Among the clips, there ia a company overview, a short clip of Tao, who lives in central Vietnam and is an extraordinary weaver, and a ‘top of her class’ student, a recent broadcast in Shanghai from the Eco Design Fair, and a couple of other short clips.

Hope you enjoy. More to come…

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.

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.

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.

‘There’s a great future in’….HOLD ON.

Actually, many people missed this in the original screening. You have to listen carefully, but there is an important subtlety here. One a little more suited for the times. Check it out.

Thanks for making the The New York Gift Show this year one of our best shows ever. It was really nice seeing our customers and familiar faces over the several days we ’set up shop’ in Javits. It is nearly a 24 hour journey traveling from Shanghai, but well worth it.

Always great seeing many of our customers who have stood by us for many years, or recently joined with us, and a joy to meet people who are only now discovering bambu. People who appreciate the breadth of our range, the originality of our designs, quality of our craftsmanship, and the ‘bambu way’ of doing business.

People are increasingly interested in integrating sustainability into their businesses. Wanting to offer beautiful, eco-friendly alternatives to their customers. We had some great conversations with a lot of people, retailers, designers, small business owners – and that’s really encouraging.

One of the major highlights was winning this year’s The Eco Award.

Our product was selected from among 250 entries as ‘Most Salable’ by retailers.

That’s a vote we are pleased to received. Full details from the official news release are here.

Other Highlights and Friends

Meeting again Robert from EcoShoppe and reviewing new store plans. Chatting with Mark from 3R Living about the challenges of retailing. Our new friends from South Carolina.

Meeting with Josh Carin. Josh operates Geppetto Catering the only Certified Green caterer in the region. Their green credentials are impressive and they proudly use our products because we are using Certified Organic materials, elegant range of products, and because we prescribe to sustainable practices in our business every day.

Saying hello to our friends at Joanne Hudson – Duncan, Jonathan, Sam – thanks for stopping by. We appreciate your business.

Meeting Lori Hill, of Lori Hill Events. Lori is sharp-minded and one of the original pioneers of the Green Movement in the DC area. Savvy Sustainable Events. Keep an eye out for them.

We appreciate all our customers. Thank you for your business. Thank you for taking the time to stop by our booth.

If you didn’t make it to the show, but want a curated look at the top 100 exhibitors (ours included). Here you go. From ShelterPop the ‘what’s now and what’s happening’ report. NY Gift Top 100

A few media highlights too…

bambu is featured among the pages here. Global trend spotters Trend Hunter were thrilled to discover our Coconut Bowls and highlight our ‘Coco’ Bowls here

Donna Schwartz came by to introduce herself. Donna is featuring bambu in an upcoming Gourmet Retailer article on Sustainability and Green Products. That’s a natural fit!

Spilt Milk for Moms covered our bambu KIDS utensils with a glowing review here.

New York. It’s a happening. The hard work continues….

Fish and chips, Genevan style. Breaded Perch. Yummy.

A prime example of this, is a presentation given by Deb Singer, the founder of Singer Sustainability. Ms. Singer shared a insightful presentation that brought forth several key principles that lead to success in the marketplace. And used three example companies to illustrate her points.

We were delighted (and, admittedly a little humbled), to be cited as one of the companies that gets it right. The other is a company we have long admired, Preserve. Nothing wasted. Everything gained. The fine folks at Preserve are creating solutions and solving problems in fresh and colorful ways.

Link to the presentation here – http://slidesha.re/ciWfuR

Deb Singer is no stranger to the world of sustainability. bambu first connected with Deb Singer during her tenure at Whole Foods where she guided the organization towards Whole Living, a whole new store concept. In her talk, she shares her experience and knowledge to offer a relevant perspective on sustainability in housewares.

While sustainability was the focus, design considerations are essential. Being ‘green’ is not enough. And it echos an idea that we frequently remind ourselves of,

‘it is not just about your beliefs, or your words, but about your actions.’

Green Products Exhibition
Another example of the ‘green movement’ building momentum in the industry is the focus the industry is putting on innovative and new products. Green Products Exhibition featured products that use alternative materials, are designed for disassembly, or that add value through social and environmental benefits. bambu had four products selected for this exhibition. Hybrid Cutting Board Series, for the first time introducing bamboo and cork together – two highly renewable materials. Our wonderfully organic and charming ‘Coco Bowls’ made from reclaimed coconut shells, and our Spork & Cork.

Green Products Exhibition

As any visitor to New York knows, a few days in the city can fill a highlight reel. Among my particular highlights on this trip….shopping at the Soho store of bambu customer, Dean & Deluca, an amazing array of culinary finery, browsing another store that carries a wide selection of our products, plus a whole lot more at the Whole Foods Union Square – shopping at 11pm in the full NY bustle is an event we don’t get in Shanghai.

I finally had the opportunity to go to Yankee Stadium for the first and last time. The venerable home of more Hall of Famers than any other place. We sat through a 90min rain delay to watch a great game despite the Yankee loss.

Had one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time at Mary’s Fish Camp. A great neighborhood find that rekindled my love for lobster roll, steamers and oysters on the half. Thanks Rachel! (I know I shouldn’t post this – the line is already too long, but it’s that good – there’s another in Brooklyn)

I have visited this Renzo Piano building several times. I love the materials and the interior natural landscape that draws you in from busy noisy 8th Avenue. I am infatuated with the hundreds of digital screens relaying every word from every blog in rapid-fire succession.

And of course, the Muji flagship store is a must. Dean & Deluca is soon to open.

Fishs Eddy is another one of those quintessential New York kind of stores. . They are unique in how they carry and present our products, and always do a great job at merchandising our tableware and always do up their windows with customer-stopping appeal.

One of my favorite NY moments was visiting the inventive installation by David Byrne. The project is entitled, Playing the Building

There are images and videos of the project at the link above.

I caught it on a beautiful late afternoon when the light was just right. It’s a wonderful structure that comes alive with its own sounds. Reminded me of the wonderful BBC program, Can Buildings Learn?. Can buildings make music? Yes they can.

David has a gift for pushing and merging art, urban life, music and architecture.

His latest project which was launched while I was in NY, is his art, slash, installation, slash, bike rack project which is peppered around the city. You can see his drawings and the installations here.

The city keeps on offering up great experiences. Thanks New York.