With Love From Japan: DIY Frozen Herbariums
Described by the Oxford Dictionary as a receptacle for keeping dried plants, a herbarium that is frozen is surely the best kind. Benefitting from refracted light, as well as the addition of fresh berries and pressed fronds, these pieces of arrested nature come from the imagination of Sayuki Ueno of Ueno Farm, in Japan’s northernmost island Hokkaido. Whether they are arranged in a simple or complicated way, they are part of an attitude to ice which is refreshingly cheerful—and which is taken to the next level at Hokkaido’s snow and ice festivals in the depths of winter. The message is clear: “Enjoy the winter.”
Photography by Sayuki Ueno.
The requirements are simple: a tupperware dish or baking mold, boiled water and freezing temperatures—preferably below 14ºF. Frozen herbaria (also known as botanical ice lanterns, when they are displayed with candles behind them) are a way of celebrating a period of time that is as fleeting as summer.
