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.