Tripura's Bamboo Craft

Muli baans, melocanna baccifera is the most prolific, dolu baansh, schizostachyum, are considered by artisans to be the lightest and most useful.

Yellow bamboo, bambusa vulgaris, striata, is also called tiger bamboo for its beautiful colouring.

Chinese bamboo, bausa multiplex and Buddha belly bamboo, bambusa vulgaris Wamin are common to China and lathi baans, dendrocalamus strictus is amusingly named since ‘lathis’ are bamboo sticks supplied to the police to control crowds.

A precariously narrow bamboo bridge is a common sit in bamboo rich areas.

Ordinary bamboo poles are everywhere, serving every purpose.

Here they are used to create makeshift stalls for roadside vegetable sellers.

Bamboo poles are stacked casually in groves along the main road, outside homesteads where the owners deal in bamboo as raw material for multiple purposes.

A newly established bamboo plantation, a long bamboo picket fence and an artistic façade for the cemented outer wall makes this community centre a part of the evolving landscape of a bamboo-dependent region.

Simple criss-cross bamboo slats are enough to fence a small house.

Bamboo walls are created out of flattened bamboo slats interwoven and held in shape with half-slit bamboo poles.

Colours weather differently with age.

The bamboo getaway at Baansh Gram in Katlamara district is near the territory of Bangladesh just a few rice fields and bamboo fences away.

This small inexpensively constructed hut has woven bamboo mats for walls, a small bamboo half-gate at the threshold to enter the house, a circular tree guard in front, and bamboo poles to hold up the tin roofing.

Manoj Debnath, the bamboo producer and wholesaler lives in Bagabara, in Sepahijila District. He proudly displays his home made entirely of bamboo matting.

He even has a bamboo mat laid over his cloth bedcover as it is much cooler to sleep on, he explains.

Plenty of air and light comes through the woven bamboo walls in a decorative lacy effect on the walls of Manoj Debnath’s bedroom.

The multiple facets of a bamboo basket worker’s life are played out on his courtyard.

The rubber sheets come from resin collected from trees on his property. They hang out to dry before they are sold to bicycle tyre manufacturers.

Baskets for chickens lie empty on the courtyard of bamboo entrepreneur Manoj Debnath’s hone.

The elegant shape makes it a possible container for potted plants in an urban home.

Manoj Debnath has two tulsi, sacred basil, plants at one end of his courtyard to honour his late parents as a part of local custom.

Bamboo groves are highlighted by having entryways made of bamboo fences with artistic bamboo arches.

The Kathiababa Charitable Society is the parent body of a separate entity called Baansh Gram, meaning Bamboo Village.

It runs schools for orphans, a health centre and other social welfare programs for the underprivileged of the area. The school building is made entrie of bamboo.

Inside the school classrooms, students sit at bamboo desks on bamboo benches.

They are an example of an ergonomically self-contained environment.

A small administrative building at the premises demonstrates how adaptable and long-lasting building with bamboo can be.

Earlier it was believed that only tribal populations would care to build with bamboo.

Baansh Gram has establishment attractively designed and constructed homestays on its property.

It plans to provide yoga, naturopathy, Ayurveda treatments, and already provides organic meals and a peaceful leisurely environment for short or long stays.

A sturdily built lookout for lifeguards at beaches is a product that has caught the fancy of the Blue Flag beach concept.

Pristine beaches with blue water and white sand that strive to be environmentally conscious seek to have organic lookouts, lounging chairs and other equipment.

The community project at Baansh Gram provides such bamboo equipment to famous beaches in seven states of India.

A stream running through Baansh Gram is being developed into a water body and a platform in its midst to practice yoga.

Bulbuli, the community pet befriends a visitor.

At Baansh Gram, Bamboo Village, many products for contemporary use are made at a workshop on the premises.

A garden swing is a favourite item for gardens and verandahs in many city homes

The arrangement of Baansh Gram offers a suitable retreat for artists, writers, designers of bamboo products or even families who would enjoy the rare experience of living with bamboo products in a bamboo grove.

Bamboo rods can form the textured outer surface of a wall, or can be cut thin enough to bend into rings to form a curtain made of chains of bamboo rings.

Bulbuli, the friendly dog at Baansh gram in Katlamara enjoys sitting on a finely woven and dyed bamboo floor mat.

A bamboo pole cut into specific lengths and turned on the lathe are made into plant hangers and other decorative garden accessories.

The homestay hut and outer pergola made of sturdy bamboo, in the sprawling premises of a bamboo grove offer an alternative lifestyle.

Read more about bamboo craft from Tripura here:
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