Bambienti

Bambienti design and produce furniture and accessories using Bamboo, a woody grass that offers strength and style while being a naturally sustainable material. Whilst it makes good financial sense for any business to become more environmentally friendly, one new enterprise suggests it�s time to take things a step further if we are to ensure sustainability for the planet. Charles Colbourne, founder of Bambienti, suggests that his �green� efforts should not simply stop at the point of sourcing a green material. He argues it is also dependent on enabling communities, who live off of their land, access to sustainable materials and methods. Bambienti designs and sources furniture and accessories made entirely out of bamboo, a material that offers strength and sustainability. Their designs are all hand-made in family-run workshops. Colbourne believes that bamboo has significant benefits. For example, when a tree is cut down it is gone forever, in contrast bamboo requires no replanting after harvesting, it is naturally sustainable. This is because it has an extensive net like root system that keeps sending up new shoots. Its unique root structure allows the material to �regenerate� degraded land. He adds: �Bamboo has a tensile strength comparable to steel, and this ancient material has impressive credentials as a viable and long term alternative to diminishing sustainable hardwood resources.� �Whilst bamboo ticks all the right boxes in terms of being a green or eco friendly material, I believe that any effort to improve sustainability for the planet is dependent upon more than just thinking about using green materials.� �One of the by-products of widespread and illegal tree cutting is land degradation through soil erosion. This erosion of community land is to some extent the result of an almost insatiable desire for conventional wooden furniture and household products. Colbourne points out that with bamboo, struggling rural communities have a potential route to sustain their independence and their way of life by regenerating their land and the income they derive from it.

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