Bamboo and Bamboo Crafts

Bamboo is an important natural resource for a country like India. Crafts in bamboo have reached a high state of development in our country. But with the coming of colonialism and subsequent industrialization, the subcontinent saw a gradual decline in the practise of crafts of all types. Bamboo craft was certainly no exception, although it continued to flourish in the rural and remote regions where other materials were scarce. Today, there is a need to see crafts as a means for economic upsurgence and as a symbol of strong cultural identity in the face of blatant industrialization. Bamboo craft is ecologically sound on the one hand, while on the other hand, it can be seen as a great employment generator (Kaley 1994). This makes a strong case for rejuvenating this craft form.

Design Input into Bamboo Craft

Design has evolved from craft. Design inputs into bamboo craft can be an important way of affecting this rejuvenation. It has the potential to bring much-needed innovation to bamboo craft, making it economically viable and competitive with industrially produced artifacts. This is something that traditional craft knowledge, which shows gradual improvement over a long time, cannot grapple with (Rao, 1995).

The Problem of Simulation

Yet designers with formal training have little or no understanding of bamboo craft. Bamboo crafts also pose a great difficulty in terms of simulation. The designer can simulate a plastic bucket and experiment with the form, but without making a bamboo basket, it is impossible to explore its formal capabilities. So, for meaningful participation of designers, methods of simulation, which provide for creativity that is free from the necessity of having the ability to make the actual products, are essential.

Apart from this, the designer has to explain his concepts to the craftsman, in which he faces great difficulty because the traditional methods of representation are limited in their ability to convey something as complex as bamboo woven forms. This brings us to the purpose of this project, that of using computers for the simulation of bamboo weave forms.

Simulation on the Computer

The computer is already an important tool for the simulation of artefacts of many materials. It provides a new way of simulating concepts in three-dimensional images. Computer-generated images also offer a certain precision, which can be used to convey the designer’s intentions in a better way than previously possible. This attribute significantly points to its use for simulating and generating images of bamboo weave forms, which can convey much more than product renderings and other methods of representation.