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Zen spudism has its roots in nothing at all
By The Puget Sound Business Journal Staff
December 11, 1998
Mike Dillon may have invented the late '90s equivalent of the Pet Rock.
Irreverently hip, slickly packaged and priced within the gag-gift budget, it's "The Art of the Bonsai Potato," a kit that promises to deliver "Zen -- Without the wait" to anyone capable of propping a potato on a plastic pedestal.
With sales of more than 10,000 in the first five weeks, Dillon is already deep into a second production run of 20,000. The goofy $14.95 kit was launched on Amazon.com and now is selling through catalogs, retailers such as Barnes & Noble, and big distributors like Far Side publisher Andrews & McMeel.
A genuine bonsai tree and its accompanying psychic rewards can take years to cultivate. But the tongue-in-cheek Bonsai Potato guide offers techniques to "quickly and efficiently reach an inner peace that can take monks an entire lifetime to achieve."
Dillon sells the kits through Seattle-based Bottled Lightning Inc. But he's better known as owner of Dillon Works, which designs and fabricates marketing and architectural items ranging from giant bagels to faux Greek columns.
The Bonsai Potato thing already has grown beyond his modest expectations, but Dillon has more up his sleeve: T-shirts, calendars and other paraphernalia are planned, and he's aiming for an appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Meanwhile, he reports, a Kent law firm has started its own contest for growing the best Bonsai Potato.
Bottled Lightning also has a Web site (http://www.bonsaipotato.com) "where people can send in photos for our gallery" of tubers, says Dillon. Early entries are from Boston, Minneapolis and Japan. What happens when this little cultivation cult dries up? "We have many more ideas," he says.
©copyright 1998 American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
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©copyright 1998-2006 Bottled Lightning! Inc. all rights reserved
Bonsai Potato and Zen — Without the Wait! are registered trademarks of Bottled Lightning! Inc.
Bottled Lightning! is also a trademark of Bottled Lightning! Inc. of Mukilteo, WA, USA
Questions? Problems? Contact sensei@bonsaipotato.com
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