FAQs - Frequently asked questions

1, Why bamboo?

Bamboo is grass. It is an environmentally friendly and sustainable material. Every year the parent bamboo plant makes several new stems. Each stem could gain the necessary hardness upon maturity. Without decreasing the size of the forest, the 5-year old bamboo would be harvested every year. You could get more information under BAMBOO.

2, Is the harvesting harmful to panda?

The answer is NO. Pandas live in the central mountain ranges of central China. Pandas only choose the lower species of bamboo which is easily accessible. We only use MAO bamboo, (Phyllostachys Pubescens), the giant bamboo has no leaf on the first 5 meters of the stem and is therefore not the food for the panda.

Also, SmatBamboo only uses bamboo comes from plantations with sustainable management in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui and Jiangxi. These provinces are far away from the panda region.

3, What does 'Carbonized' mean?

Carbonization is a process step, during which high pressure and high temperature steam are introduced to have the color the bamboo changed. After this, a brown coffee color would come into being. So, we also call it 'coffee color' or 'caramel'. The longer it is heated, the darker the bamboo become.

4, What are Horizontal and Vertical?

Normally, bamboo products are made from small bamboo strips. For example, strip in 1000x20x5mm (L x W x T), if we assembly 10pcs of such strips against each other horizontally, there would be a board of 1000x200x5mm (thickness is 5mm). We call this horizontal pattern, which would show 'open' (quiet visible) bamboo knots.
If we assembly these 4pcs strips against each other vertically, There would be a board of 1000x50x20mm (thickness is 20mm). We call this vertical pattern, which would show less visible bamboo knots.

5, What can bamboo be used for?

In general, bamboo could be alternative to wood. From furniture to complete building materials, bamboo has an ideal working ability. The development of bamboo veneer, panels and decking brings more application possibility to bamboo. The application could be only limited to our ideas.

6, How does SmartBamboo® control the quality?

We care the quality from the first step of bamboo raw material selection. Whatever production itself or imported material applying, we put most care on them. We only use high quality European adhesives and finishes (For veneer, both the glue and backing are imported from Europe). Strict selection is done before packing. Only approved products would be supplied to customers.