Star Bamboo Singapore

There’s nothing we appreciate more than a repeat customer. This customer had selected bamboo flooring for her parents’ place a few years ago. When she got her new place recently, she came back to Star Bamboo. Thank you, C!

Here are the results, enjoy the photos below!

Natural Vertical bamboo flooring

Touch of luxury in the bedroom

Impress the guests when hosting a party

Forget laminates - there's nothing like real wood to make you feel at home

Don’t forget, there are more photos of our projects over on Star Bamboo’s Facebook page.

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!

Have you ever had an idea for make Singapore a greener place, but don’t know who to tell?

Well, the government announced in July the setting up of a web site to garner suggestions from Singaporeans on how to create an eco-friendly Singapore.

The Sustainable Singapore web site isn’t exactly user-friendly, but click on the Live/Play, Work, and Commute tabs at the top, and you’ll access a wealth of information.

The Straits Times reported today over 700 suggestions from the public have been received. Among those are calls to build dedicated bicycle lanes, and install solar panels on HDB housing estates.

If you want to submit your suggestions, don’t wait too long as closing date is end of October.

A quick search on the Internet also unearthed a couple of gems:

1) Green Business Times, an online resource to help Singapore companies go green, published a document with 20 wide-ranging suggestions.

2) The Online Citizen carried a piece by former NTUC Income CEO, Mr Tan Kin Lian, who focused on reducing the need for commuting. This can be achieved by making it easy and practical for people to:

• Work from home
• Work near the home
• Move their homes to be nearer their workplace

Let me just share my thoughts on the above:

Dedicated bicycle lanes

I bought a folding bicycle recently, and have been using it instead of driving my car for short commutes around the neighbourhood.

Last Friday, I even joined a cycling group for some night-cycling. The original plan was to go to Tuas but we decided to head to Fullerton Hotel to catch the fireworks. It was spectacular!

Most of us were wearing helmets, and all bicycles had at least two blinking lights. Some kiasu ones had up to four lights. Unfortunately, most cyclists don’t have lights when cycling at night. They are practically invisible to the typical driver.

There’s been a significant surge in numbers of bicycles on the road in recent years, probably due to their popularity with foreign workers, especially those in the construction sector.

There were a couple of times when vehicles (especially taxis) got a bit too close for comfort, but cycling on the roads is generally OK.

Dedicated bicycle lanes would make riding a much more safer and viable alternative to driving and public transport. This suggestion gets my two thumbs up!

Reduce commuting

This idea is not as crazy as it sounds.

I used to work in the CBD, and it took me about 45 minutes to get to work. It takes me another 45 minutes to get home, so 1.5 hours per day is spent on simply getting around.

People say that Singapore is a small country, it shouldn’t matter where you work.

The problem is not the distance but the terrible congestion during peak hours. On days with rain or traffic accidents, the commuting time easily stretches up to 1 hour per trip.

Now my office is about 10 minutes away, going up to 15 minutes on bad days. I save more than an hour every day, and the reduction in traffic-induced stress is incredible.

By working near my home, my quality of life has improved significantly.

Not everyone will find it to be a feasible idea, but if possible, reduce your commuting.

Green Drinks event on 28 Aug 2008

OK, a plug for Green Drinks! Come get together and chat about your burning green issues in a cosy, relaxed cafe. It takes place on the last Thursday of every month, so the next one is just 3 days away.

This time, we’ll be talking about the Sustainable Singapore initiative. Come join us, you can check our Facebook page for more information.

See you there!

Star Bamboo’s eco-friendly bamboo flooring is an excellent choice for restaurants and cafes due to its superior hardness and durability compared to many species of hardwood.

Ceramic tiles might be somewhat easier to clean but can’t hold a candle to the natural feel and look of bamboo flooring.

Bamboo flooring is especially popular with Japanese and Asian restaurants which want to create an Oriental Zen atmosphere, but more and more designers and restaurateurs are discovering its unique charm.

So we were excited when Kay Ngee Tan Architects decided to use our bamboo flooring for their latest F&B creation: The Canteen by Les Amis Group which reopened last month after a two-year break.

I’ve always known Les Amis as a French restaurant, but they’ve branched out into all kinds of cuisine. The Canteen serves up fusion food combining influences from the East and West.

I popped by the other night for dinner, but business was so good we went to its next-door sister outlet, Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie, instead (Canelé might be better known as a dessert place, but their pastas are not to be missed.).

The crowds also meant I couldn’t take a decent shot of the bamboo flooring (there’s always someone blocking the view), so here’s a snapshot from a popular Singapore foodie web site HungryGoWhere.com:

This project uses Star Bamboo’s Carbonised Vertical bamboo flooring. It comes factory-finished with 6 layers of polyurethane coating for excellent scratch and stain resistance (very handy in a busy restaurant!), and ease of maintenance.

As you can see from the photo, our bamboo flooring planks were also installed onto the ceiling and wall. I was especially delighted by the beautiful design on the ceiling.

This photo doesn’t quite do our bamboo flooring justice, so do check it out the next time you’re in Orchard Road. Here’s their opening hours and location:

The Canteen (newly opened beside Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie)
1 Scotts Road
#01-01B Shaw Centre
Tel: 6738 2276
Sun-Thu: 11am-11pm
Fri, Sat: 11am-1am

(Information provided by food blog with delicious shots of the dishes)

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.

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!

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.

Singaporeans have a love-hate relationship with our taxis.

Private car ownership in Singapore is a hugely expensive proposition while our public trains and buses are frequently overcrowded.

So taxis plug the gap in the middle nicely.

On the other hand, we can never seem to get a taxi when we most need them, e.g. during peak hours, rainy days, in the city area, in isolated locations.

There were numerous grouses and complaints by passengers.

So to “better match demand to supply”, the dominant taxi company ComfortDelgro has decided to revise (by that, I mean raise) their fare.

Here’s a summary of fare adjustments:

(Full press release available on ComfortDelgro web site)

No customer is happy about price increases, but I don’t think raising fares and surcharges is going to solve the problem faced by passengers (Mr Brown puts it most eloquently here).

I am fortunate enough to have my own car. But my main grouse is:

Why does it have to be so confusing?

For example, just for “evening prime period”, there are three different timings:

• Peak period premium – Mon-Sat, 5:00pm-8:00pm
• Booking fee – Mon-Fri, 5:00pm-11:00pm
• City area surcharge – Mon-Sat, 5:00pm-midnight

There are also up to four different surcharges in addition to your basic taxi fare (five if you include ERP road tolls).

No wonder you’d need a calculator just to work out how much you have to pay for a taxi ride.

(You can view the full YouTube video here. I was the first viewer!)

The average passenger would simply grumble under his breath and give up.

Complicated pricing structures only serve to confuse the customer and mask the exact costs.

Some companies, especially mobile telecoms companies and petrol stations, use them to make comparisons more difficult.

So at Star Bamboo, we charge one flat rate for your bamboo flooring depending on the size area. No hidden costs, no unpleasant surprises.

I think you’ll agree that makes for a much more pleasant experience.

The Singapore newspapers announced a $70 million plan by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to build “a nature retreat in Mandai, away from the hustle and bustle of the city”.

It will be 30-hectare big, about the size of 42 football fields.

Upon closer reading of the report on ChannelNewsAsia, I realised that the $70 million is the total budget, which also includes rejuvenation of the Night Safari and Mandai Zoo.

So the amount towards the new nature retreat will actually be less than that.

The two key highlights are

i) “a luxurious topical (sic) spa retreat,”, and

ii) “an exotic river-themed development, where visitors can learn about freshwater habitat.”

Nothing new then.

Do we really need another spa in Singapore? And I don’t even realise there’re any rivers in Mandai.

I was also most amused by this statement: “The government believes that if done well, visitors to Mandai can forget that they are actually only minutes away from the city centre.”

Firstly, in Singapore, there are high-rise concrete buildings no matter where you turn.

Secondly, Mandai isn’t exactly near the city centre.

I’m hoping that the government will rethink their plans, and simply preserve whatever little nature we have left.

Sources: Today Online, Straits Times (subscription required)

The big day is fast approaching, and there has been a lot of comments and discussions about Live Earth.

Not everyone supports the concert. The Today newspaper helpfully published letters from both sides of the debate.

Tan Chee Sean questions:

Beamed across eight cities, this concert will be watched by more than 2 billion people. At the same time, millions of television sets will be turned on for up to 24 hours, so viewers can watch their favourite artistes. Ironically, wouldn’t this contribute to even more global warming?

In an attention grabbing-ly titled letter, Eugene Tay (pdf link) asks us to:

Give up hope. Because when hope dies, action begins.

What he actually meant was that saving the environment starts with personal action and responsibility. We shouldn’t hang on to the wishful thinking that someone else will do the job for us.

The blogosphere is buzzing too. Below are just some of the varied responses from Singaporeans I came across:

Scott Thong is more annoyed at MediaCorp’s Live Earth “We are not exaggerating” advertising campaign than the event itself. I haven’t seen the TV advertisements myself, but hey Scott, don’t mistake the messenger for the message.

Ordie helpfully points out that Mediacorp is encouraging Singaporeans to wear green to show how much we love hugging trees. Not very imaginative but definitely easy enough.

Sharp-eyed Liang Cai noted that the language one gets on the Live Earth official web site when clicking on the Singapore flag is… Malay. Well yes, it is our national language but not many of the non-Malays here actually speak it. One of the little ironies of Singapore.

No matter your personal sentiments about it, Live Earth is indeed going ahead. So why not make the most of it and see how we can use this unique opportunity to raise awareness about climate change?