they do on azalea karikomi. Don't be put off - you don't need to grow bonsai to enjoy these tools.

The name: Niwaki means garden tree. Not very exciting, but it implies far more. Japanese gardens are landscapes, microcosms of nature, and the trees are all shaped to fit into those landscapes. Jake's written a book on it all, if you're interested. So, the name. Hard to pronounce (kneewhacky) and tricky to remember, but we like it because of its implications.

Almost everything in the range is stuff we use ourselves. Jake's first day of pine pruning in Osaka, he was given a pair of Okatsune garden scissors, still going strong today, nine years later. Every one on the nursery (in fact almost every one in Japan) used Okatsune secateurs, in the double holster, with a folding saw. Brother-in-law Harauyasu bought Jake's first pair of Okatsune shears, and he's rarely used anything else since. Swiss Istor sharpeners? An imposter, obviously, but a Christmas present years ago. Keiko uses the Wakasaya garden scissors in the house, for cut flowers (she never cleans them, they go rusty, and jake has to revive them, but they're still working.) Dad reaches for his ARS pruning saw when he wanders off to reap havoc in the woodland... It's all good stuff, and we're proud of it.

Who else? No one really. Jake, Keiko, Shabba the cat and recently Darcey the dog. And you lot, who've made it work.

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