How to open a bonsai shop? A detailed explanation of the opening process and preparatory work
When it comes to developing bonsai production, many people say that this project takes too long to get going, the production procedures are hard to master, and the market is limited. In fact, this is an incomplete understanding. If you produce medium and large bonsai, then it is indeed too long a cycle, the procedures are hard to master, the market is limited, and it will also lead to the destruction of wild resources. But if producers aim their development direction at small and miniature bonsai, the prospects are quite different. Why say this? We may as well analyze it briefly from the two perspectives of producers and consumers.
As a producer, the goal pursued is nothing more than having products with lower production costs, a shorter production cycle and greater market space, so that there can be a high profit margin.
First, if small and miniature bonsai are developed, the source of raw materials for production can be unsold seedlings suitable for making bonsai purchased from nurseries in various places, or raw material seedlings can be cultivated independently; the raw materials for landscape bonsai can be waste materials and offcuts purchased from large rockery projects and stone yards. The production raw materials obtained through these channels are relatively low in cost.
Second, the production cycle of small and miniature bonsai is much shorter than that of medium and large bonsai. For medium and large bonsai, from growing the rough stock to forming a finished piece takes at least 5 to 8 years, and if it is a slow-growing tree, it is hard to achieve anything without one or two decades; while the production of small and miniature bonsai takes 3 to 5 years at the long end, and 1 to 2 years at the short end before finished products can be sold. In addition, the production of small and miniature bonsai can be carried out on a factory scale.
In addition, the market space for developing small and miniature bonsai cannot be called small, because in modern society the pace of people's life and work has clearly accelerated, causing people's nerves to remain in a state of excessive tension and fatigue for a long time. This forces people to seek by every possible means a good way to eliminate tension and fatigue, and properly placing some green flowers, plants and bonsai in the workplace and at home is one of the most effective methods. Bonsai rich in artistic conception in particular is a miraculous remedy for eliminating fatigue and adjusting thinking. Now let us analyze the prospects for developing small and miniature bonsai from the consumer perspective. Consumers require the products they consume to be inexpensive and good in quality, easy to carry, and in addition they require the producers and sellers of the products to provide good consumer service.
Small and miniature bonsai possess the qualities of artworks: beautiful and elegant, with prices basically between several tens and more than one hundred yuan. Compared with large bonsai priced at thousands or tens of thousands of yuan, they can truly be called inexpensive and good in quality; and their small size and light weight also make them easier to carry. The characteristics of small and miniature bonsai make them not only decorative and ornamental items for offices and the inside and outside of homes, but also elegant gifts for visiting relatives and friends and for wedding celebrations, and even more so meaningful souvenirs for people going out on vacation or traveling. In terms of maintenance and management, small and miniature bonsai are also much easier than medium and large bonsai. This is because the former's plants are all in the juvenile stage, grow vigorously, and have strong disease resistance; with a little attention to fertilizer and water, they can grow well.
From the above analysis, the following conclusion can be drawn: developing the production of small and miniature bonsai not only has broad prospects, but can also bring social benefits beyond economic benefits——it protects wild resources, curbs soil erosion, and also solves the problem of unsold seedlings in nurseries, promoting the development of the nursery industry
How to appreciate bonsai
I. What is artistic conception
"Artistic conception is the soul of art. It is the concentration of the essential parts of objective things, plus the molding of human thoughts and feelings, through a high degree of artistic processing, achieving a blending of scene and emotion, expressing emotion through scenery, and thus the artistic realm and poetic realm that are expressed are called artistic conception." (Li Keran, "On Learning Landscape Painting"). If we analyze artistic conception, we will find: "Artistic conception is the sum of artistic images (the real) and the sentiments they express and the rich associative images they trigger (the virtual). It manifests as the unity of the 'real realm' and the 'virtual realm.'" The artistic conception of bonsai is born from the image, yet is greater than the image. It is constrained by the image and cannot be separated from the triggering of the scene within the pot. It points from a specific "real" toward an indefinite "virtual," and then transforms from the "virtual" into a richer "real." In this way, bonsai transforms the real realm into the virtual realm, and the virtual realm reflects the real realm, moving back and forth and endlessly generating, thus giving people the beauty of artistic conception.
II. How can one create bonsai with profound artistic conception
We know that the artistic conception of any art is the realm of "spiritual likeness" in life. Only spiritual likeness can give the viewer the freedom of rich imagination and thus obtain a "vast virtual realm." This requires that the "artistic conception" in bonsai grasp the objective through active and dynamic subjectivity, that is, the objective includes the bonsai creator's subjectivity. The old title Wang Changling's "Poetic Standards" says "poetry has three realms": "the realm of objects," "the realm of emotion," and "the realm of artistic conception." "Artistic conception" is obtained by the author "expanding it through meaning and thinking it into being in the heart." The process of shaping artistic conception is also the process of expressing the creator's subjective feelings and interests; the process of obtaining "spiritual charm" is also the process of expressing "spiritual nature." In order to create more and better excellent works with profound artistic conception, bonsai creators must inject their own sentiments and interests in the creative process, applying method in the real and storing spirit in the virtual; the real is seen through form, the virtual bursts forth through thought, thereby producing an artistic image that is intriguing. Bonsai creators map the universe with their minds and "speak on behalf of mountains and rivers," so that subjective sentiment and objective scenery blend and permeate each other, thus becoming a vivid, lively, exquisite and profound artistic conception. "The nature of the mountain is me, the mountain's emotion is my emotion." "Mountains and rivers meet my spirit and are also transformed." The creator's thoughts and sentiments and the scene in the pot become one, so that viewers, relying on the limited form of the bonsai, are inspired to associate in the combination of the real and the virtual, and in the emotionalized "endless realm" are moved and comprehend the "meaning beyond the scene" and even the "wonder beyond the scene." At this time, what appears before their eyes and ears is often a scene of space, either fresh, or tranquil, or distant, or open, or desolate, full of sentiment and interest.
III. How to experience the artistic conception of bonsai
For viewers, to experience the artistic conception in bonsai, they must first enter the emotion. Since the artistic conception in bonsai is the expression of the creator's emotion, "all scene language is emotion language." Then the appreciator must also be full of passion. Only by entering the emotion can one enter the subtleties, only by entering the subtleties can one enter the realm, and only by entering the realm can one understand the heart. In the process of appreciation, subject and object become one, and both object and self are forgotten. The viewer enters the artistic conception created by the bonsai creator, is affected by the unique qualities of the bonsai being viewed, and their emotions, consciousness and associations are mobilized. The implications contained in the bonsai are discovered, and from them the essential content expressed by the bonsai is realized. The particular is grasped from the individual, the inevitable is revealed from the accidental, and using the scene in the pot as a medium, one's own associations communicate and resonate with the creator's thoughts and sentiments. Appreciating bonsai and experiencing its artistic conception depends on people's aesthetic imagination. And the role of imagination is extremely flexible and unlimited, so the sentiments and associations expressed in artistic conception are often flowing and changing, seemingly real yet uncertain. Sometimes, because the thoughts and feelings guided by the real realm composed of tree stumps, mountain stones and so on are very hidden, winding and "complex," at this time the artistic conception is expressed as "its message lies between the speakable and the unspeakable, its direction lies at the meeting point of the understandable and the incomprehensible." Therefore, when we appreciate and savor the artistic conception in bonsai, we can, like appreciating program music, follow the creator's train of thought to touch the creator's thoughts; or, like appreciating non-program music works, give play to our own imagination and let the wild horse of thought gallop. However, because the bonsai being viewed is determinate, and the thoughts and sentiments the creator lodges in the bonsai are also determinate, although viewers differ, and the methods of appreciation and angles of understanding differ, the "virtual realm" savored is roughly the same. One will never regard a majestic and magnificent bonsai as a work depicting soft and beautiful scenery; it is only that the depth of understanding differs. In short, "the real is met by the eye, the virtual is met by the spirit; the real is met by intuition, the virtual is seen by wisdom," and then one can comprehend the sentiment and interest in the bonsai and obtain the feeling of beauty.
Open a fragrant plant bonsai shop, with annual income generally around 40,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan
Benefit analysis
In one year, the cost of low- and medium-grade varieties is 0.8 yuan—about 1 yuan, with retail at 6—20 yuan; the cost of perennial high-grade products is 5—7 yuan, with a selling price of more than 100 yuan. Calculating an average daily sale of 20 pots of low- and medium-grade varieties, the net income is at least no less than 100 yuan. Annual income can generally be around 40,000 yuan—100,000 yuan.
Investment conditions
1. Site selection: choose one storefront of more than 20 square meters, and it should be in places such as a vegetable market or flower market, or a densely populated residential area.
2. Purchase herb seeds, flower pots, shelves and other bulk goods for about 3,000 yuan, and then it can be started.
3. Business license and tax registration are about 1,000—1,500 yuan. A total of about 5,000 yuan in funds is enough to start normal business.
Marketing suggestions
1. If raising seedlings yourself is restricted by conditions, you can place orders for seedling supply with reputable seedling bases, or you can
act as their agent.
2. The uses, effects, methods of use and cultivation techniques of each herb variety should be printed as instructions and given away with the bonsai.
3. Those with a relatively large operating scale can promote through media and flyers, which can noticeably increase sales.
At present, herb bonsai is an industry with attractive prospects, and it is still in high demand in the flower market. As people's health awareness continues to strengthen, the market for herb bonsai will grow larger and larger. This natural, green, pollution-free fragrant product satisfies people's psychology of returning to nature.
Herb bonsai can be divided into three categories: the first category is fragrance-scented types: Chinese herb, Heliotropium arborescens, Chinese orchids and so on; the second category is fragrance-scented and qi-regulating types: orange jasmine, lavender, German chamomile and so on; the third category is sterilizing and insect-repelling types: mosquito-repellent geranium, lemon balm, Agastache rugosa and so on.
(Reminder from China Landscape Web: Entrepreneurship carries risks, and projects should be carefully compared and investigated)