Bamboo

Splendor in the grass

By Janet Eastman

February 03, 2003 

SHALE Gordon lives in a bamboo universe. He grows it, sells the edible shoots to be mixed into chop suey and makes out-there playthings – surfboards and skateboards –from the eco-friendly grass (yes, grass).

Gordon, a 49-year-old retired cardiologist from Hermosa Beach, and other bamboo enthusiasts – from serious environmentalists to tiki-hut kitsch collectors – think the time has come for others to enter their high-stalk world. And judging by the abundance of things made of bamboo or made to look like its leaves or branches, many people already have.

Bamboo uses range from the practical to the artistic to the leisure-time letting go (what says “vacation” more than a bamboo cocktail umbrella?). It’s cheap to grow and can be pressed into low-cost wallboard or high-end furniture.

Since blond bamboo is the club soda of design – adding fizz to a drab room or diluting one with loud elements – it works with traditional, modern and casual California decor.

Homeowners and interior designers install floor planks, window treatments and room dividers made of its polished veneers. Antique purists hunt for hard-to-find lacquered bamboo tables made in England in the early 1900s, while mid-century retro lovers savor the tropical-inspired stuff that washed ashore during the Hawaiiana mania.

But that’s not all. Musicians perform with bamboo guitars, didgeridoos and reed instruments. And who hasn’t heard a bamboo wind chime?

But these uses seem ho-hum compared to what’s coming. Store owners predict that four-poster beds, woven wall panels and even retro quilted handbags with circular bamboo handles will catch on for spring.

Architects are hoping to build more homes made with bamboo. Simon Velez of Colombia and Darrel DeBoer of Alameda are designing shelters, gazebos and fences made from its large timbers.

Artisans are creating elaborate baskets, fine sculptural jewelry and, in the case of Linda Garland of Bali, chaise longues of bamboo to impress the wealthy. Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson has filled his Necker Island homes with her elegant furniture. And ex-heart doc Gordon is betting that his surfboards shaped from buoyant bamboo will be the hot ticket, once everyone gets on board.

“Bamboo is many things to many people,” says Gale Beth Goldberg, a Santa Barbara architect and author of a new book, “Bamboo Style” (Gibbs Smith). “It is strong and smooth, beautiful and versatile. It embodies the interconnectedness of life.”

The Chinese are credited with engineering it to be used in structures thousands of years ago, the Japanese with recognizing its beauty and Americans with fitting it into the smallest places. Edison’s delicate lightbulb filaments were bamboo.

A bamboo invasion

The fastest-growing plant on the planet has every right to be called invasive. There are more than 1,000 species, some shooting up about a foot a month until reaching 10 stories high, while ground cover versions aggressively expand horizontally. Bamboo stalks grow like humans – thick or thin, straight or curved, solid or hollow, smooth or nobby, and in many colors.

But of all its traits, environmentalists love this one the best: The stalks are strong enough to be cut down and put to good use in three to five years, whereas some trees need 60 years to mature.

The idea for a bamboo surfboard has been bumping around in Hawaii for years, especially by sail craft and furniture maker Gary Young. But the idea struck Gordon three years ago when he was searching for an alternative to traditional fiberglass boards. He wanted a material that “didn’t involve polluting or oil-based products.”

Bingo. Bamboo Surfboards Australia was born.

Gordon’s surfboard starts with a recyclable styrene foam core, which is covered with two sheets of thin moso bamboo. The board is biodegradable except for the epoxy resin he uses to create its hard outer shell (he’s experimenting with different products to change that).

His company, which he runs with his wife, Mei Yap Gordon, has a factory in Byron Bay, Australia. It can pump out 100 surfboards a month made from bamboo from China and a small harvest from Gordon’s property in Mullumbimby, where he spends half his year. (The company also sells other ways to ride bamboo, from skateboards to kiteboards.)

“The beauty of surfing is it brings you close to nature and if you can use an environmentally friendly board that isn’t screwing up the ocean, all the better,” says Gordon.

And his board has another benefit: “Since it’s light and buoyant in the water, it misses my head more often.”

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Stalk market:

Bamboo, long seen as a symbol of endurance, is put to good use in everyday objects

Floors: Bamboo is split into 1-inch-wide strips, treated, dried, milled and laminated to create uniform planks that can be laid like hardwood floors. Bamboo flooring, which is as hard as maple or oak, is available at chains such as Home Depot, which sells it for $6.37 a square foot plus $4 installation, and specialty stores such as Smith & Fong-Plyboo; (866) 835-9859; www.plyboo.com.

Bikes: Craig Calfee, who makes a living designing carbon fiber bicycles, crafts a two-wheeler with a black bamboo frame that costs $3,500. (800) 965-2171; www.calfeedesign.com.

Guitars: Yamaha uses warp-resistant bamboo strips on every part of its $700 guitar except the rosewood fingerboard, mahogany bridge and strings. It also makes a bamboo snare drum for $580. (714) 522-9011; www.yamahaguitars .com.

Placemats: Housewares chain Anthropologie has $8 placemats that mix polka-dot fabric with bamboo that has been painted to look like old orange crates. (800) 309-2500; www.anthropologie.com.

Surfboards: Bamboo Surfboards Australia uses a bamboo covering that is twice as strong as fiberglass for its surfboards, which start at $400. The company also makes skateboards, snowboards, wakeboards, 4-by-8-foot wall panels and cottages. (310) 374-2627; www.bamboosurfboards .com.

Thrones: The $300 Jefe chair by Bamboo Fencer, inspired by a medieval throne, is made of thick iron bamboo that is weather-resistant like teak. (800) 775-8641; www.bamboofencer.com.

Treehouses: Island Ambience makes prefab bamboo hooches that are straight out of “Swiss Family Robinson.” A 6-by-6-foot one cost $2,000; $50 for a kit. (541) 482-6357; www.tropical- treehouse.com.

For more information on bamboo products, contact the American Bamboo Society at www.american bamboo.org.