Taking Bamboo to New Heights w/Jonas Hauptman (Best of "The Secrets of Mastery," S1)

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On this edition of “The Secrets of Mastery,” a production of Craftsmanship Magazine, we’re talking about taking bamboo to new heights.

Jonas Hauptman, an industrial design professor at Virginia Tech, has been experimenting with ways to use bamboo, a giant grass, to build multi-story housing.

Hauptman says bamboo could be key to housing the world’s growing population in a more ecological way.

Bamboo culms, or stalks, can be harvested in just 3-5 years, and they grow back in place from the same rhizome bulb. Contrary to wood, steel or concrete, bamboo is lightweight, making it easier to transport, and cheaper to use on the construction site.

For the past seven years, Hauptman has collaborated with organizations in Ecuador and other countries in the Global South to experiment with bamboo construction, which includes planing bamboo stalks and turning them into panels.

Hauptman has had his hands on many different materials throughout his varied career as an entrepreneurial craftsperson. He’s a trained blacksmith, he’s made modernist furniture out of tree flakes, and while living in Los Angeles, he researched how to divert palm tree fronds away from the landfill.

I sat down with Hauptman to learn more about his ambitions with bamboo, and to find out how his hands-on experimentation with materials informs his design work.

LINKS:

Jonas Hauptman at Virginia Tech: https://design.vt.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/industrial-design/hauptman-jonas.html

Craftsmanship Magazine: https://craftsmanship.net/

Other episodes of Craftsmanship Magazine's “The Secrets of Mastery” series: https://craftsmanship.net/interviews/

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