MBS

Sean Smith brings 40 years of passion for Bonsai, Suiseki (viewing stone) and Diaza (base carving for your viewing stone) when discussing insights gathered from studying with Japanese masters in various traditional display and aesthetic disciplines. With his passion and extensive background in carpentry, Sean took the two, put them together and started his own business in 1994. He makes bonsai display tables, and carves daiza for renowned bonsai and suiseki enthusiasts all over the world. But it doesnot stop there, in 2003, Sean was the first American to exhibit an American Suiseki in the Japanese National Suiseki Show at the Meji Shrine in Tokyo, Japan. In 2008 Sean was given recognition by the World Bonsai Friendship Federation for the promoting and expanding the Japanese art of Suiseki. Later in 2014 Sean was one of few westerners invited to exhibit a Suiseki in the 1st major suiseki exhibit at the Tokyo National Museum .

Sean Smith brought his diaza and root stand workshops to Milwaukee in the recent past. During his MBS meeting lecture, he discussed suiseki and that for suiseki, heritage facts could be preserved in the traditional way with kiri bako (wooden box) where the information about the suiseki is written on the back side of the lid or just on a sheet of paper kept with it.