Bamboobarry Journey

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:03:17 +0000

Early part of the journey began in Thailand and later Colombia where I met Joerg Stamm in Pereira Colombia on one of his bridges. This meeting would prove to be turning point in the directions on my life. Though I had been in S.E. Asia for the pat 4 months where I was exposed to much bamboo in a variety of settings and applications, I did not realize that Colombia even had indigenous bamboo or that there building techniques were in fact the world’s best. After meeting Joerg we set off a a 3 day journey through the Eje Cafeterro region of Colombia. Driving around in his Chevy flatbed truck we went many places. Never once did he consult a pay or ask for directions. It became apparent to me that this unique German had deep knowledge and experience with Colombia. He actually said to me once almost under his breath “I live in paradise”. After 14 years he had fully assimilated into this culture.

A friendship was quickly formed repeated trips back to Colombia further trip and explorations to various part of the country held my fascination. During this time I was living in Chicago not exactly a tropical place where tropical bamboo was found or used. The thought of actually starting a business never crossed my mind it was purely for my own interested or perhaps a better word would be obsession. A family illness brought me to Florida to assist and I finally agreed to relocate to Florida. Once settled in I made the decision to begin an import & distribution business focusing on bamboo building materials in April 2004.

The World Bamboo Congress http://www.worldbamboo.net/ held the world bamboo congress that year in Pereira, Colombia and since i had already spent time in this magical little city I attended the congress. During this event I was able to meet for the first time Simon Velez and Marcelo Villegas who had been instrumental in the interest via the books New Bamboo. I quickly learned that Colombia was the epicenter for modern design and construction techniques as well as clearly having the best large diameter bamboo for constriction applications.