Extraordinary bamboo, a thousand uses and applications of "green steel"

In the Indian state of Kerala bamboo, a "green" material, is used for objects, furniture, design and architecture.

If you are looking for an eco-friendly product, bamboo is for you. Its versatility as an easily malleable natural medium and the fact that it is a possible edible source has always fascinated lovers of sustainable creativity. In the Indian state of Kerala, a bamboo festival has just ended, in which 75 local artisans took part, showing its incredible applications.

Today, the new perspectives of bamboo application mainly concern artistic home furnishings. A wide range of bamboo products are commercially available, including office stationery, textiles, kitchen utensils, decorative items, furniture, bamboo seedlings.

Bamboo is at the center of the 17th edition of Kerala Bamboo Festival, which this year took place online between 16 and 20 February 2021. Thespecial event of national importance, its main objective is to enhance the potential of bamboo and its various applications. The 2021 festival was organized by the Kerala Government Department of Industry and Commerce, Kerala State Bamboo Mission (KSBM), K-bip (Kerala Bureau of Industrial Production) and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry).

Extraordinary bamboo, a thousand uses and applications of

About 75 people, artisans and bamboo artisans of Kerala, have advertised their products, real works of art in bamboo. With this extraordinary natural material you can create many objects: sculptures, lamps and lampshades, baskets for fruit and snacks, gift boxes, pen holders and cell phone holders, bamboo watches and ecological trays. Bamboo jewelry is just as interesting and you can make pendants, earrings, bracelets and other accessories.

@Shutterstock/Artcloud

Bamboo in Indian eco-architecture

It is no coincidence that bamboo is also called "green steel". For architects it is an ecological building material, or at least it can be used as a composite material in sustainable architectural works.

Award-winning Indian architect Vinu Daniel, born in Ernakulam, Kerala state, explained:

“Low-cost materials are now running out. In addition to its obvious eco-friendliness, bamboo can be grown and is therefore renewable. Think of the period before the advent of concrete and mortar, when houses were mostly made of mud and bamboo. Those houses were resilient. "

In his residence Iha, located in Mannanthala (Thiruvananathapuram) and designed by the architectural firm Wallmakers directed by him, Vinu built a 24-meter-wide facade entirely of bamboo, with an adjacent staircase incorporating the material. To remedy the bamboo's insufficient traction, Iha cement and iron were applied inside the bamboo to make it more resistant.

Another architect from Kerala, Gopalan Shankar, awarded the Padma Shri and founder of Habitat - an NGO involved in the development of eco-architecture - believes in further uses of bamboo in construction. Relegated to temporary building material and used to build rudimentary sheds or erect poles, if used correctly, it can become, in his opinion, a permanent and traditional building material, as well as being aesthetically pleasing. This perspective has become relevant in the current phase, where the cost of the mortar and reeds mix is soaring.

@Facebook/Gopal Shankar

PB Only, Director of Costford (Center of Science and Technology For Rural Development), based in Kerala, has built around 30 bamboo dwellings. According to him, compatibility with carbon is an element in favor of bamboo, which is a grass that resembles a tree. Unlike conventional building materials, which generally emit carbon, bamboo, on the other hand, absorbs it and has an extremely low thermal mass.