People have used bamboo from the earliest civilization in Asia, where these giant grasses originated. We see them in traditional architecture in Southeast Asia: People in Indonesia use bamboo stilts to create their rice carriages, and many Filipinos in the north of the Philippines construct little houses out of bamboo in called nipa hut.
Even in places outside Asia, such as Colombia—wherein 2012, IgenDesign’s Alberto Vasquez designed public lighting called Flow—bamboo is one of the easiest and least expensive materials to find. Bamboo has even begun replacing materials such as plastic, glass and steel in certain objects and structures.
Modern designers bring forth a new take on the inclusion of bamboo and its many forms in their creations. We went scouting in France, Sweden, Japan and Indonesia and spotted some good bamboo sprouts in the design world.
Hair Drying with Bamboo Shells
French industrial designer Samy Rio experimented with the possibilities of bamboo in terms of plasticity and technical ability, understanding it to be strong with high resistance capabilities. In 2015, he created a functional hairdryer using bamboo shells. Rio invented the special industrial machine to grind the raw bamboo stalks into identical cylinders, producing a uniform finish. The machine resembles an industrial lathe topped with a CNC mill. It can also be used for a variety of other purposes, including engraving, assembly and finishing.
The hairdryer can be easily disassembled to replace or fix any broken pieces. There’s no switch necessary to use the dryer: Simply unfold the handle to start it and fold the handle back to get it to stop. Another version of the dryer has a simple rotation of the bottom of the handle to start it.
Courtesy of Samy Rio
In addition to hairdryers, Rio also made bamboo speaker bases with the same design approach. He used the machine to laser carve through the bamboo to create push-button controls. The design worked well, without compensating the quality of the sound emanating from his bamboo-base speakers. Rio’s hair dryer and speakers are notably light, since bamboo is a light material that can easily be transported anywhere.
Rio received the highest honor at Design Parade festival 2015 in Hyères for these bamboo-based products.
Bamboo Lampshades by Jens Fager
Courtesy of Rig Tig
Swedish Designer Jens Fager collaborated with Danish brand Muuto to create lampshades made from bamboo blended with polypropylene called Grain.
“Everything started with an idea of doing a lampshade in paper pulp,” Fager told ArchiExpo. “After much research, we realized that this was impossible for mass production. We found this great material with a mixture of plastic and bamboo fibers.”
Fager has used bamboo in his designs before the Muuto collaboration: He designed mixing bowls for Stelton’s brand RIG TIG, which were made out of a mixture of melamine and bamboo fibers.
“There is a lot of bamboo in the world. Bamboo is growing fast. So choosing bamboo instead of something else, some other wooden material, means a better impact on our climate effect and a bit better world,” Fager explained.
Bamboo Chair and Tray: 2 In 1
Christian Desile, a designer based in Bordeaux, France, recreated the common foldable chair from bamboo.
“Bamboo is very strong—23% better than oak—and aesthetically better,” Desile told ArchiExpo e-Magazine.
From this design process, Desile started to use bamboo as one of the traditional materials in creating his designs, in particular his foldable bamboo chair, which can serve as a tray when folded and can easily be hung anywhere.
“The first idea was to make a chair, which once folded, can also serve as a table plate laid on trestles.”
Desile plans to create a limited edition of his foldable bamboo chairs and will explore other usages of bamboo in his next designs.
Nendo’s Tribal Bamboo Furniture
Japanese design studio Nendo’s releases are always much anticipated for their great design and innovation. Who else would be better at interpreting the fusion of furniture design and bamboo than Oki Sato, the creative leader of Nendo, and his team of artisans?
Nendo’s tribal furniture collection included woven bamboo baskets that served as backrests for chairs and added storage for the tables, which can also be used as benches. The tribal collection includes 22 products and was created for Singapore-based design company Industry+.
Nendo chose artisans from the Philippines, who have a deep knowledge of how to work with bamboo, to craft these products. This collection is like a tightly-knit tribe, woven together in unity by the artisans and team of Nendo.
