Is bamboo a fad?

I’m convinced bamboo is going to lose its “sizzle.” Granite has become the new plastic laminate of the millennium, and it will not be long before bamboo loses its glamour as well. Fashion will usher in a new darling, and the kitchen and bath community will forget all about this sustainable alternative to natural wood products. Bamboo forests will rest peacefully, and all will be right in the world again.

While the design community is still embracing bamboo floors, walls, ceilings, cabinets, countertops and backsplashes, we should look to manufacturers that have experience with this trendy material. Smith & Fong has been manufacturing bamboo products since 1989. Its products are unique because they have a base material of Plyboo, the company’s term for laminated bamboo and a registered trademark.

While bamboo remains all the rage, I recommend the design community work with manufacturers who have had tenure in the industry. Smith & Fong is one of them. I have seen and touched their products firsthand. They are high quality, readily sourced and best of all very affordable!

Smith & Fong is also manufacturing products from palm wood. They have branded it Durapalm. It is a smoking hot alternative to bamboo, and I’m excited about incorporating this material into a design as soon as the opportunity comes along.

-- Jeff Holloway

Comments

[Robert P. Mocarsky]

Why doe some many materials have to be considered "Fads". Should we not be looking for the best material for the application and aesthetics desired.

[Ellie Wydeven]

What are the alternatives to granite?

[Stacie Pietrolaj]

First of all, shame on us as designers for making these eco friendly items into fads! "Green products" should not be made into the fads of our industry!

I agree with Robert in that we should be assisting our clients to select the right application for them whether it seems to be trendy or not. The designers that market these items to be "fads" are only hurting themselves by limiting their options for materials and their different uses. Sure bamboo wood may be very contemporary which can quickly make an item into a "Fad" but it is a "Green product", and we need to remember that!

As designers we need to make sure that our clients have eco-friendly options available, if not bamboo or lyptus, then what?

As for granite becoming the plastic laminate of the millennium,that may be true, but only because people are afraid of using a natural material. The media has given all natural counter top materials including granite, marble, soapstone & limestone a bad name because they are porous, and need to be sealed. That is ridiculous as well!

[Mervin Wolf]

As to natural stone counter materials, I've found that it is important for the client to be introduced to the concept of patina and the beauty of materials that change as they are being used. You quickly find out who isn't a candidate for marble as a kitchen counter material when you suggest that they think about the beauty of an old marble top in a Paris bistro. Too bad that plastic laminate doesn't age well.

[Rhonda Chen]

No bamboo is not a fad. With Green being pushed extra hard by designers and more consumers becoming concerned about the environment bamboo will continue to be specified. Bamboo is a naturally sustainable material, and one of the few surface materials that are truly green.

There are many new design possibilities using bamboo and we have only touched the surface of all the possibilities.

Although bamboo flooring has been around for some time now, many consumers are still learning about it. Check out Walker Zanger's new product line "Sobu" bamboo mosaics to see some examples. Also, check out Pacific Crest's Bellmont Cabinetry line. In particular their solid bamboo cabinet door style, which is beautiful.

[Kim]

"Green" and sustainable choices should look at how the material is produced and quarrying for stone cannot last forever. Laminate may not age well, but particle board with a thin layer of laminate is far greener (when no vinyl or urea formaldehyde is involved) than destroying the earth for granite or other stone that will be replaced anyway in 20 years or less when someone changes their aesthetic or the building gets sold.
Bamboo may be a fad in its current forms, but it is not going away and will take many more forms, such as the bamboo clothing now being discovered by many.

[Jeremy Biddinger]

This is such a vague argument. I'm having a hard time deciphering if you are for or against bamboo. Are you saying that bamboo is alright if you use qualified suppliers/manufacturers (i.e. Smith & Fong)? Or are you suggesting that we stop specifying bamboo so that "all will be right" and we just go back to secifying old-growth hardwoods that take generations to regenerate?
The real problem with this article is in the words you use to describe bamboo. You use words like "trendy" and "glamour" and "all the rage" to describe a material that is in essence textural, natural, is easily and quickly regenerated, is lasting (by your own admission it has been around a long time, by definition not a fad), it is attractive, and, unlike granite and other stone surfaces, it is affordable. Bamboo isn't a trendy choice, it is a smart choice.
What is really humorous is that you end the argument with a comment about an up-and-coming product that will act as an "alternative to bamboo" by using phrases such as "smoking hot" to describe it- which makes IT sound like it will just be a fad!

[designbrain]

My problem with Bamboo and other such materials is the green and sustainable labels that are automatically assigned to them because they are new. I read now that concrete counter tops are green because they can be recycled. If concrete can be recycled then tell me what can't be recycled? Bamboo is not any greener than any other wood material, actually like recycling concrete, it requires more energy and processing to produce than simple traditional materials. Materials like granite and bamboo are commonly available now because our culture is willing to spend 300% more energy to produce them than in the days of formica counters and shinyl vinyl floors .

[JT]

Nice advertisement for Smith and Fong. No substance to your article, but it's a great promotion without being a promotion. And, after all, isn't that what industry blogs are all about? Good designers don't deal in fads, they deal in the desires of the people they work with.

[Jennifer]

Thanks for the comments! I think this post hit a nerve. I'm going to have Jeff respond to most of you because he wrote it, but I wanted to clear something up right away. Smith and Fong has no financial connection to the blog whatsoever and the company wasn't involved in the writing or editing of the post. When we do have advertisers, they are always very clearly marked. I think Jeff just pointed to them because it was a product he had direct knowledge of.

[WAYNE BRADFORD]

We are in the hardwood business and we consider ourselves to be Green! Hardwoods are the renewable resource. I love that term "Old Growth" what is that? Did you ever stop and think about all the fuel and resources it takes to produce, and ship Bamboo all the way from a country like China? There is more to green or sustainable than fast growing grass, which is what Bamboo is. How about taking care of our own forests with responsible harvest and not letting the the forest get to the point of burning up?

[Jeff Holloway]

Thanks for the comments. It's exciting to see so many people passionate about this post. It's probably me, but I think we are applying much too much significance to the body of it. It's very simple. Bamboo is the new darling of the design community; my perspective is that over time we will saturate the market with bamboo products, and our clients will tire of it. My example with the granite is simple too. Natural stone was for many years a desirable alternative to other surfacing products because of it's exclusivity. Today you can walk into a subdivision of cookie cutter homes and see the product placed on top of a $5,000.00 set of cabinets. I'm simply saying that if we are not careful, bamboo will run its course and will not be as intriguing as it is today. I'm not endorsing any products here. I'm suggesting to designers who have not worked with bamboo to reference Smith & Fongs products. A lot of the deficiencies with bamboo that we experience are because of the grass that is being sourced. I'm suggesting that if we specify bamboo, we source it from manufacturers that know and understand the characteristics of the product. Again, it's probably just me, but I'm concerned that bamboo is being specified for all the wrong reasons. Bamboo has its place within the design community. I think if we continue to use it exclusively in green designs our clients will tire of it. Good design transcends time. Let's make sure that we are responsible enough that in 10 years we are not tearing out bamboo products because they end up like avocado colored appliances in our laundry rooms and kitchens. We have to make sure that the industry continues to embrace green materials; we also have to make sure that we do not overuse a single a product.

[DJ]

What I'm hoping is that "green" will lose its sizzle. Talk about a braindead fad! Wake up people. Rhonda--Are we REALLY "destroying the earth" quarrying stone? Please explain. Bamboo clothes? OK, how about a bamboo dunce cap.

[Kristalina]

Very interesting post!
I have just discovered your blog and find it so clean and professional looking. You totally have a new reader!

[mike moore]

Green lose its sizzle? I am assuming that that thread must be sarcasm. If one can not see the importance of responsible practices, then they have their eyes closed to what our earth has become. A toxic landfill of depleted resources. If you disagree than look up superfund sites in your region and how they affect your drinking water and air quality. Look at how chemicals in plastic make it into our water supply and cause infertility. Or better yet the poisoning of our homes with formaldehyde loaded products. If you care at all about your health and the future health of not only the environment, but your children and grandchildren and so on you will take a positive stance in "green" practices.