Taking bonsai approaches to the next level, a Japanese company based out of Kyushu has raised over half a million dollars so far for its levitating (and rotating) tree system.

The fauna in question span quite a range, from flowering plants to pine trees to mosses. The magnetic levitation tech supports up to 250 grams of whatever species you prefer (up to a few inches in width), powered via a simple AC adapter.

Of course, you can further decorate your little floating worlds however you like, with ceramic figures, lava rocks or other scene-setting touches.

The system comes as a DIY kit priced starting at around $200, depending on whether you wish to get both the mechanical system and a starter plant or just the technology portion. There are also both modern and traditional-looking, hand-crafted bases, depending on your aesthetic preferences.

Spanish street artist Pejac both praises and criticizes elements of various Asian cultures in a new series of outdoor paintings making use of iconic traditional imagery and symbols. Human figures are represented as mere silhouettes, allowing reproductions of The Great Wave off Kanagawa or three-dimensional elements like bonsai trees to take center stage in each work.

The works may say just as much about how a foreign artist perceives the culture of cities like Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong as they do about the places themselves. Pejac makes use of some of the most common symbols that outsiders associate with Asian cultures and traditions, like a Chinese dragon beside a heart-shaped scorch mark.

A piece entitled ‘Seppuki’ in Tokyo depicts what looks like the silhouette of a samurai doubled over as if mortally wounded, impaled by a cherry tree branch instead of a sword. “I couldn’t help but make this sort of tribute as a manner of thank you to the Japanese culture for the inspiration that drove me to create in the first place.”

A three-dimensional installation of shark fins sticking out of the pavement in Tokyo is a tad harsher in its appraisal, with human bite marks taken from each one. Pejac makes use of “classic anime aesthetics” to calla attention to the environmental impact of shark fin soup, which is popular in Japan.

Inside the cooling tower of an abandoned power plant, a tiny bonsai tree hangs from a geometric metal frame, its roots exposed. The only other sign of life inside the cavernous space is an occasional slick of moss. The project meets at the junction between urban exploration, installation art and photography, with no one but the artist witnessing it in person before it was quietly whisked away, the bonsai re-planted to continue its life.

Located in the city of Charleroi, Belgium and originally built in 1921, the coal-burning power plant was decommissioned in 2007 after criticism of its inefficiency. While much of it was demolished, the tower – which once cooled 480,000 gallons of water per minute – still stands as a dystopian monument, drawing in determined explorers despite the security guards posted outside. Before protests shut it down, it was responsible for 10 percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the nation.

Japanese botanical artist Azuma Makoto doesn’t typically provide any explanation for the meaning behind his installations, but it’s hard not to see some potent symbolism in this image. Bonsai plants are painstakingly constrained by human intervention, and here one floats without the soil it needs to thrive, within a cavernous representation of waste and short-sighted thinking.

Makoto previously sent a bonsai into space for the Exobiotanica project, suspending a Japanese white pine and a bouquet of lilies and other flowers from carbon-fiber frames and launching them into the sky with a specially-equipped balloon. Six GoPro cameras captured their journey. Said the artist, “Roots, soil and gravity – by giving up the links to life, what kind of ‘beauty’ shall be born? Within the harsh ‘nature,’ at an altitude of 30,000 meters and minus 50 degrees celsius, the plants evolve into exbiota (extraterrestrial life.)”

Bonsai trees are beautiful, but most require a very dedicated person to tend to their needs – unless they’re made of Legos. Artist Azuma Makoto has not only created a bonsai made of these distinctive colored blocks, but also a ‘water bonsai’ that seems to flourish despite being submerged in an aquarium.

With ‘Lego Pine’, Makoto manages to capture the shape of a bonsai tree with an incredibly intricate Lego sculpture. Makoto’s familiarity with bonsai is clear in this masterful reproduction, which features branches that seem impossibly thin and delicate.

‘Water and Bonsai’ is a fully glazed aquarium containing what appears, at first glance, to be a real bonsai tree. Look closer, however, and you’ll see that it’s a trunk-shaped piece of deadwood with java moss attached to it to resemble leaves. The moss is kept alive with a filtration system and LED lights.

Makoto is known for stunning botanical sculptures that showcase the beauty and complexity of the plant world. He runs a high-fashion flower shop called JARDIN des FLEURS in Tokyo. See more of his works at his website, AzumaMakoto.com.

Some forms of sculpture take a bit more patience than others. Plant shaping and bonsai pruning are two examples of art that takes years. With patience comes permanence, however, as a properly shaped plant will impress generations.

(Images via dlewis, smsread, worldsstrangest, perpustakaan)

Shaped trees are most often manicured for decorative purposes only, but they can also be made functional. By carefully guiding a plant’s growth around metal support beams, small buildings can be constructed out of a living frame.

(Images via whoisbonsai, bonsailearningcenter, sagg, bonsai-bonsai-tree)

A gorgeous, organic fluidity makes these plants perfect example of the highest end of the bonsai art spectrum. Carefully shaped and pruned to be gorgeous microcosms of nature, they are living art.

(Images via freshpics, ursispaltenstein, quirkyhobbies)

Some shaped plants are more complicated than others, but all require a level of patience beyond the limit of the average person.

(Images via boingboing, tokyogoodidea, tokyogoodidea, boingboing)

The artist Takanori Aiba creates fantastic epoxy bonsais and artwork that are realistic enough to seem totally believable, but wild enough to keep one inspecting the artistic details for hours.

(Images via pooktre, pooktre, pooktre, pooktre)

Pooktre is a company that shapes plants into furniture and fantastic designs. Some of the plants are harvested for pre-shaped furniture, while others are meant to remain as living artwork.

(Images via superpunch, mybonsaitree, vtravelled, superpunch)

Bonsai trees can be formed into an incredible variety of shapes and sizes. These examples vary wildly in terms of their overall design.

(Images via crashbonsai)

For those who don’t take the art of bonsai as seriously as others, Crash Bonsai is a company that feels the same way. Crash Bonsai creates highly realistic car models that have had a minor accident… the perfect accoutrement to that bonsai tree.

(Images via ebay, travelblog)

Who says a bonsai can’t have any color? These examples show the range of appearances these versatile plants can take on.

(Images via artofbonsai, artofbonsai, landscapedesign, ibonsaiclub)

The art of bonsai has been around for thousands of years and its popularity is only growing. There is something powerful about shaping nature to fit one’s design, while also learning to have patience and a gentle hand.