Star Bamboo Singapore

Got a sms from Olivia of Green Drinks that we’re in this month’s Tatler. The interview was done in April, so it had totally slipped my mind.

Singapore Tatler is a high society magazine, which I only read while in my dentist’s waiting room.

So when I had to actually buy it, I searched high and low for it. It’s not available in the magazine racks at the petrol stations, nor could I find it in Popular and Times Bookstores.

Finally I managed to buy a copy of the June 2009 issue from a magazine kiosk in IMM.

Tatler comes in many editions. Make sure you get the right issue, it’s the one with Nadya on the front page. This issue’s focus is on the environment, and here’s our article:

[Update on 26 Jun: Click here for full-sized image]

We’ve got a full-page photo of one of our bamboo flooring projects. This is our Carbonised Horizontal bamboo flooring.

Just a short quote from my interview: ” We get feedback from customers all the time that they would have chosen bamboo flooring if they had known of such an eco-friendly product.”

All too true.

The main feature is “Earth Angels”, highlighting four celebrities who are doing their part to save the earth.

There’s our perennial favourite eco-celeb, Nadya. Check out her new web site - Green Kampung. It’s shaping up nicely with lots of good content. She wasn’t kidding when she said she’s kicking off a series of media initiatives to drum up publicity for her web site.

There’s Howard Shaw too, who’s the executive director of Singapore Environment Council (SEC). SEC is the body that gives us our Green Label certification. SEC’s recent charity screening of “Home” was held at Shaw Lido, so I’m guessing that he’s related to Shaw Cinemas.

Claire Chiang is up next. Together with Ho Kwon Ping, she’s one half of the husband-and-wife team behind the Banyan Tree Resorts. Running a successful chain of resorts means she has the chance to actively practise what she preaches for the environment, and the Banyan Tree group is well-known for their environmental efforts.

The last Angel is Audrey Tay of the Hour Glass family. I’m actually not too familiar with her eco-efforts, but apparently she’s a regular in fund-raisers for groups such as SEC and the Save Our Planet Foundation.

The articles are well worth a read. As a bonus, there are lots of photos of beautiful people too.

So pick up your copy today!

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By far, the most popular post on this blog is “Bamboo flooring that fits any budget“. As of today, it has garnered over 60 comments and the greatest number of page views.

Rather surprising considering that the post was written over 2 years ago, and buried deep within the blog.

In the article, I discussed how the perceived high cost of bamboo flooring shouldn’t deter customers because it is surprisingly affordable. In fact, it is similar in pricing to some laminate flooring.

As a result, we have received many enquires from customers expecting to get good quality long strip bamboo flooring at laminate flooring prices.

I have to clarify here that each type of flooring can differ widely in quality and prices. If we compare high quality laminate flooring with some of our special discount bamboo flooring, then the difference is minor.

However, most customers going for laminate flooring is choosing it precisely because it’s cheap. So they would select the lower-end range instead.

Bamboo flooring is an eco-friendly alternative to long strip hardwood flooring, and should be compared against them. Even parquet floor (using small pieces of wood flooring) is one class below.

Bamboo flooring might be more expensive than most laminate flooring. But what we should be asking is:

Does bamboo flooring offer better value than laminate flooring?

Definitely yes.

Laminate flooring tends to look tired and worn after a couple of years, especially the budget range. Being a plastic composite product, it cannot be re-sanded. The only option is to replace the entire floor.

Bamboo flooring, on the other hand, is hard and durable (some 20% harder than teak flooring). It is designed to last a lifetime.

You can even re-sand it 3-4 times, and get a brand new floor each time. The cost of re-sanding is just a fraction of getting a new laminate floor.

Take a longer perspective, and you’ll see just why bamboo flooring offers such excellent value.

And one thing is for sure, bamboo flooring looks much more natural and elegant than laminate flooring:

Apartment bedroom (South Korea)

Office reception area (Singapore)

So just give us a ring at 65659217 if you want to have such beautiful and eco-friendly floors in your home or office!

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Saw on yesterday’s news that 2 Singapore companies are reprimanded for misusing the Singapore Environment Council’s (SEC) Green Label logo. They inserted the logo on their products when they were not certified.

Green Label Singapore is “a voluntary accreditation for environmentally-friendly products by SEC”.

The Today newspaper report has more details on the case. I couldn’t find the article on the Todayonline web site, here is a scan below:

 The Green Label Singapore programme was started in 1999, and this is the first known case of misuse. It means that awareness of Green Label has reached a critical mass. Consumers are now making their influence felt by requesting for Green Label products.

Use of the logo must always be accompanied by an identification number.

At Star Bamboo, our bamboo flooring has been accredited since 2006. The Green Label Singapore logo appears on all our marketing material, along with our ID number 035-004.

We are certified not just because bamboo is a rapidly renewable material (that would mean ALL bamboo flooring is eco-friendly, which is obviously not the case).

At Star Bamboo, we take a holistic approach beginning with responsible sourcing of raw materials, use of low/zero-emission chemicals in our production, careful disposal and recycling of waste materials, and also proper welfare for our workers. The entire production is audited twice-yearly by a German company.

Green Label Singapore has been officially recognised under Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark programme since Jan 2008. Developers are now approaching Star Bamboo for our bamboo flooring, as it is a certified eco-friendly product and eligible for Green Mark points.

With a growing demand for eco-friendly products, it is no wonder some companies are taking a shortcut to tap into this market.

So be aware, and make the right choice!

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The 5th of June has been designated as World Environment Day.

In Singapore, we have the Eco Action Day 2009. So the emphasis is on the simple and concrete steps you can take to help the environment.

Star Bamboo has participated in past years, so I’m helping the organisers to publicise the event:

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Hello everyone!

This blog has been quiet recently and for good reason. We have been busy preparing for an overseas trade show. I just came back to Singapore over the weekend, and have been sorting out the name cards and photos.

Star Bamboo participated in the 11th Cross-Straits Fair for Economy and Trade from 18 to 22 May at the Chinese city of Fuzhou:

As you can guess from its name, the fair is aimed at promoting trade between China and Taiwan. The Taiwanese delegation is the biggest and took up two halls out of five.

For the first time, the Singapore pavilion took up an entire hall too, and named it the “Uniquely Singapore Brands Fair”:

This is a general fair, so we had a mix of companies from different industries. We ended up between companies selling resort stays, metal pipes, office furniture, and health supplements. Strangely enough, Star Bamboo was categorised under the Lifestyle section.

This time we are showcasing not just our bamboo flooring, but also our bamboo household products and kitchenware. So I suppose the tag just about fits:

We brought along our bamboo boxes, bamboo namecard holders, bamboo chopping boards, bamboo knife holders, bamboo cutlery, bamboo trays etc. All made from 100% bamboo!

The response from the visitors was overwhelming, with many requests to purchase the items on display. Unfortunately most of them were not for sale as we only brought along one item of each kind:

The first couple of days were busier, thanks to the intense media attention to the event. Early on the first day, I could see reporters and television crew prowling the halls for stories:

One enterprising Singapore company boss shared with me over dinner how he got free publicity.

He marched up to a reporter, and simply said “Go over to that booth, got something that nobody else has!”. When the reporter took the bait and went over later, she initially missed the booth because it was so small and inconspicuous. The boss had to wave his arms and shout “Over here!”. Being interviewed on camera then caught the attention of other reporters, who went over to check out what the fuss was about.

In the end, he managed to get 3 television interviews and one article in the newspapers.

There is a colourful Chinese saying “会哭的宝宝有奶喝”, which translates to “The crying baby gets the milk”. How true indeed.

But most of the media glare was on the VIPs on stage. You can see the masses of reporters from various television stations gathered below for the opening ceremony (I’ve lost count of how many CCTV channels there are in China):

The event was graced by Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Manpower:

SMa is one of the co-organisers for the Singapore Pavilion, along with Singapore’s Consulate-General in Xiamen. The Consul-General is the lady in the photo, Ms Tee Bee Lock. We just call her CG:

After the speeches was the customary walk-about by the VIPs. Here they are passing by our booth:

Before they have the chance to move on, I quickly inserted myself in front of the Minister, shook his hand, and rattled off a short introduction of our company and products.

His first comment was that I look young (thank you!), followed by how innovative and beautiful our eco-friendly bamboo products are.

On the 3rd day of the show when things have quietened down, CG and Mr Poh Choon Ann came by our booth again. Mr Poh is SMa’s Vice President and Chairman of SMa’s China Business Committee, as well as the mission leader. He is also the Chairman and CEO of Poh Tiong Choon Logistics Ltd, a well-known company listed on the Singapore Exchange:

Two of our bamboo products (a bamboo tissue box holder and bamboo box) have caught CG’s eye the other day, and she wanted to buy them before they get snapped up.

I offered to give it to her but she insisted on paying for them. So I simply made up a nominal rate for her.

I also had ample time and opportunity to talk to the other Singapore companies, and learn from their business experiences in China. I’ve been going to China regularly for a few years now, and this is the first time I recall fitting in so quickly.

There was no longer the sense of culture shock. Many things are done differently here, but I am no longer astonished at them.

Interacting with the Chinese employees of Singapore companies after the show closes at 5pm also gave me a different perspective.

China is just so big and full of surprises.

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Nadya has launched her new eco web site Green Kampung!

Actually the web site has been live since last year, but it has undergone a recent facelift.

And we’re honoured to be one of the first companies to be featured:

It’s early days yet, but I’m sure she has a whole list of exciting initiatives all lined up.

So go check it out today at www.greenkampung.com!

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Earth Hour is here again.

It’s organised by World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) to promote greater awareness on climate change.

All you have to do is to switch off your lights for an hour at 830pm (wherever you are) on 28 March.

You simply can’t miss it this year, it’s splashed all across our Singapore mass media:

TodayOnline

A dark, green, snowball effect: 300 companies, and counting, to switch off their lights

Earth Hour = Happy Hour

Get officially involved

Electric New Paper

Lights out for a good cause

Straits Times (subscription required)

Earth Hour set to be bigger here this year

Highlights of this year’s Earth Hour

Lianhe Zaobao (Mandarin)

这个星期六　让我们熄灯一小时 (Let’s switch off the lights for an hour this Saturday)

The big difference this year is the enthusiastic participation of companies. At last count on the Earth Hour web site, there’re over 530 participating organisations.

(Star Bamboo would have been a participant, the only problem is that we’re already closed on Saturdays. So how do we join in? I would have preferred it to be on a Friday.)

Anyway that’s definitely a big increase over the number of participants last year, which I recall had a rather muted response. In fact, Earth Hour 2008 was so unmemorable for me I almost confused it with Live Earth 2007!

I’ll end with a video message from our very own eco-celebrity, Nadya Hutagalung, who’s leading by example in building her eco-house.

(I’m having trouble embedding the Youtube video, you can check it out here instead.)

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Hi everyone, it’s been a while since a proper update.

Here at Star Bamboo, we’ve been busy expanding and training a team of bamboo flooring advisors in the past few months. Despite the current economic climate, I do believe there is in fact, a growing market for eco-friendly products.

If you’re a fan of interior design magazines, you might notice that Star Bamboo has been prominently featured in recent issues (go check out our media section).

Mind you, these aren’t paid advertisements. They’re specially selected by the editors for a free write-up.

I thought it’d be interesting to tell you some of the behind-the-scenes effort that went into these projects.

Let’s take a look at the Oasis Sep 08 issue today.

Oasis Magazine (Sep 2008)

“Sustainability in Singapore: Plans for this little green dot”

This issue featured 3 photographs from our South Korea projects. These are model showrooms of a residential development project we did.

Star Bamboo was first established in 2001, and from the very beginning, we targeted the export market. South Korea has always been one of our major markets.

The market has wide acceptance of bamboo flooring, and customers loved the designs and eco-friendly properties.

Our bamboo flooring has been specially adapted for the cold Korean winters. The apartments are fitted with underfloor heating systems using hot water pipes.

This means our flooring has to withstand the huge pressures that come from contrasting temperatures: cold on top, hot at the bottom.

It is also thinner than usual, being 12mm thick instead of our standard 15mm. This allows the heat to transmit efficiently and bring the temperature up to a comfortable level quickly.

The design you see are that of the Carbonised Horizontal design. The Carbonised colour is similar to popular hardwoods such as oak, while the Horizontal pattern shows off the distinctive bamboo design. No wonder it is so popular in South Korea.

Do check out the other choices available, and I’ll share with you more stories from our featured projects soon.

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Last week I saw a trailer clip on CNN about an eco-story on bamboo, and found this short video on their web site:

It’s an interview with Linda Garland, the founder of the Environmental Bamboo Foundation (EBF). EBF is a non-profit organisation based in Bali dedicated to promoting bamboo as the ideal solution to the twin problems of over-population and dwindling resources.

Some fascinating quotes on bamboo from the video:

“… being the fastest growing plant in the world, is also the fastest absorber of carbon dioxide.”

“… building material of the future.”

“.. bamboo is the ‘Gurkha’ of the plant kingdom (because it’s so strong).”

The video is only 3 minutes long, and well worth a look. Check out the embedded video above!

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Yes this is the one word that all bargain-loving Singaporeans should have in their vocabulary:

Eco-Sale!

Now you can enjoy the beauty and luxury of our eco-friendly bamboo flooring at prices never seen before.

Wouldn’t you want to have a lovely bamboo floor like this in your home:

Enjoy the natural look and feel of hardwood without harming a single tree.

We are now offering hefty discounts off our Singapore stocks. You will be pleasantly surprised at how affordable they are.

We have limited stocks of each type of bamboo flooring, so give us a ring at 65659217 now to avoid disappointment!

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