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Bamboo Nation The age-old grass went from the food of pandas to the material of choice for hardwood floors. Now the versatile plant is showing its softer side.  Soft side of bamboo: The Natural Living comforter, voted best new ‘eco-friendly’ product by a textiles trade group, is covered in bamboo and stuffed with a fiberfill material that’s 100 percent renewable annually. Image courtesy Pacific Coast Feather It seems a little counterintuitive. The grass heralded as the best replacement for traditional hard woods is now the fiber of choice of designers who want the softest sheets, towels and fabrics. The adaptable bamboo plant is sprouting up all through the house: as a material in sheets and towels, a design theme in decorative accessories and as a graphic theme on fabric. “This is really the emerging trend,” says Ali Barone, a former member of the design team on TLC’s “While You Were Out,” and owner of Ali Barone Creations, the New York-based interior design firm. “It is a fiber that is really soft and has a pretty sheen like cashmere or Egyptian cotton.” A bonus, Barone says, is that bamboo is naturally antimicrobial, making it a “great choice for linens, throws on the living room couch. A lot of people don’t realize how many germs those throws collect, with dogs and kids and everyone who comes into the house touching them.” Bedding for babies and towels for yoga practice and post-workouts also are naturals for taking advantage of the ready-made germ-fighting properties. Bamboo used to be an eco-friendly-only product. The bamboo plant reaches maturity in approximately four years, compared with as many as 70 years for a more traditional tree. Cut it down and it grows back quickly. Environmentalists like its low impact on the planet. Unlike other eco-friendly fibers, bamboo doesn’t necessarily have a distinctive “crunchy” look as does hemp, another quick-renewing natural fiber. And bamboo is versatile enough to work with any number of different styles, so designers like it, too. It is this factor that experts say will keep it from becoming trendy or dated in a few years.  Fluffy woven bamboo towels. Image courtesy CB2 So, bamboo is here to stay. It is now part of a more than $80 billion “ecological lifestyles” marketplace, estimates Colette Chandler, president of The Marketing Insider consulting firm in Westerville, Ohio. “As companies realize the existence of this consumer and that they have to do their part to be environmentally responsible, they start producing more environmentally friendly products using resources such as bamboo.” That means more mainstream companies are turning to bamboo (there are more than 1,400 species of the grass, according to researchers at Iowa State University), and that means these products are easier for you to find. From Target to Bed, Bath and Beyond to Lands End, and even Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, bamboo goods can be on your shopping list without making an extra trip. Such accessibility has made bamboo fibers affordable, too. While there are some luxury and high-end goods, many are priced for an everyday indulgence. Among the interesting applications for bamboo: • Baby wear includes fluffy hooded towels, baby blankets and washcloths. Soft and antibacterial, they’re a perfect complement to a healthy baby’s room.  Eco chic: Textured woven bamboo shades are made with reeds and grasses. Image courtesy Hunter Douglas • Bamboo wall coverings range from finely woven reed coverings that give a sophisticated texture to a room to chunky bricks of mature bamboo canes that evoke the rustic feel of a tropical hut. Maya Romanoff, sold through interior designers and other professionals, offers a persimmon bamboo wall covering worth hiring a professional for. • Woven room shades have long been popular as a casual window treatment. These days, bamboo has gone distinctly upmarket. In the innovative Provenance woven wood collection from Hunger Douglas, bamboo appears along with with bark, reeds, wood slats and grasses. • Yoga gear is popping up everywhere: high-end lines of yoga towels and bathrobes of natural, organic bamboo fiber and organic cotton, which makes them extra soft and absorbent (they say they are twice as absorbent as regular cotton with antibacterial and deodorizing properties, in part because the spaces between each fiver are smaller). • Some bamboo bedding products are 100-percent bamboo fiber, others a blend of bamboo and cotton and other fibers. Macy’s Hotel Collection Cashmere Blend Sheets, new this year, are a blend of bamboo, cotton and cashmere and designed to make you think you are sleeping in a five-star hotel, even at home. Experts suggest that bamboo bedding fares better in cold-water wash than hot, so you’ll save on your heating and water bills on top of all the other benefits of these new fabrics. With advantages like that, you might not even feel guilty about lounging in bed half the day. Zen Master: Bamboo Sprouts All Over  Image courtesy Belvedere It isn’t just the feel of bamboo fiber that has designers going crazy. Bamboo is popping up all over town as a graphic design and sculptural element throughout home furnishings. “The motif of bamboo, with its graceful shoots and leaves, has always been synonymous with relaxation. It gives a Zen, relaxing environment to a room,” says designer Ali Barone. Look for larger-than-life bamboo shoots printed on bedspreads, sheets and decorative pillows, and bamboo cane (and look-alikes in metal) used for furniture. Faucet-maker Moen has a line of sink and bath faucets and towel racks sculpted to look like canes of bamboo. Bamboo is a staple for furniture maker Palecek, Richmond, Calif., known for its handcrafted look and eco-aware furniture and accessories. The curvey, sophisticated pieces from furniture group Belvedere, right, are carved to look like bamboo – but they’re made from a renewable wood, and aren’t bamboo at all. |
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