Bamboozled

(A Sun headline if ever there was one). I went to the opening of a great exhibition last night: Japanese Bamboo: Tracing the Legend of Beppu Craftsmanship. OK, so we know bamboo is the fastest growing plant on earth (over a metre in 24hrs in some cases) and pandas like it, and that it’s often used as building material, including scaffolding in East Asia, and that you can make great wind & percussion instruments out of it. And then there’s baskets and stuff – think Homebase and Habitat... Or not! What I hadn’t realised was just how refined and contemporary such artefacts could be if put in the hands of highly-skilled craftsmen. The exhibition had maybe 100 such objects, each an exquisite piece of form & function – or maybe just form in some cases. Expensive though: some sell for as much as $12,000. Have a look:
http://www.tcdc.or.th/eventse.php?act=view&id=265

The venue, Thailand Creative and Design Centre, is worth a mention. It sits on top of a shopping mall in central Bangkok. Apart from its exhibition space, shop and great café, it has what is probably the world’s finest library of design & architecture books. Thousands of books, DVDs, magazines, even materials. Membership is 20 quid a year. Lucky Thais.