The most incredible bamboo furniture maker

When I went to China to speak at INBAR, I had the opportunity to meet Jeff Dayu Shi– an incredible bamboo furniture designer.  I fell in love with his chair on display.

About Jeff (from his website): 

Graduated from Fashion Institute of Technology 1989, worked as an in-house designer for Harry Winston Jewelry Company NYC 1993, Winner of Diamond International Awards 1996. Jeff Dayu Shi has been a high-profile designer. With aggressive attempts of exploring the world of art and design, he established Dragonfly Gallery in 1996 – the pioneer design concept store in Taipei Taiwan.

Recently he has been working as an interdisciplinary artist. Jeff’s animations entitled him the winner of iF Communication Design Award 2007 & 2008. His art works which are inspired by previous work and life experience has been exhibited worldwide. Jeff’s “Twins Round/Square Teapot Set” honored him with Reddot Design Award 2009; his bamboo chairs “Chair Jun-Zi” and “Chair Qin-Jian” are both winners of Reddot Design Award 2010 and nominee for Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany (Designpreis Deutschland) 2011.

Moreover, “Chair Qin-Jian” has received the merit recognition of Design for Asia Award 2010. “Chair Jun-Zi” is favored with Interior Innovation Award, Imm Cologne 2011, and Elle Decoration International Design Award (EDIDA) China–“The Best Seating Design”.

In March 2011, Jeff presents 《Bamboo Project》 at Beijing Center for the Arts, “Omni-Dimensional Design in China”. He combines two different industries: energy-saving LED and low-carbon bamboo flooring, to form a new green building material: Led-Bamboo. As the highlight of 《Bamboo Project》, Led-Bamboo is born to redefine the lighting system and the interior design.

Read more about Jeff on Coolhunting.

As Jeff explains, the manufacturing process requires patience and attention to details and finding the right factories to work with can be challenging. “Bamboo has some unique characters, and is not as cheap as people think, because all depends on how you treat this material,” he says. “In some cases, the slats have to be carbonized and stored for two or three years before you can use them. I have to do this preparation work mostly in Taiwan because in China lots of factories, which have their own forest, are not willing to do the job because it is too time consuming.”