Last week I published a profile at Triple Pundit on the Portland based, boundary expanding, successful despite the given wisdom/state of the economy company called Bamboo Revolution. Growing 40% in an industry that's shrunk 50%, they clearly are on to something. I took a lot of photos in their space, which serves as a demonstration of bamboo's versatility, and a sketch pad of sorts for new ideas they're working on. A few made it to the Triple Pundit piece, but all had an interesting story. So rather than keep them to myself, here's what I saw:
Before Bamboo Revolution transformed it, this was the bunker, er, office of a paint supply store I believe. They set about making use of as much of what was on site. But some things, well, a line had to be drawn!
The office as it looks currently, with bamboo used for nearly 100% of the wall you see here.
Serving as both an additional stream of income and a demonstration of Bamboo Revolution designer's capabilities is Coava Coffee Roasters. In a city known for its coffee, Coava has quickly developed a reputation for its single source caffeinated alchemy.
I asked what those giant cheese grater/car muffler looking things were on the ends of this table. Bamboo steamers apparently, used to soften bamboo for shaping. Now standing in as cafe decor.
This burly table is made of what's called "strand woven" bamboo, which according to Bamboo Revolution is twice as hard as red oak. How? A giant machine presses so hard (1800 metric tons of pressure!) that it must do it upwards rather than down, or would cause structural damage without substantial floor reinforcement.
An enormous door leads from the showroom to the manufacturing space. Graceful now, putting it up was quite a dance, as you see here.
Showing how bamboo can be used as is, in a beautiful way.
Sometimes (pre 4) iPhone's lackluster low light capabilities can lead to artful photos like this one, a piece of bamboo manufacturing equipment doing double duty as a cafe table.
Paul Smith is a sustainable business innovator, the founder of GreenSmith Consulting, blogs weekly on green start ups of note at Triple Pundit and has an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. He creates interest in, conversations about, and business for green (and greening) companies, via social media marketing.
