BAMBOO TALES
perspective DESIGN
BAMBOO TALES
(Clockwise from this picture) CRAFTING A JOURNEY Sandeep Sangaru’s bamboo ‘Wallscape Bookcase’ at the Temple Hotel, Beijing. Sangaru’s sketches for his bamboo collection. A coat hanger designed specially for the Temple Hotel. Sangaru at his workshop.
DesignerSandeepSangarurevealsdetailsabouthis workwithBeijing’sTempleHotel,andhowbamboo becameapermanentfixtureinhismaterialsofchoice
PHOTO: MANOLO YLLERA
S
andeep Sangaru’s tryst with bamboo has a serendipitous twist to it. In a classic case of the teacher becoming the student, Sangaru, who had gone to Agartala to teach bamboo artisans, became so captivated by the material himself that it started him on a journey of discovery. His collection of bamboo furniture was selected last year to be a part of the curated aesthetic for the Temple Hotel in Beijing. The hotel includes indoor and outdoor lighting by German designer Ingo Maurer, and Gathered Sky, the only ‘Skyspace’ installation in China by famed American artist James Turrell. Juan van Wassenhove, one of the founders of the Temple Hotel, says about Sangaru’s work: “When I saw Sandeep’s collection, it was very well done. I loved his ‘Wallscape Bookcase’. The floating design seemed to offer a connection with the space that we had in mind. I asked Sandeep to design a coat hanger, and really liked what he came up with. Seeing his work gave me a lot of confidence in terms of what we wanted to achieve. Bamboo has a very Asian signature about it. There are three elements about this material that are very important: the raw material, the craftsmanship and the design itself. India and Sandeep seemed like the only place where I could have such a combination.” >
PHOTOS: SANDEEP SANGARU
PHOTO: TOM PARKER
Writer Bindu Nair
perspective < We spoke to Sangaru about his work being featured at the hotel, and about the benefits and challenges of working with bamboo. Architectural Digest: How did your furniture find its way into the Temple Hotel in Beijing? Sandeep Sangaru: Juan came across my work at the 2011 Beijing International Design Triennial (BIDT). Thereafter, his office reached out to me and expressed an interest to use my furniture in the suites they were planning for the Temple Hotel complex. Juan visited my workshop in Bangalore to discuss how I could collaborate on the furniture. He had seen the furniture at the BIDT show, but hadn’t tried it out. He spent time sitting on every chair and sofa to check the comfort and strength of each. We spoke about how we could add some colour to the furniture.
(From this picture) NEW DIMENSIONS The ‘Rock Study Table’ from Sangaru’s collection. Sangaru added colour to some of the key pieces from his collection to suit the interiors of the Temple Hotel.
AD: Van Wassenhove spoke at length about the ‘Wallscape Bookcase’ and how he loved the fluidity of the design. Could you share a little bit about your creative process? SS: The ‘Wallscape Bookcase’ was conceptualized to accommodate books of different sizes for homes, and not meant for a serious study or library. The books bring another dimension to it; they add colours and textures when placed on the shelves. My creative process is very organic, and over the years has become more intuitive. Having experience with multiple disciplines, I tend to observe and record from different perspectives at the same time, which allows me to simplify the outcome. If I had to describe my design philosophy, it would be something like this: to design is to come up with a better solution for a circumstance within a context.
AD: What was the first piece you made using bamboo? What were the challenges in working with it? SS: The very first piece I made was a simple chair, while teaching artisans at the BCDI how to translate a design into a prototype. Before leaving, I recreated one of my stools using bamboo. This resulted in a unique triangular component, which became my muse for years. The Truss-Me collection consists of different derivations of the construction technique of that basic triangular module. There were many challenges. Bamboo is not an off-theshelf material, so I’m involved right from harvesting to selling it in the market. I had to reinvent the production process to make my furniture and products commercially viable. 000|
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014
PHOTOS: MANOLO YLLERA
AD: What is it about a material like bamboo that compelled you to build a design philosophy around it? SS: I had not worked with bamboo till I went to the Bamboo and Cane Development Institute (BCDI) in Tripura. I was attracted to bamboo, at that point, because of its simplicity and how it can be transformed into a variety of products using a simple knife. When I returned from the BCDI, I explored different possibilities with bamboo, using an idea I had developed while I was there. It was only after winning the Red Dot design award for best of the best in 2009 that I realized the value of what I had worked on for the past five years. I had the opportunity to create a new company to produce the furniture myself and create a business philosophy around the use of traditional practices along with modern tools to push the limits of the craft—with a focus on products designed for everyday use.
BAMBOO TALES
(Clockwise from this picture) CRAFTING A JOURNEY Sandeep Sangaru’s bamboo ‘Wallscape Bookcase’ at the Temple Hotel, Beijing. Sangaru’s sketches for his bamboo collection. A coat hanger designed specially for the Temple Hotel. Sangaru at his workshop.
DesignerSandeepSangarurevealsdetailsabouthis workwithBeijing’sTempleHotel,andhowbamboo becameapermanentfixtureinhismaterialsofchoice
PHOTO: MANOLO YLLERA
S
andeep Sangaru’s tryst with bamboo has a serendipitous twist to it. In a classic case of the teacher becoming the student, Sangaru, who had gone to Agartala to teach bamboo artisans, became so captivated by the material himself that it started him on a journey of discovery. His collection of bamboo furniture was selected last year to be a part of the curated aesthetic for the Temple Hotel in Beijing. The hotel includes indoor and outdoor lighting by German designer Ingo Maurer, and Gathered Sky, the only ‘Skyspace’ installation in China by famed American artist James Turrell. Juan van Wassenhove, one of the founders of the Temple Hotel, says about Sangaru’s work: “When I saw Sandeep’s collection, it was very well done. I loved his ‘Wallscape Bookcase’. The floating design seemed to offer a connection with the space that we had in mind. I asked Sandeep to design a coat hanger, and really liked what he came up with. Seeing his work gave me a lot of confidence in terms of what we wanted to achieve. Bamboo has a very Asian signature about it. There are three elements about this material that are very important: the raw material, the craftsmanship and the design itself. India and Sandeep seemed like the only place where I could have such a combination.” >
PHOTOS: SANDEEP SANGARU
PHOTO: TOM PARKER
Writer Bindu Nair
perspective < We spoke to Sangaru about his work being featured at the hotel, and about the benefits and challenges of working with bamboo. Architectural Digest: How did your furniture find its way into the Temple Hotel in Beijing? Sandeep Sangaru: Juan came across my work at the 2011 Beijing International Design Triennial (BIDT). Thereafter, his office reached out to me and expressed an interest to use my furniture in the suites they were planning for the Temple Hotel complex. Juan visited my workshop in Bangalore to discuss how I could collaborate on the furniture. He had seen the furniture at the BIDT show, but hadn’t tried it out. He spent time sitting on every chair and sofa to check the comfort and strength of each. We spoke about how we could add some colour to the furniture.
(From this picture) NEW DIMENSIONS The ‘Rock Study Table’ from Sangaru’s collection. Sangaru added colour to some of the key pieces from his collection to suit the interiors of the Temple Hotel.
AD: Van Wassenhove spoke at length about the ‘Wallscape Bookcase’ and how he loved the fluidity of the design. Could you share a little bit about your creative process? SS: The ‘Wallscape Bookcase’ was conceptualized to accommodate books of different sizes for homes, and not meant for a serious study or library. The books bring another dimension to it; they add colours and textures when placed on the shelves. My creative process is very organic, and over the years has become more intuitive. Having experience with multiple disciplines, I tend to observe and record from different perspectives at the same time, which allows me to simplify the outcome. If I had to describe my design philosophy, it would be something like this: to design is to come up with a better solution for a circumstance within a context.
AD: What was the first piece you made using bamboo? What were the challenges in working with it? SS: The very first piece I made was a simple chair, while teaching artisans at the BCDI how to translate a design into a prototype. Before leaving, I recreated one of my stools using bamboo. This resulted in a unique triangular component, which became my muse for years. The Truss-Me collection consists of different derivations of the construction technique of that basic triangular module. There were many challenges. Bamboo is not an off-theshelf material, so I’m involved right from harvesting to selling it in the market. I had to reinvent the production process to make my furniture and products commercially viable. 000|
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014
PHOTOS: MANOLO YLLERA
AD: What is it about a material like bamboo that compelled you to build a design philosophy around it? SS: I had not worked with bamboo till I went to the Bamboo and Cane Development Institute (BCDI) in Tripura. I was attracted to bamboo, at that point, because of its simplicity and how it can be transformed into a variety of products using a simple knife. When I returned from the BCDI, I explored different possibilities with bamboo, using an idea I had developed while I was there. It was only after winning the Red Dot design award for best of the best in 2009 that I realized the value of what I had worked on for the past five years. I had the opportunity to create a new company to produce the furniture myself and create a business philosophy around the use of traditional practices along with modern tools to push the limits of the craft—with a focus on products designed for everyday use.
