bambu has been a longstanding member of Green America’s Green Business Network since we established our partnership in 2006. Among the first companies in our industry to partner with Green America.

Green America’s visions is to -

Yes, yes, yes….we stand with you. Green America is a non-profit organization that exists to promote social justice and environmental sustainability. Some of you may know Green America for its’ commitment to promoting green values in cities across the country through their Green Festivals.

bambu was featured in the organization’s Green Business Profile in 2008. (A link to that article is here.) bambu has advised the group on issues relating to auditing procedures, and transparency in China.

Green America has recently introduced a tiered seal of approval for businesses. We are thrilled that bambu has been awarded the highest honors with a Gold Seal of Approval for our commitment…..and action, towards a greener planet. Thank you for supporting bambu. Thank you for supporting other businesses that support Green America.

Want to do your part? At home? Here are 7 Tips to Go Green in your home, brought to you by Green America.

Make it great, make it green in 2012.

We have shared a few stories on the pages of this blog of how artists have used bamboo in creative ways, and in interesting settings.

A few of our favorites….

The Big Bambu installation atop of The Met in NY. Story is here. is magnificent example that we personally visited.

We also spotted an artist in Germany acquiring and using our own Bamboo Pebbles to create this Pebbles sculpture here. Interesting.

Or this story closer to home here in Shanghai using bamboo chopsticks. here.

Well, below is an extraordinary feat of imagination and precision and entertainment….stands alone.  Scott Weaver’s amazing piece, made with over 100,000 toothpicks over the course of 35 years…this deserves a watch!

VIDEO LINK HERE

Another extraordinary installation and creative interpretation using bamboo.

Brooklyn Brewery is the main sponsor behind the multi-city events. This event, in their words, embodies the creative culinary spirit.

1st Stop.....DC......taco competition

We couldn’t agree more. Everything will be served up, judged, and eaten on our compostable bamboo All Occasion Veneerware®. We’re sure to get some good images for our Spork Travels pages as all the participants will be ‘operating’ with Sporks.

Renowned chefs in their right, the Food Experiments are the brainchild of co-founders Nick Suarez and Theo Peck.

Jeff Delkin, owner & cofounder of bambu, remarked,

‘This event is a natural for us to be involved with. Nick and Theo have colorful and engaging personalities. They are taking food, the preparation and enjoyment of food, in a fresh fun direction. Plus it appeals to the competitor in most of us!’

‘Our sustainable products provide a natural and eco-friendly accent to all that great food being created.’

The Food Experiment goes on to Philadelphia on June 5th, Boston July 31st, and winds up in Brooklyn in September. In Philly….it’s all about Cheese….naturally.

Join up with The Food Experiments on Facebook here to keep up with the upcoming savory events.

People are slowly getting their lives back in order.  While the physical signs of the earthquake are not seen in the city, the terrible catastrophe is felt by everyone.

Japan never fails to exceed our expectations. In places around the world, ofter the city people of a country are breezy, busy, important, and have little time for you, while you often get more gracious welcoming from people outside the main city (think Paris, think New York).

Not true in Tokyo. We found everyone we interacted with to be hospitable, polite, and wonderfully helpful. And given the recent events, amazingly resilient.

The quick snapshot below nicely captures the wonderful harmony of Tokyo. The man-made coexisting with nature. The sleek and modern, shiny and metal, hugging nature and framing nature. There is a certain reverence for nature that shows itself in so many different ways in Japan.

tokyo harmony

bambu Japan team

Ariel Office Tokyo

Meeting with our bambu partners in Japan. The Ariel Company is Japan’s premier trading company for wellness and sustainably-produced products representing a number of highly respected brands in the green sector in Japan. bambu and Ariel joined together in 2009.

The bambu core team at Ariel is comprised of Tomoko, Yu, and Keisuke pictured here with Rachel Speth, bambu owner & co-founder.

The Ariel offices are situated in Aoyama district in Tokyo. A small beautiful office with a terrace and view, topped by two wind turbines. The building generates its own electricity! These folks walk the talk. We had productive meetings. Our products and values appeal to the market here. Sophisticated retail landscapes, appreciation for design, simplicity, that utilize natural materials, and that are ‘made well’ and made with care.

45 dan Organic Junk

We lunched at the 45 Dan. The organic cafe owned by the same group known for the fantastic hand-produced denim and indigo clothing for men and women, 45RPM. The cafe prepares fresh and organic vegetable dishes, brown rice, wonderful salads, and healthful juices. Plus it offers a selection of their clothing and assorted ‘organic junk.’ A perfect stop for our green-minded group.

We joined with thousands of other people at the Tokyo Earth Day in Yoyogi Park. It was an impressive turnout of like-minded people, companies, artists, and musicians. The event was capped by a peaceful anti-nuclear march through the busy and intensively compact Shibuya district. People made way for the hundreds that joined in the colorful demonstration.

Earth Day Tokyo

Earth Day Tokyo

Here’s a tip. Our favorite retail store in Tokyo?   Tokyu Hands A place where you can find everything!

breakfast at Tsujiki Market

And of course, a visit to Tokyo is not complete without a trip to Tsukiji Market - the largest fresh fish market in the world. A fantastic display of fresh everything from the sea, and every product imaginable for food enthusiasts.  While the daily tuna auction is closed to the public, if you want view what goes on, here’s a first-hand look at Tsukiji Market via YouTube.

Our friends in Japan celebrate Golden Week May 1st – 8th. We wish you well!

‘Keeping Track of Sustainable Materials’ An important exhibit is now on display at the IOM3 Institute in London. The interactive display and  material exhibition explores the relationship between sustainability, materials, and knowledge transfer.

Curated by PhD researcher, Sarah Wilkes, the exhibit features over 16 companies. bambu was selected to present the company’s product, All Occasion Veneerware, and showcase the lifecycle of the product from harvest to compost in illustrations.

Veneerware is the original ‘natural disposable’ dinnerware and is the only product made from Certified Organic, sustainably harvested bamboo.

Along with bambu, other companies on exhibit include -

• The Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Finisterre
• GreenGlass
• InterfaceFLOR

Interface is a company that we have long admired. We encourage you to explore how Interface is among the real pioneers of integrating sustainability into their business model. Check out their impressive environmental record and progress here.

For a close up look of the bambu Veneerware back story told in pictures, see the illustration below.

From Soil to Table to Soil…..

bambu Veneerware backstory

We are thrilled to be able to participate in this London exhibition and help build awareness and knowledge in sustainability. We encourage you to learn more…

Here’s another scrap story.

First, Big Bambu and now, Small Bambu. Big Bambu was an installation art piece by the Starn brothers from Brooklyn. They constructed a fabulous structure of bamboo atop the Museum of Modern Art. We covered that in our bambu blog in the second part of our Sightings post, here. An article in the New York Times is here.

Small Bambu is a different creation. An installation of different scale…

The mystery of the numerous Bamboo Pebbles purchases has apparently been solved. At least partially.

Our friends at Green Pioneer share with us that a private customer from Germany has been buying an unusual amount of our bamboo Pebbles. bambu developed decorative Bamboo Pebbles as a way to utilize the excess material we have.

This particular customer in Germany is creating mini sculptures using our Pebbles and then photographing them. A few examples are below. It isn’t clear where this is headed.

Our Pebbles never looked so good. They are professionally lit. These creations highlight the varied and beautiful organic shapes. If anyone has been hiking and has ever come across trail stones that have been similarly stacked to mark a trailhead, or a marker to show a change of direction, that’s what these remind us of.

The best part. A reminder that you can make cool stuff happen with scrap. You can find Bamboo Pebbles from bambu, right here from our bambu Shop.

Made from Scrap. Waste becomes Art. Waste makes a statement here in Shanghai.

Every year Chinese consumes 45 billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks which equal around 25 million trees.

The China Environmental Protection Foundation with the creative inspiration of DDB China, collected 30,000 used chopsticks from restaurants around Shanghai
to create a fallen tree 5 meters high and install in public areas.
The idea of this project was to raise awareness and encourage the use of reusable chopsticks.

This is the work of DDB China. Someone complimented this work as an example where advertising and art collide. we prefer to think of it as a message fitting together, inextricably linked.

It is unusual that the Oregon Duck football team would end up on this blog. Well sort of. The owners are both alum from the University of Oregon. And one in particular, is a football fan.

The recent accent of the Oregon Football team finishing the 2010 season with a perfect 12-0 record has a lot of people talking around the country. And it has people talking about bamboo. There’s the connection.

Water the Bamboo Center for Leadership was started by Greg Bell, basketball player, attorney, entrepreneur. Greg developed the concept of Watering the Bamboo.

The idea is quite simple, really.

“Water The Bamboo is a metaphor to remind us that all great success takes time and work. When you water giant timber bamboo in the first year, you see nothing. In the second year, you still see no results. In the third year, you see nothing still. In the fourth year, it will suddenly rocket 90 feet in just 60 days! Bamboo farmers know you need to water the bamboo a long time before you see any sign of success.”

Whether it is life or whether it is football, you just gotta keep watering the bamboo. You have to keep working. That hard work, perseverance, and patience, lead to success. In football terms, this years success team has been years in the making.

Here, Coach Chip Kelly talks about Watering the Bamboo –

The intersect is an interesting one. Particularly since, bamboo requires relatively little water to grow mighty and strong. The metaphor is not lost. Patience and perseverance pay off. Good luck Oregon. Bring home the championship. GO DUCKS!

Read the rest of the story Butterfly Bamboo Homes Are Hope for Thai Orphans

(Via INHABITAT.)