When it comes to interior design, the word “sustainable” is inevitably linked with bamboo. Unlike trees it grows like crazy and is considered a very renewable resource. If harvested from the right places, bamboo is a dream material for the environmentalist homeowner. It is well known as alternative to hard wood, especially in floors, but it can be used for so much more than that.
Bamboo Lifestyles on Hawthorne Blvd. started as a bamboo flooring company and expanded from there to carry a number of sustainable products. If itβs not made of bamboo itβs made of another sustainable grass-related plant, such as coconut or certain reeds. But sustainability is one of three criteria that Bamboo Lifestyles uses to select its products. Items must also be organic and fair trade.
So what can you find made out of sustainable bamboo and other grass-like products? Hereβs an incomplete list of what Bamboo Lifestyles offers: bamboo hardwood floors (of course), bamboo yarn, birdcages, bowls, dishes, benches, baskets, window treatments, paper screens, nightstands, and handbags. Bamboo Lifestyles also has an organic bar in the store selling coffee, tea, and juices. Apparently customers enjoy the atmosphere so much, they want to linger a while.
3321 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
(503) 227-7521
[...] I’m feeling under the weather again and as we can look outside and see, the weather is quite above us all. I’m not going out to explore Portland for us today. Instead, I thought I’d do a little follow-up on the bamboo craze. In the interests of being fair and balanced I thought I would make a link to an article at treehugger.com doing a little pooh-poohing of bamboo. Some major points include: -Most bamboo is imported from China. There is no good local source. -Although, Bamboo Lifestyles assures us that its products are fair trade, there is no official fair trade certification. -Some of the processes used to manufacture bamboo flooring are very toxic. Yesterday, when I talked to the staff at Bamboo Lifestyles, they said that most well-meaning consumers don’t know this. They assured me that their products are manufactured with as little toxicity as possible. -Bamboo is not necessarily harvested in the most sustainable way. As with farming in general, bamboo crops may be replacing naturally forested areas. [...]