Todd Schlafer

Todd's interest in bonsai began in 2002 which led him to Harold Sasaki, owner of Colorado Bonsai. Todd did everything from pulling weeds to eventually styling trees at the nursery. His obsession with collecting trees formed shortly thereafter, going with local conifer expert Jerry Morris on a collecting trip to Utah. He learned quickly that traditional design principles did not necessarily apply to collected material with sparse foliage and unconventional branches. In 2012 he began his studies with Ryan Neil to learn how to style and develop this Rocky Mountain area native material. His study with Ryan focused on advanced techniques of setting tree structure, which is the most difficult skill set to achieve in bonsai. From sunup to sundown he pushed himself to master those techniques. This inspired him to pursue bonsai practice full time and he began to instruct professionally as others started to seek him out for his expertise. The Rocky Mountain region has some of the best material in the world which Todd sources for his own collection and nursery. Now traveling throughout the United States visiting bonsai clubs, Todd has been a featured artist on the Bonsai Mirai live stream and leads instructional workshops and classes both locally and as a guest artist in numerous bonsai clubs in the U.S. His style is collaborative as native collected species do not follow a prescribed formula when styling, “it’s always a work in progress”.