Square Rooms regularly showcases green home ideas, and we are happy to contribute yet again to their eco-friendly column.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the article, just grab a copy of the magazine for the full thing!
Eco-friendly bamboo flooring in "Square Rooms" (May 2012 issue)
Hi all,
this article in FuturArc came out last month. FuturArc is the premier green architecture magazine in Singapore.
FuturArc vol 25 cover
Less than 6 years ago, a magazine like FuturArc wouldn’t be commercially viable. The interest in eco-friendly building materials such as bamboo flooring simply wasn’t there. So much has changed since Al Gore’s Oscar-winning movie “The Inconvenient Truth”.
It’s a short feature this time, here it is for your reading pleasure:
Star Bamboo in FuturArc vol 25 (Click for full-size image)
A Sentosa Cove project we completed last April was featured in the The New York Times recently. I recognised the photos immediately from the Today article which syndicated the NY Times piece.
This project was particularly technically challenging. The architect was Guz Wilkinson, who had a strong vision of the design and it was up to us to execute it.
(NYTCREDIT: Kevin Miller for The New York Times)
The two flights of staircases were custom constructed from bamboo. We fabricated the steps at a specialist workshop, using the same bamboo material as our bamboo flooring. An added difficulty was ensuring that the steps look good from all sides (There was some design touches at the bottom, which can’t be seen from these photos).
The side barricade was clear transparent glass, creating a clever illusion of floating bamboo steps. The bamboo pieces were wrapped around internal metal steps that provided the necessary structural strength. Lastly, we finished by sanding and varnishing the bamboo steps.
Here’s another view of the house:
(NYTCREDIT: Kevin Miller for The New York Times)
You can see the staircases and bridge walkway on the left.
We also installed bamboo flooring over both the top and bottom of the bridge walkway. We did site-sanding and coating for the top surface. The bottom surface had to be installed with pre-finished bamboo flooring as there was no way of sanding it.
I had my concerns about this bridge as it was partially exposed to the elements, only protected by a half-height glass barricade. But the bamboo flooring has held up surprisingly well over the past 1.5 years, even though the house was just a stone’s throw from the ocean.
We also installed bamboo flooring for couple of bedrooms on the ground floor. That is about as eco-friendly a flooring as one could get. The rest of the rooms were simply bare limestone and epoxy-covered concrete.
All in all, a highly satisfying project.
Hi everyone, hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. I’ve gone quiet on the postings thanks to the busy holiday period, but we start 2010 with a nice little feature in Straits Times, in the Life section on 16 Jan 2010.
Got a healthy spike in web site traffic after the article appeared on Saturday. 
Here’s a screenshot of the article – “Bamboo the green pick for flooring”:
(Source: Meltwater.com)
Just to share more insights into the article with you.
Star Bamboo was the first bamboo flooring specialist company in Singapore when we started operations in 2005. About a year after us, the first competitor appeared and the market has since expanded to about 4 players now.
It’s a relatively small market in Singapore, which is why our focus is still on the European markets. But it’s growing rapidly by the day.
The photo is of a residential project we completed in 2009, a bungalow in the East area of Singapore. Using our Carbonised Vertical bamboo flooring, we constructed a platform in the living room. It’s right next to the entrance, greeting the guests as they step into the house.
After all, first impressions do count.
So if you’d like to find out more about our award-winning, eco-friendly bamboo flooring, and what we can do for your home or office, just give us a buzz at 6565 9217!
(You’ll need a subscription for the article at Straits Times.)
Yes you read that right.
This article came out way back in April but it just slipped my mind to post it after scanning the pages. This means you probably can’t grab a copy now, but better late than never, so here it is.
I liked the thoughtful manner in which the accompanying essay was written.
“It is an example of eco-friendliness, sustainable living, and space management that helps to save costs and reduce wastage, which resonates particularly in such challenging times.”
The photos were some of the classiest shots in interior design. There is great depth, and I especially love how Linda and her cat were cleverly placed.
Enjoy the pictures below. 
Nice wide shot of the living room and kitchen. The living room, corridors, and bedrooms were all laid with our Carbonised Vertical bamboo flooring.
Dom’s a musician, here’re some of the tools of his trade. I almost mistook their cat for a plush cushion.
Very open concept, you can cut across the toilet from the bedroom to the kitchen.
The real star of the place is lazing comfortably on the bamboo flooring, next to the kitchen counter top made from reclaimed wood.
Would like to say thanks again to the friendly folks at Square Rooms for featuring us in their Jul-Aug 2009 issue.
Nice title, wish I’d thought of it!
You can read the tips below. They are pretty straight-forward, but well worth repeating.
For the full article on kitchen flooring tips, go pick up a copy at the book stores today.
Our eco-friendly bamboo flooring have appeared in so many magazines recently, we’re having some difficulty keeping track. Thankfully, they are all collated in our handy media section.
The latest is in a special feature by Square Rooms called “Key to Your Home”. It’s not the standard issue Square Rooms magazine, so it took me a while to find it. It wasn’t available at Popular or Times book stores, nor at my usual news stand.
Finally found the feature at Borders, and it looks like this:
It’s a complete renovation guide, with different sections such as Bedrooms, Kitchens, and of course, Floorings.
Nowadays, no self-respecting interior design magazine can afford to ignore the eco-friendly trend. Here’s the article that uses one of our project photos:
This is an example of our Carbonised Vertical bamboo flooring.
Of all the eco-friendly flooring options mentioned in the article above, bamboo flooring is the most durable material. It also looks similar to hard wood flooring, and can be installed and used in the same way.
So go green with bamboo flooring today, just give us a call at 65659217 to find out more.
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!
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!
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.
