Grass is Greener
Julia Washbourne set up Bamboa to promote environmentally friendly bamboo products.
Julia Washbourne discovered the many uses of bamboo, working as a merchandise manager in Hong Kong for a German company. “There were so many bamboo products we were selling; clothes, socks and towels. I didn’t know you could make fabric, and many other different products out of bamboo. I became fascinated, that I did lots of research about bamboo and found what a wonderful, plentiful resource it was.”
Her findings inspired her to set up her own houseware product business devoted entirely to bamboo. “I thought that if I have to sell something, then I want to sell something that’s good for our nature.”
In 2006, Ms Washbourne set up Bamboa, which exports primarily to the European market, including supplying houseware products to department stores and supermarket chains in France, Germany and Spain. She says demand for products made out of bamboo is growing in Europe as consumer preference shifts towards green products.
Targeting the high-end sector, Bamboa products are sold in select locations in Hong Kong, including Lane Crawford. Bamboa also produces a spa range for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Exhibiting at last week’s HKTDC Hong Kong Houseware Fair, Ms Washbourne says she’s keen to further expand into the Asian market. “This is my first show, where I hope to meet buyers from Japan and Singapore.”
Bamboo is Best
Ms Washbourne is a firm believer in the product she sells. “What I’m doing is nothing new, except for the fact that I’m re-introducing bamboo as an amazing resource.
“The more I learned about bamboo, the more focused I was in making it my mission to educate people about this resource, to make us realise that we don’t have to exploit our resources, like using timber for flooring,” Ms Washbourne says. “We can use bamboo flooring in decking. We can use our resource in a way that you don’t have to exploit them or use toxic chemicals to produce plastic.”
She points out that bamboo is good for the environment in many ways: bamboo, which is actually a type of grass, releases 35 per cent more oxygen than trees.
It’s also a highly renewable resource because it’s the world’s fastest growing plant, growing up to a metre within 24 hours, and maturing in a span of only three months.
There are 40 million hectares of bamboo forests in the world, 40 per cent of which are in Asia. Ms Washbourne says it’s also a greener option because, unlike cotton, bamboo doesn’t need pesticides or much water to thrive. She says it has taken longer for bamboo to catch on because it’s comparatively more costly than cotton, and takes longer to process. But that’s changing, thanks to a growing appetite worldwide for environmentally friendly products.
Bamboa launched a new product range at the Houseware Fair. Its Biotech line is made out of bamboo fibre, which is shredded and compressed into molds. “It’s dishwasher-safe and unbreakable like plastic,” Ms Washbourne says. But unlike plastic, “its completely biodegradable. So if you throw it away, after three months it’s disintegrated.”
Helping Local Communities
A new range of Bamboa products, Bio Tech, offers a more environmentally friendly option to plastic tableware
Bamboa products are designed in-house and produced in Zhejiang Province on the Chinese mainland, where bamboo is sourced. “We use the leftover material taken from bamboo factories, then they process it into flour and compress into these moulds,” she says.
The more traditional handcrafted products, however, are made in Vietnam, where she says it takes about a week to make one bowl. Bamboa works with a cooperative of 8,000 households in Vietnam villages, where they are picked up by a factory that applies lacquer and puts on the finishing touches.
Hong Kong Base
According to Ms Washbourne, choosing Hong Kong as a place to base her business was no accident. “I’m so much closer to where bamboo is made,” she says. “I’m very close to China, where I go at least twice a month. But also, it’s because I love Hong Kong. It’s an amazing place.” She also cites the city’s efficiency, noting that it took her one week to set up her company, instead of six months if she had opened in Europe.
Ms Washbourne spreads the message about the benefits of bamboo at Rotary clubs and architectural groups. She says she also plans to designate proceeds towards growing more bamboo plants.
Her long-term dream is to eventually open retail stores in major cities selling contemporary bamboo homeware. “It’s a chance to educate people. It would serve as a kind of a museum to tell them about bamboo, to bring bamboo products closer to the people.”
http://www.hktdc.com/info/vp/a/hke/en/1/1/1/1X07F25P/Grass-Is-Greener.htmAbout Bamboa:
http://www.bamboa.asia/---
道德消費帶動環保產品需求-塑造綠色生活新品味 (April 28, 2011)
越來越多消費者著重道德消費，選擇願意肩負社會責任的品牌。這股趨勢不但影響企業生產流程，對產品設計和包裝亦帶來改變。香港貿易發展局早前在香港家庭用品展期間，舉行「環保家居用品之市場潛力與綠色生產」研討會，探討道德消費概念為產品製作帶來甚麼新思維。
由香港貿發局主辦的香港家庭用品展，於4月20至23日假香港會議展覽中心舉行。展覽至今年已踏入第26屆，吸引超過2,000家來自33個國家及地區的參展商，展示多款創新的裝飾擺設、廚房餐具、浴室用具、寵物用品等。因應全球消費潮流，今屆展覽新增「綠色居庭」展區，展示各式各樣專為家居和往宅大廈而設的環保產品，如可生物分解的垃圾袋、竹製碗碟等，以滿足市場對綠色產品和方案越來越殷切的需求。
「綠色居庭」更特設一個以「永續創意」為題的展示區，展示香港浸會大學學生設計的環保家品外，亦包括一系列由專業設計師以展覽場地的布置物料再造而成的家具，創意與時尚兼備。
大會於展覽期間安排多項交流活動，包括多場研討會，探討最新的安全指引，行業發展趨勢及環保家庭用品的市場潛力。在關於環保家庭用品的研討會上，英國創意廚具製造商Lakeland Limited總裁Martin Rayner表示，環保家居用品在世界各地的發展情況不同，如英國近年受經濟下挫影響，道德消費市場的整體增長放緩，但環保產品的發展仍然穩健，消費者對綠色家居產品的開支緩緩增長，而綠色車輛的銷量更顯著上升。
Martin Rayner續說：「在英國，由個體、小企業和社區組成的小眾一代（micro-generation）日漸增加，他們熱愛環保，對綠色產品的需求越來越大。在美國，消費者近年對環保的清潔用品的需求亦錄得明顯升幅，有調查指升幅高達176%。」
Martin Rayner續指，在保護環境以外，耐用和可多次使用亦是綠色產品的設計方向。另外，節能用品亦是熱門產品，如太陽能戶外照明、風力驅動照明用品等。此外，歐美人士喜歡園藝，所以他們會購買家用廚餘處理系統，把廚餘分解成自家製肥料，用來種植。
玻璃製家品製造商海域家居有限公司執行董事楊仁表示，玻璃採用可循環再造的silicate sand製造，本身已是環保產品。楊仁亦從環保包裝方面著眼，例如以呈波浪的紙皮取代泡泡膠紙包裝玻璃用品。他又以海域家居為例，指該公司與內地大學合作，研究適合玻璃冷卻的溫度和時間控制，令玻璃的生產過程達到節能效果。雖然研發開支提高，但供應商和消費者對這類環保產品的反應很好。另一方面，該公司在建廠時也顧及環保的需要，安裝循環水冷系統，令廢水可循環再用。
為了呼應道德消費的趨勢，海域家居亦堅持履行員工和社會責任，包括向員工進行家訪關心員工生活、僱用住在工廠附近的員工，減少他們使用汽車上班，並推出學徒培訓計劃和僱用傷健人士。
家品展的香港參展商Green & Associates的家品，利用雞蛋、啤酒、牛奶等生產過程的有機副產品製造，加上環保設計，讓綠色概念融入生活。
香港理工大學與濱海集團合辦「環保家居產品設計項目」，在家品展展示多款環保家居產品。理工大學常務及學務副校長陳正豪教授指出，參展一方面可以在這項大型展覽展示學 生的創意和實力，另一方面亦可培養學生在市場策劃和推廣的能力。
家品展的香港參展商BAMBOA，力推用竹製成的家品。該公司指竹不但比樹釋放多35%的氧氣，它的生長速度更比一般樹快好幾倍，是一種新興的物料。
http://www.hktdc.com/info/mi/a/hkthkc/tc/1X07FJTM/1/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E8%B2%BF%E7%99%BC%E5%B1%80%E5%91%A8%E8%A8%8A-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%89%88/%E9%81%93%E5%BE%B7%E6%B6%88%E8%B2%BB%E5%B8%B6%E5%8B%95%E7%92%B0%E4%BF%9D%E7%94%A2%E5%93%81%E9%9C%80%E6%B1%82.htm#---
Related Links:
Homing In On Green (Video Clip)
http://www.hktdc.com/info/webcast/v/en/en/1X04AYBV/Homing-In-On-Green.htmChina: Recycling is Rolling Forward in 55 Cities
http://www.hktdc.com/info/mi/a/cbn/en/1X07FCT7/1/China-Business-News/Recycling-Is-Rolling-Forward-In-55-Cities.htm#
