Professional Bio
Peter Chan MBE is a British bonsai artist, teacher, author and entrepreneur who has played an important role in the development and popularisation of bonsai in the United Kingdom. He is the founder and managing director of Herons Bonsai in Surrey and has been practising bonsai since 1967. His work spans bonsai cultivation, artistic development, teaching, publishing and public education.¹
Chan’s professional career originally developed outside horticulture. After studying electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, he worked in Britain as a Chartered Electrical Engineer before moving into a senior administrative role at the UK Department of Energy. His later work there included speechwriting on subjects such as entrepreneurship and privatisation. Over time, his growing commitment to bonsai led him to leave that career and establish a specialist bonsai business.¹
Together with his wife Dawn, Chan developed Herons Bonsai into one of the United Kingdom’s most prominent specialist bonsai nurseries. His approach combines horticultural knowledge with long-term tree development, practical styling and an emphasis on making bonsai accessible to enthusiasts at different experience levels. Through the nursery, he has also provided demonstrations, workshops and educational material for the wider bonsai community.¹
Chan became particularly well known through competitive exhibitions and Royal Horticultural Society events. He received his first RHS Gold Medal at a solo bonsai exhibition in 1982 and later accumulated 21 Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medals before ending his Chelsea exhibition participation in 2006. Herons Bonsai describes this as an exceptional record within the bonsai field.¹
Beyond exhibition work, Chan contributed to the organisational development of British bonsai. He served as Chairman of the British Bonsai Association between 1980 and 1987 and was among the founding members of the Federation of British Bonsai Societies. These activities placed him among the figures who helped strengthen the institutional and educational foundations of bonsai in Britain during a period of growing public interest in the art.¹
Teaching has remained a central element of Chan’s career. His instructional work focuses not only on styling techniques, but also on horticultural fundamentals such as pruning, root management, repotting, wiring and the gradual refinement of trees over many years. In more recent decades, his educational reach has expanded substantially through online video, allowing his demonstrations and practical methods to reach an international audience. Herons Bonsai reports that his YouTube content has attracted more than half a million subscribers and tens of millions of views.²
Chan is also a prolific bonsai author. He has written several books intended to introduce both the artistic and horticultural aspects of bonsai to a broad readership. Among his best-known works are Bonsai: The Art of Growing and Keeping Miniature Trees, Bonsai Secrets and The Bonsai Bible. His books have appeared in multiple languages and have contributed to his international reputation as an educator as well as a practitioner.¹
His work has also extended into the public presentation of bonsai. Peter and Dawn Chan have supported the bonsai collection at RHS Garden Wisley since the late 1990s, helping make mature specimen trees accessible to a broader gardening audience. This long-term association reflects Chan’s wider interest in presenting bonsai not only as a specialist hobby, but as a recognised horticultural and artistic discipline.¹
Recognition of his career has come from both bonsai organisations and academic institutions. In 2015, the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur presented Peter Chan with its Distinguished Alumnus Award, listing him as the founder and CEO of Herons Bonsai Ltd.³
A further major distinction followed in 2025, when Peter Chan was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours. The official honours record identifies him as Founder and Managing Director of Herons Bonsai and recognises his services to business, entrepreneurship and bonsai.⁴ This national honour reflects the unusual breadth of his career, combining specialist horticulture, entrepreneurship, teaching and the long-term promotion of bonsai in the United Kingdom.
Sources
¹ Herons Bonsai, About Herons Bonsai https://www.herons.co.uk/Content/7/About-us
² Herons Bonsai, official website https://www.herons.co.uk/
³ Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Annual Report 2015–2016 https://www.iitkgp.ac.in/assets/pdf/ar1516.pdf
⁴ UK Government, The King’s Birthday Honours List 2025 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-kings-birthday-honours-list-2025/birthday-honours-list-2025-pm-list-transparency-data-html