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Craig Coussins has been collecting viewing stones since 1975 when he was a partner in a tropical fish shop in Scotland. The first stones he collected came from Barra in the outer Hebrides and these were used in the shops display tanks and were sold as ornamentation for his customers tanks. They worked well in Craig's tanks as his speciality was Julidochromis marlieri (Julie) cichlids from East Africa and the granite stones were similar to the stones found in Lake Tanganyika.. Craig had already been into Bonsai since 1971 and had seen the rare mention of Suiseki ion the available Japanese Books at that time and he realised that the unique stones from Barra were indeed like the mountain stones that he had seen. Over the next few years Craig's Barra Stones found new homes in most of his friends collections such as John Naka and the Nippon Suiseki Association . His Suiseki have been exhibited in Japan at the Kokofu 10 where Suiseki were sent to be exhibited ( being shown in the Photobooks produced for this event) and many other places around the globe. They have been a regular feature in the five best selling Bonsai Books that Craig has written. Presently, Craig has a collection of over two thousand stones covering most of the styles and concepts and while his main passion is still Bonsai his stone collection continues to grow. His collecting sites are in Italy, Africa, Canada, America, Australia, Spain, France, China and of course the UK. Craig travels around the world most of the year teaching Bonsai and promoting and collecting Suiseki on his many trips when he can.
Suiseki:Imagine holding an entire mountain range in one hand? Used in meditation to allow the mind to wander for a few moments, the art of Suiseki and Gongshi is indeed become very popular in the United Kingdom as well as around the world. Gongshi are Chinese Scholars stones because these were often seen in the collections of teachers and scholars and used as an aid to meditation, they are becoming a popular hobby once more in China as the country undergoes a renaissance in discovery of its art history once again. Gongshi are mainly abstract in shape and many things can be seen in the same stone by different people. Suiseki are viewing stones that have originated as an art from Japan. For the past two thousand years the appreciation of natural stones that look like objects, mountains , animals, boats and landscapes have been part of the ancient cultures of China, Korea and Japan. In the west the hobby has been steadily growing through some leading collectors showing their own stones in major exhibitions and museums. Some Scholars Stones and Suiseki can change hands for a few pounds or many thousands of pounds while there are some exquisite Suiseki that have been sold in excess of one million dollars and even been exchanged for castles and lands.. Heady stuff for a stone." Oda Nobunaga (1534 -1582 )overthrew the Ashikaga shogunate, was known to be an enthusiastic collector of both Zen-inspired garden stones and miniature landscape stones. In one incident, he is said to have sent a miniature landscape stone, named "Eternal Pine Mountain" together with a fine tea bowl, in exchange for the Ishiyama fortress (currently the site of Osaka castle) in 1580"
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Striated Suiseki, Loch Morar Scotland. Daiza by Sean Smith. £210
Fuji - Bonsai Tree Susieki-UK
Fuji Stone Collected in Skye
Doha Suiseki-Skye
Mountain stone with waterfall Indonesia
Raw Jade waterfall suiseki collected in South Island New Zealand.
Long Mountain Range -Liguria Italy. Daiza made specially for this Suiseki by Gerry Brasswell.
Malachite Mountan Range. Daiza GB
Group of miniature Susieki from all round the world
Basalt Suiseki-Scotland, Figure Stone Vancouver Island, on top Hut stone Spain Large green mountain Stone collected by Felix Rivera Eel River, Front Agate mountain New Zealand Back Striped stone from China
Murphys Stone- Dazia by GB shown in group picture above and below
Animal Stones
From North Vancouver Island in Canada. Thumbnails-Click to go large You can now pay easily and securely through PayPal. Credit cards and even an Echeque can be used. If you do not have a PayPal account you can open one right away.
Unique Suiseki from California.
Clear Creek California was a little known but excellent Suiseki hunting
ground kept a secret for a long time because
of the beautiful "veined" serpentine stones that were occasionally found there..
We went there 1 week before they shut it down for stone hunting. These
are four that are available and will be ready
for sale at the end of May. There will never be any more..
These two are about 6" long with walnut Daizas.
Each stone is £235 including post. Two are offered for £450,
Red Mountain. A simple and beautifully coloured Susieki from California 5 1/4" long x 2 1/2" tall Padouk wood daiza dyed black so you can still see the red of the Padouk wood coming through
Chinese carnelian stone is recognized as the queen of stones. It comes from the area of Nanjing city China. When exposed out of the water ts surface is very rough and the colour is mostly black and green, but when water weathered by the constant flow of the river over thousands of years it becomes very smooth and exquisitely shiny exposing some beautiful patterns with a centre layer of layered ripples are especially colourful or even pure white. These stones are not ready yet but Daizas will be made for them and they will be ready around July
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