About Us
US Bamboo
Our Mission
Bamboo Revolution is a collective of innovators, designers, product developers, and craftsmen who know that bamboo has unlimited potential to enhance our natural environment and create a better-built world.Bamboo Revolution’s mission is to deliver a revolution. Our approach and structure is based in the philosophy of holism; thus, the company must be considered as a whole rather than as a sum of its individual parts. We seek to inspire radical change in business practices and offer solutions to the global environmental crisis through leading by example. A revolution does not occur with a new color of flooring or a nifty storage box. The transformation will be achieved by understanding the material literally from the soil to the finished product and every step in between. It will only be realized through hard work, by pushing the boundaries, and by sometimes failing and starting over again. The process cannot be simplified; the journey is the revolution.
Highest Quality Bamboo Products
Since we are a direct manufacturer, we are able to set high standards for our products. Many factories and agents that offer cheaper pricing often provide 1 side A grade 1 side B grade color matching. Unfortunately, many suppliers do not make their clients aware of this, resulting in industry buyer’s apprehension towards bamboo products as a whole. In a direct response to this situation, we are developing a very specific grading system. It will include slat width tolerances, color matching of both slats within a sheet and color matching between whole sheets. We will guarantee color matching between veneers and panels, and provide our clients with a detailed explanation of our true grading system. This is common in the wood products industry and we intend to make it standard policy for the bamboo industry as well.
We Are Innovators
Bamboo Revolution is the first company to begin growing and harvesting timber bamboo in the U.S. We currently have 3 acres of Moso bamboo propagated locally. Our goal is to reinvigorate the timber industry in Oregon. We are continually developing new and exciting bamboo products. We the only U.S. supplier of bamboo veneer with seamless lengths up to 121”. We also are the only manufacturer that utilizes the newly patented TAP & GO® technology in strand woven solid floating floors. TAP & GO® employs glueless locking technology for a stronger, more precise locking capability making it indistinguishable from standard tongue-and-groove flooring. This product is easy to install, great for radiant heat systems, and is perfect for basement applications.
We Are Bamboo Experts
Bamboo Revolution staffs a full design/build team with extensive experience working with bamboo building materials. We work with both commercial and residential clients on all types of custom jobs. Because of this hands-on experience, our experts can offer production techniques and finishing advice no matter the size of your project.
The Revolution Has Just Begun
Bamboo Revolution is working to become the first United States company to begin domestic production of bamboo materials, with the goal of beginning full-scale production by 2024.
An Ambitious Plot
Currently, all bamboo building materials available in the U.S. are imported from Asia. In an effort to reduce the carbon footprint and to create stateside jobs, Bamboo Revolution is working to become the first American company to grow, harvest, and manufacture bamboo building materials. To make this a reality, we plan to establish an extensive infrastructure of timber bamboo that can be used to propagate vast tracks of land in cooperation with landowners in both Oregon and the Southeastern U.S.
Laying the Foundation
Over the past two years, Bamboo Revolution built a relationship with Andy Ringle of Avery Island, louisiana home of Tabasco® pepper sauce. His family holds a lease on one of the oldest timber bamboo groves in America. Planted in 1910 by former Tabasco president E. A. McIlhenny, in cooperation with the USDA, this grove represented an initial step toward the establishment of a bamboo industry in the United States. However, with McIlhenny’s death in 1949 this potential remained largely unrealized, and many of the bamboo groves that McIlhenny planted on Avery Island were left unmanaged and fell into neglect.
In October 2009, 10 Bamboo Revolution employees and Dain Sansome, owner of Bamboo Valley, traveled to Louisiana to help restore the bamboo groves. In return, they received permission to transplant live plants to Oregon.
Upon its transport to Oregon, the bamboo was planted on Bamboo Revolution’s cooperative farm with Bamboo Valley, an established bamboo farm in Albany, Ore. The plants have begun shooting new growth, and will multiply extremely quickly. In Spring 2011, a second load of bamboo was transported from Avery Island to Albany, doubling the size of the grove.
Why Its So Important Now
Since it is such a beautiful and sustainable building product, the popularity of bamboo in the U.S. has exploded over the past decade. The surface has only been scratched in terms of utilizing bamboo, and as traditional woods become less available and more expensive, the demand for manufactured bamboo will increase exponentially. Developing a bamboo industry within the United States will lower the carbon footprint by reducing the distance the materials are transported, and jobs will be created for industries hit hard by the changing economy.
As federal regulations tightened in the timber industry, Oregon’s rural communities have been drastically affected. Sixteen percent of mills in Oregon have closed. Oregon’s unemployment rate is currently about 12 percent, one of highest rates in the country. However, creating a bamboo industry in Oregon can help revitalize this hard-hit industry.
Bamboo farming and harvesting is a laborious task, and will create many jobs. A bamboo forest is selectively harvested each year. Each year’s harvest comes from the same place as before, creating an endless cycle of growth, but one that must be carefully managed to optimize production. Aside from the equipment used to split the bamboo culms into strips, bamboo materials utilize the same machinery as the wood products industry, allowing existing but out-of-use machinery to be put back to work.
Our goal is to help reinvigorate the timber industry in Oregon as well as create new ones. Since bamboo grows so rapidly, it is an ideal, locally grown, alternative to many other materials.