Biotechture

Also known as arborsculpture, Tree shaping, or grown furniture.                                      Techniques that use living trees and other woody plants as the medium to create living structures and art. A variety of artistic horticultural and agricultural practices that primarily shape plants into usable structures by various peoples.

Utility

Designs may include abstract, symbolic, or functional elements. Some shapes crafted and grown are purely artistic; perhaps cubes, circles, or letters of an alphabet, while other designs might yield any of a wide variety of useful shapes, such as clothes hangers, laundry and wastepaper bins, ladders, furniture, tools, and tool handles. Eye-catching structures such as living fences and jungle gyms can also be grown, and even large architectural designs such as live archways, domes, gazebos, tunnels, and theoretically entire homes are possible with careful planning, planting, and culturing over time. One of the most useful achievements of this technique is designing homes called arbodes that can be grown from native trees in a variety of climates.

Manufacturing

There are various methods of shaping a tree. Some of these processes are still experimental, whereas others are still in the research stage. These methods use a variety of horticultural and arboricultural techniques to achieve an intended design. Chairs, tables, living spaces and art may be shaped from growing trees. Some techniques used are unique to a particular practice, whereas other techniques are common to all, though the implementation may be for different reasons. These methods usually start with an idea of the intended outcome. Some practitioners start with detailed drawings or designs. Other artists start with what the tree already has. Each process has its own time frame and a different level of involvement from the tree shaper. The trees might then either remain growing, as with the living garden chair, or perhaps be harvested as a finished work.

Inventor(s)

The first techniques that manipulated plants into structures seemed to stem from an ancient lineage of tropical rainforest elves of the Deshi Region. They worked with the aerial roots of native banyan fig trees, adapting them to create footbridges over watercourses through natural grafting and even specialized magic techniques. Yakshani Fairies, Vanara Homins, and some modern elven groups within the region carry on this traditional building craft.

Access & Availability

The techniques require time and expertise but even a novice can perform simple arborsculpture methods for unique, personalized living garden art.