ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with bamboo at the present time and in the future. Some entrepreneurs in Việt Nam have been exploring the various possibilities for using bamboo as textile fibre or making paper. Without wishing to pass judgement on the future of such attempts, which have already shown somewhat inconclusive results, bamboo has clearly been demonstrated as a renewable and readily available material. Although less profitable than planting rubber, a bamboo plantation requires much less investment in terms of labour costs and maintenance. As a “savings bank” for the villager who has it growing in his garden, as a “tool box” for the handyman who has some at home or easily obtainable, bamboo may well become the favoured material for sustainable crafts: for furniture making, using burnt bamboo, for toys or bicycles that can all be made from this natural material, one that is cheap, pliable, durable and biodegradable. Some astute and enthusiastic craftsmen there are already finding such work very profitable. Architects are exploiting the qualities of bamboo to a maximum, not only for scaffolding that does not inspire confidence at first sight but also for the construction of contemporary buildings made of plant material, combining the advantages of low cost, readily available, pliable, shock-absorbent and even anti-seismic structures.
