The Staff of Life

Bamboo in Northeast India is "The Staff of Life". It is there in the bamboo knife your umblical cord is cut with, the house you live in, the utensils you feed in, your daily implements, the pipes that bring you water, the bridges you walk on, the musical instruments you play and so till bamboo bier you lie on when your time on earth is up !

We have been working with bamboo craft communities in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. Every state, every community has its own distinctive style of working with bamboo and even though the products are the same, baskets, containers, etc. each tribe/community has its own kind of bamboo product. We have been fortunate to work with bamboo artisans in most of the northeastern states and in Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh but somehow, Northeast and bamboo are synonymous. Perhaps, it is because bamboo is used with great felicity here and there are bamboo groves everywhere - bamboo housing, bridges, fencing, chicken coops, grain baskets, tea baskets and even pig cages - ever seen a squealing pig being transported !! Fish traps are beautiful in bamboo - strong and yet delicate, never spoiling despite being dunked in water for ages.

Working in Nagaland has been a highpoint - the design workshops there were led by Shahriyar. Some pictures from Nagaland -

heat-flattened bamboo culms

and woven bamboo products

Some of the products from our workshops and training programmes in the Northeast are available at The Bamboo Store. Believe me, each of them tells a story !!