Name: Coraleigh Parker
Job title: Director
Company: Pickled Whimsy
What does your job involve?
I make kokedama, a type of bonsai that can be kept indoors or outdoors. Kokedama have been around for a thousand years, but they are making a huge comeback at the moment with the trend of bringing plants into homes and workplaces.
The process of binding the roots into a soil and moss ball dwarfs the growth of the plant, meaning many plants traditionally too large for indoors are accessible. They are low-maintenance, will never require repotting and are a totally sustainable house-plant option. Most of my time is spent making kokedama for the Suspended Forest Installation, which will be on display for the Garden & Art Festival in November.
We hold free monthly workshops where anyone can come along and learn how to make kokedama in exchange for assisting with the filling of the forest. The logistics of filling a 12m x 6m x 6m forest with suspended trees and ferns is, well, a pretty bigjob.