Friday, February 1, 2008

IS BAMBOO HOT/HAUTE TODAY?

Bamboo is fast emerging as a “haute” design medium in the Western world these days with several top-notch design awards coming its way. Check out “HAUTE GREEN 2007” at http://www.inhabitat.com/category/nydesignweek2007/

What makes bamboo such an attractive option for home décor now? Well, there are several reasons as to why bamboo is so popular nowadays. Perhaps, the greatest reason is that bamboo makes for great ecological sense in today’s environmentally fragile world. Deforestation and excessive industrialization has taken their toll and people across the globe are battling with the ill effects of global warming and climate change. Bamboo is an easily renewable resource, capable of regenerating in a shorter time than trees. Typically, bamboos mature in 3-5 years as compared to most tree species which take anything between 12-20 years to grow fully. This makes bamboo a more sustainable resource to harvest and use regularly as replacement for wood which is becoming increasingly scarce. Given the fact that bamboo has similar strength and properties as wood, it is a viable alternative to wood for use in home, garden and office décor. Bamboo is also called wonder lumber as it does not need too many preparations to use – it can be used as is. This minimal need for preparation makes it a good choice to metals and plastics, which require a lot of resources and input to be prepared, even in the raw form.
Another reason for bamboo’s popularity is that it brings in a whiff of Nature into living spaces like no other material. The warm natural tone of bamboo, its singular elegance is a total contrast to the cold hi-tech glamour of glass and chrome, or the pop art colours of plastic. It is hard to resist the charm of a well-proportioned bamboo sofa, looking as though it has brought the fresh green outdoors inside your room.

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