Marcos Filipe: The Sushi Chef Who Turns Old Books into Delicate Tree Gardens

He drives a motorcycle with the same quiet accuracy he once used as a sushi chef. As an emergent crafter, Marcos Filipe now turns ancient, neglected books into delicate little trees — each one formed with meditative attention and an almost magical link to nature.

We couldn't help but ask: how can someone who seems like a speed-loving rebel produce something so calm, so complex, so soulful? We spoke to Marcos about his unanticipated road into paper art, the talking trees, and the care required to transform damaged pages into lyrical woods.

We saw those epic photos of you on the motorbike, and honestly — it’s hard to believe you’re the same person making those insanely delicate little trees! How did that all get started?

Riding a motorcycle is a very deep experience for me, as it require sensivity and smoothness. I control the engine power and braking applience with my hands, i feel the vibrations in my body. This experience is a extension of my being. I am very confortable doing it.

Beside this is a very diferent context, i have the same mind control while i am creating all my art pieces. They are also an extension of me.

My art process began from a planted ideia in my head. I did not intent to create. I was lead to it in a way that i could only accept . It was an ideia bigger than me. Took me some time to improve, as riding a motorcycle.

Have you always had that kind of patience and precision in your hands, or is it something you picked up along the way?

I Always had sensitivity in my hands.

I was a Sushi Chef for almost a decade, so i am used to use my fingers and my wrists to achieve some good results on what i am working.

Sushi as Art, require precision and i am pretty confident that this helped me in my process.

Why books? What made you turn something as symbolic as a book into visual art?

Back in 2018, while cleaning my garage, i found an enormous bag of old books in a very bad shape.I though of throwing then into garbage, but i couldn´t do it, as i saw the images in my head of the transformation of them into trees.

I knew i had to do it, and fell in love with the process.

The simbolism of closing the circle, some trees were cutted to be transformed into paper, and i had to transform the paper into the best trees i could make.

Do you have a special connection with trees? Or with nature in general?

Yes, i Always felt connected with nature, expecially trees, and talk to them often.

What was the first piece you ever made, and what was that experience like? Do you still keep it?

I made many trees in the begining of this journey, and the majority of them were destroyed, dued to my frustration of not achieving my intents. I was seeing in my head a result that my hands could not replicate. So it took some time to have a piece in my table that my eyes accepted. When this happened, i received a proposal for aquisition and i sold her. I felt very honourous, but it was very dificult to me to let her go.

I still have this possession issue with my pieces until today, but i learned a lot when i was able to accept that my work have to reach people,and that is the reason i create this Art .

What’s your creative process like — from picking the book to placing the final little branch?

Usually the book atracts me. Its the book that choose me, not the oposite way. My creation process is very deep and difficult. Its almost like working blind, as i have to accept that i need to work through many weeks without knowing the result. All my feel of acceptance came from this process. But i feel and i know when its done.

Have you faced any challenges turning this passion into a business? What’s been the hardest part so far?

I am a very intimist person, i enjoy my loneliness and i apreciate being discrete. But naturally during this years as a paper artist, i had to realise that i reach people even if that is not my intention.

I had to accept that all of my work is created to reach somebody. That was the dificult part for me, as i have to assume that i made them. I have to stand over. I am a creator.

Where and how do you show your work?

To be honest… barely anyone has seen my work in real life! It’s been a pretty private thing — no big shows (yet). But hey, I think I’m finally ready to let the trees out of the forest.

How do you reach your clients?

Mainly through Facebook — I post a photo and boom, people get curious. There’s something about paper trees that just pulls them in!

How do people usually react when they see your work for the first time? Any funny or surprising stories?

My paper trees create magnetism. Its impossible to just take a look at them once. I´m not able to open the door of this subject tottally , because its also part of the person process, but the trees talk to me while i am creating, and often people say how they communicate with the Art they received. I believe to this day that what i do is much more then just paper transformation.

Do you have any plans to expand or explore new materials beyond books?

I learned enough in my life to realise that i do not control what i am able do do. I believe that what you think, you become.

I created my porfolio during 3 years straight without selling a piece, in order to have something to show.

I dont know what the future brings to me, however I believe that there are a few books still waiting for their transformation using my hands. I think i will not be able to start suddenly creating something else. I have to stay in this place for a little longer.

What would you say to other artists or crafters who are just starting out and are afraid it might not “work out”?

I would say that its ok to achieve bad results. What happens quite often, is that a full hand of bad results is the main ingredient for the greatest ideia.

If we have the resilience to start over, and over , we will succeed, even if not on our primary goal.

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