Star Bamboo Singapore

The new BCA Gallery was officially launched last Friday, and Star Bamboo is honoured to be part of the exhibition.

As reported in Straits Times newspaper last Saturday, the new gallery is a showcase of the development of Singapore’s built environment:

I had a brief tour of the gallery a month back when it was still under construction. I haven’t had a chance to visit it since its official launch, I’ll take a couple of photos the next time I go.

The Gallery is sub-divided into three zones and the most interesting one is definitely the one with the latest eco-friendly building technologies.

Star Bamboo’s eco-friendly bamboo flooring is one of the exhibits there, do check it out the next time you’re there!

For more information on BCA gallery, check out their web site.

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This month’s issue of Female Magazine had a short article about local celebrity Nadya Hutagalung’s eco house project:

I had the pleasure of meeting Nadya last week as she wanted to find out more about our eco-friendly bamboo flooring.

Yes she is indeed gorgeous in person, and positively glowing in her pregnancy.

Blame the noisy acoustics at the cafe, it was only upon reading this article that I realised how far she wanted to go with her eco-house project - do read the article for more details.

Just to highlight 3 of my favourite bits:

1. Use of eco-friendly materials

When the media highlights eco-friendly developments, it usually focuses on energy and water-saving systems. That’s a good thing of course, but people have neglected to add eco-friendly building materials into the equation.

Nadya will be using recycled, renewable, sustainable and even low-VOC materials in her house. Rather comprehensive.

2. Rainwater catchment tank

Nadya is installing a rainwater catchment tank to collect rainwater. I’m not sure if it’ll be fully integrated into the toilet flushing system. However, that would be an expensive proposition.

Now, we have various metal barrels around the house to collect rainwater for watering the plants. Unsightly, but it gets the job done.

3. Organic look

Nadya’s house is designed to blend in with the natural environment e.g. exterior walls covered with creepers.

I agree with this whole-heartedly. Too often, houses in Singapore stick out like a sore thumb.

Being eco-conscious means being able to co-exist in harmony with the natural environment. This should extend to the design as well.

Eco-architecture should not pummel nature into submission, but rather, the two should come together in an harmonious blend.

If you’d like more information on Nadya’s eco house, check out her husband Desmond Koh’s blog.

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Well, I still can’t help fixing it.

The old contact form was working OK, but I felt it could deal with the re-direction “thank you” page more elegantly. It did seem a bit odd to have it as a separate page. You could access it even without having to fill in the form.

Luckily Wordpress is such a flexible and well-supported platform. After researching a few different options, I finally settled on this contact form plug-in.

Check out our spanking new contact form! And while you’re at it, do drop us a message.

And I couldn’t just stop at a simple form, I had to revamp the look of the web site as well.

Again, with Wordpress, it’s a simple matter of using an appropriate template.

I’ve settled on a simpler, 2-column layout, in response to feedback that the web site seemed too cluttered.

The colour scheme is still green, but it does seem much tidier now.

Hope you like the new look.

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It has been a busy week for Star Bamboo.

Last Wednesday I gave a lecture on bamboo flooring to 2 groups of design students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). I was invited by Kenneth, owner of Infiniti Studio who also lectures part-time there.

It’s certainly a refreshing experience for me. My usual sales presentations are delivered to individual designers/architects or very small groups. I realised that I had to deliver my content differently when faced with over 30 young people.

I decided to use loads of photos and very few words in my slides, and then tell a story revolving around each photo.

The reception seemed pretty positive. They paid enough attention to ask pertinent questions, and thankfully no one fell asleep even though it was right after lunch time.

That was my warm-up for the big presentation on Friday to Ong & Ong Architects Pte Ltd.

Even though I’m already working with Ong & Ong on a current project, the company has so many architects in various departments. So it was a great chance to create awareness of our bamboo flooring.

I’ve a soft spot for this company, because the founder of the company is not only a former President of Singapore, but we happened to be alumni of the same school.

I was a bit concerned when the conference room was still empty at the stipulated time. But thanks to the energetic efforts of the secretary, people began to troop in.

I delivered a tweaked version of the NAFA talk, and once again, the feedback was positive.

I think I could begin to enjoy this.

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The big news for car lovers in Singapore was the announcement that the Singapore Government will be reducing the annual tax on Euro IV diesel passenger cars from July 2008.

Currently, the diesel tax is four times the annual road tax of a petrol car with an equivalent engine capacity. But, from July 1 2008, the formula is changed to $1.25 per cubic cm of the car’s engine displacement.

That works out to be $2,500 for a 2,000cc car, down from $4,856 now, or a 49% cut.

The change in the diesel tax formula is probably to pre-empt a 15% reduction in road tax come July 2008. By un-pegging the diesel tax from the road tax, the Government will have greater room to manipulate the demand for diesel passenger cars.

If the intention of the tax cut is to encourage greater use of diesel vehicles, then it obviously doesn’t go far enough. Some analysts estimated that one would need to drive 70,000km per year just to offset this tax.

The signs are that the Government is waiting for Euro V vehicles to be more widely available after 2009.

I think it’s rather unfortunate. Diesel cars have lower CO2 emissions, better acceleration, and superior fuel economy. Why wait until 2010?

If pollution is a concern, then the number of old Euro II diesel commercial goods vehicles and taxis plying Singapore’s roads should be much greater cause for concern.

Once again, as with the incentives for hybrid cars, it’s a matter of “too little, too slow”.

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Hi hope you have enjoyed the Chinese New Year festivities.

The building and construction industry here is still on an extended break, with many companies re-opening later this week, but I thought I’d kick off the Year of the Rat earlier.

Came across this fascinating article which pretty much confirms what we have been witnessing: green is most definitely in, and not just a passing fad.

Thanks very much, Mr Al Gore.

The green movement gathered steam in 2006, exploded into public consciousness in 2007, and will just keep growing in 2008.

So what’re the top 3 reasons for going green?

1. Save money, especially when oil and electricity prices are hitting record highs.
2. Creating a healthier home environment, by using chemical-free or low-emission products (like our zero-formaldehyde bamboo flooring).
3. Feel good about yourself, simply because you’re doing the right thing!

Interestingly, bamboo was mentioned no less than 4 times, be it bamboo flooring, chopping boards or window blinds.

Lots more helpful tips to get you started below, do check it out.

[source: CapeCodTimes.com]

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What better way to start the year than to be featured in a interior design magazine? It certainly gets the ball rolling for the next 12 months.

Square Rooms is one of the more established interior magazines in Singapore. We’re pleased to have the chance to contribute to their feature article “Eco-chic choices that won’t cost the earth”.

This year, going eco-friendly will be the in-thing for home owners. But many people are unsure of how to take the plunge.

Check out the latest issue of Square Rooms for accessible advice on how to adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Our bamboo flooring is under the first section “Get floored”.

I love puns.

Don’t be mistaken - the photo shows samples of our bamboo flooring.

Our standard planks are much longer at about 1m, and can go up to 1.8m.

Some of the nice things they said:

“Bamboo flooring is also scratch resistant and very hard wearing, providing excellent protection from staining by spills or chemicals.”

“… using bamboo is kinder to the environment and in the long run, can be kinder on your pocket too.”

“Star Bamboo offers 100% eco-friendly bamboo flooring that gives you the natural beauty of hardwood flooring, the durability and practicality of laminates, and prices that won’t burn a hole in your pocket.”

For the full article, get Square Rooms from a news stand near you!

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Some great news to share with you: Star Bamboo just inked a substantial US dollar six-figure deal with an established distributor of handcrafted home accessories and gift-ware.

We will be producing eco-friendly bamboo chopping boards for them to be distributed via supermarkets in Germany.

Some examples of our bamboo chopping boards - see more over here

We have been expanding beyond bamboo flooring for some time now, and it’s heartening to finally see our efforts and quality recognised by a major European company.

Bamboo is such a versatile material, we have only just started scratching the surface of what is possible with it.

The hardness of bamboo makes it a logical choice for chopping boards. But did you know that bamboo also has natural anti-bacterial which helps to prevent bacterial growth? This gives great peace of mind for our users.

That is why bamboo chopping boards is superior to plastic ones. Wooden chopping boards are good too, but do we really want to be chopping down yet more trees?

OK, we’re looking forward to more good news from our Europe markets. I’ll definitely be keeping you updated.

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The Straits Times newspaper today quoted Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar citing Singapore as a shining example of balancing business and environmental interests.

Singapore has the “world’s busiest port yet the seawaters here are home to 32% of the world’s corals“.

Hmm, I never realised that our little island has a third of the world’s coral reefs.

On closer reading, the figure actually refered to the number of species. That’s still pretty impressive, as we apparently have more coral species than the Great Barrier Reef.

Great Barrier Reef. Not Singapore.

But numbers don’t tell the whole story.

The visibility in Singapore waters is appalling due to heavy sea traffic and land reclamation works. There was once I went scuba-diving at Pulau Hantu (”Ghost Island’), a small island to the south of mainland Singapore.

It was like diving in mud, I couldn’t see beyond 10cm.

I could only catch a glimpse of the corals if I press my face right next to them and keep completely still. Any movement will kick up the silt on the bed.

The few corals I could find look shrunken, pale, and nothing like the colourful and vibrant structures you see in diving magazines.

There were hardly any marine life around either. A lone clownfish was the find of the day.

–

About 14 years ago, four of the Southern islands were filled up and combined into Jurong Island which houses a huge petrochemical complex today.

I was involved in the reef rescue operation at one of the islands, Pulau Ayer Chawan, and still have the t-shirt to prove it.

A team of volunteer divers forcibly plucked up the coral reefs and brought them up in baskets. My job was simply to haul them onto the boat.

The plan was to transplant the corals at Sentosa island.

Corals are hugely sensitive organisms. As you can imagine, not many survived the traumatic experience.

Those that did last till today have another problem to contend with. Sentosa Island is now being redeveloped into a casino and theme park.

I don’t know what will happen to the corals now, but you can be sure that in Singapore, economic interests will always trump all others.

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From all of us at Star Bamboo:

Here’s wishing all our partners and readers a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2008 ahead!

Our Singapore will be closed on 25 Dec 2007 and 1 Jan 2008. Enjoy your break and see you soon.

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