The form of the double seated couch design is somewhere between a chair and a bed. The structural elements of its design are no longer massive pieces of raw natural material instead it utilizes the idea of a slender, tensile, structural system that is made possible by the lamination of the bamboo. The use of a cushion and roll pillow provides comfort, adaptability and convenience for the user.

The coffee table was designed to accompany the couch, constructed in such a way as to make the top of the coffee table level with the seat cushions of the couch. The shape of the laminated bamboo support system and the use of the glass top express the design idea of transforming traditional natural materials and combining them with modern materials to display a new idea for contemporary Javanese style.

The concept of this room divider was to assist in the division of rooms that have limited space such as in modern apartment living areas. The slatted design of the room divider was chosen to provide a sense of privacy while maintaining a level of transparency so as to avoid the sense of isolation between the divided areas of the living space. The “s” design shape of the room divider gives the form a degree of fluidity and expresses the flexible character of bamboo.

Experimentations in RMIT Workshop

These investigations culminated in the design and prototyping of a coffee table that was developed to employ all the processes that had been explored in the RMIT workshop. The process involved the design development from sketches to computer modelling using graphic design software, then the making of small scale models by using the laser cutting machines to cut three millimetre MDF, and finally the prototyping of the object using specific woodworking equipment in the RMIT workshop to machine and laminate the bamboo.

Traditional Bamboo basket and furniture

Bamboo stalks are elastic and flexible but these characteristics are limited due to the weaknesses of the internodes. The internodes are where the bamboo’s branches are positioned on the stalks which are weaker than the main part of the stalks and thus are prone to breakage if over bent. Woven bamboo product artisans use a method of cutting and splitting the bamboo which avoids the nodes; this ensures that the bamboo is more flexible for bending into curved shapes. While the basket weavers craft is quite advanced, traditional bamboo furniture artisans tend to use only the solid and complete stalks of the plant to make furniture items. This technique has been transferred from generation to generation without any significant development in their design.

Bamboo as material properties.2

Dendrocalamus asper whose stalk consists of a hollow tube with an external diameter of 1.5 centimetres and overall diameter of twenty centimetres with intervals of forty to sixty centimetres between the nodes is capable of growing up to twenty to thirty meters. Gigantochloa apus that has a longer gap between the nodes, a larger diameter and is more elastic has straighter poles and is easier to split which makes it suitable for making furniture.

Bamboo as material properties.1

There are only few varieties of bamboo that can be developed as a suitable material for furniture and interior artefacts. Some bamboo species are used for design of furniture because of the attractiveness of their stalk’s exterior such as Gigantochloa atroviolacea (black bamboo) and Bambusa maculata (spotted bamboo).