Daily Dose Blogger Bios
Wood You Like a Little Bamboo?
I know I often espouse the environmental benefits of bamboo as a pillar
of sustainability (if harvested sustainably and treated with non-toxic
finishes). To drive the point home, consider these snippets of one of my favorite grass' splendor: Bamboo can be harvested in seven years versus
the ten to fifty years it takes for softwoods and hardwoods. It also
yields up to twenty times more material than wood, and one bamboo clump
can produce 200 poles in the five years it takes one tree to reach
maturity. For all your "wood" needs, bamboo is an incredibly durable
and rapidly renewable alternative. And if you're not thoroughly
convinced about integrating bamboo into your home or office for stylist
reasons....
Modern Bamboo has created some sleek pieces of furniture, exclusively using San Francisco based Smith and Fong Plyboo that might just be the accent you are looking for. You might want to slip into an ergonomically-designed chair that utilizes the flexibility of bamboo for a little rocking action or a stool that flirts with curvature - all treated with water-based dyes and finishes. But once you get a taste, you may want to have MB do some custom work and add more bamboo to your repertoire.
I have that same chair on my blog and ditto on bamboo! I think if everyone knew the facts about this wonder plant they would use it more. Did you know it also makes great fabric?
Great!! It's indeed a beautiful design. Bamboo textiles are also pretty incredible. They're soft - and naturally antibacterial. Loyale (http://ecofabulous.blogs.com/ecofabulous/2007/07/loyale-follower.html) is one of my favorite lines,they make gorgeous clothing from bamboo fabric.
If you love bamboo, check out what this amazing new international school in Bali, Indonesia is doing with it. http://www.greenschool.org
Green School's beautiful eight-hectare, environmentally sustainable campus in Sibang Kaja is bisected by the Ayung River, on whose western bank are the School's classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and kitchens. Aquaculture ponds, organic vegetable gardens, edible mazes, and permacultural gardens are interspersed throughout the vast campus, which is built entirely of low-impact and environmentally conscious materials such as bamboo, alang-alang grass, and traditional Balinese mud walls.
http://www.odemagazine.com/exchange/3100/green_school_bali_an_international_school_rooted_in_holistic_education_environmental_stewardship
I too love Bamboo for all the reasons you stated above. My concern, as a designer, is the distance it must travel to get to us. Most of it is grown and harvested in Asia which means that way too much energy is wasted to get it here. Airplanes, trucks, packaging all add up to huge waste. I wish more of it were harvested here in the US. Then Bamboo would truly be an answer.
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