Would you buy something made of bamboo?

[Bryan Guignard]

So if you got this far, the subject line must have gotten your attention. I'm hoping Steve won't banish me from the forum for this, but it's not really a sales pitch, more of a market research question with the intention of helping the Tobago economy (ever so slightly).

So here's the deal. Sometime in 2009 I plan to start a small scale bamboo manufacture in the Arnos Vale area. My property has plenty of it, and the surrounding countryside is infested with it, all free to who ever has the desire to harvest it. So I figure I might as well make use of it.

So the question is, what sort of bamboo product would you buy? I'll further break this up into two categories. Bamboo products for tourists, and bamboo products for the consumer.

As a follow up question, is there any type of bamboo product you wouldn't buy, and if so, what is your objection?

What I'm trying to determine is whether I would be better off producing bulk, semi-finished products such as bamboo plywood, fencing poles, and woven mat sheeting (which is less labor intensive but has a lower profit margin), or finished products such as souvenirs, furniture, kitchen and home accessories etc (which is more labor intensive but has a higher profit margin).

Thanks for any input you may have.

Bryan

[Carol Townsend]

Hello Bryan,
I see there have been 90 views of this post but no replies, so here goes:
I would buy buy products made of bamboo, as consumer goods, and possibly as souvenirs, if they were of good quality, produced locally and of benefit to the local economy.
Bamboo is prolific, eminently sustainable and has many uses. It is far better to use that than slow-growing hardwood taken from rainforests.
I would certainly not buy something like a plaster palmtree with "Souvenir of Tobago" on the front, and "made in China" on the back!
Cheers
Carol (Noe)

[Gisela Grell]

Hello Bryan,

when I rode you posting I was wandering what to write to you but in the end I would like to say everythin Noe said already.
Especially the part:
"I would buy buy products made of bamboo, as consumer goods, and possibly as souvenirs, if they were of good quality, produced locally and of benefit to the local economy."

Does that help?

[Bryan Guignard]

Thanks for the feedback ladies. I'm just fishing around to see what I'll come up with, so there are no right or wrong answers. You never know what one may learn just by asking a few simple questions. For example, a couple of years ago a study was done on the islands to find out what sort of things the tourism industry was in need of. Everyone got their socks blown off when the results came in. The thing(s) that was asked for the most were "herbs"! Not the smokin' kind, but the parsley and oregano kind used in restaurants. Who would have thought?

[Susanne Thomsen]

Hi Bryan.

I would like to by something made of bamboo such as a salad set, for a salatbowl. and everything who is local made. We have been on Tobago more times and always looking for something to bring home. We are looking for local things made off local things, so what is better than something made of bamboo.

It is very difficult to find something to take home, and we are always driving around for finding something. Our Girls (10 and 11) get stessed when they did not find something. hehe. They always want to by things for the girlfreinds at home.

And we try to find things to bring for our freinds and family.

Hope you understand my bad english, but for mee is it a very good idea to make things in bamboo.

We are crazy with the big bamboo, and we even try to get them growing here in Denmark.

Susanne

[Julia C.]

Things made locally out of sustainable materials that are not too expensive and that are easy to pack are the kind of things we always look for when on holiday.

Both of us, being smokers, we loved the simplicity of the bamboo ash trays we saw in several eating places and bars. We looked to buy one everywhere we went and couldn't find one at all. On our last day we left our luggage at the airport and went to have a look at the stalls etc at Store Bay (I think), I had a look around and couldn't see any and so asked at one of the stalls. The guy said he didn't have any for sale, but he did have a couple on the back shelf that he'd been using and he just gave me one! Made my day.

Off the subject a bit, but we also liked the bird feeders made out of coconut shells, where half the shell is where you put the food and the other half is the roof, important in the UK to keep the rain off! We only saw one of these for sale in Charlottesville but we didn't buy it as the asking price was £8.00! I am all for supporting a local economy but that was taking the mick - IMO.
On return to the UK I made one myself for the cost of a coconut from Tesco's, some coloured cord and some beads from an old necklace. The bamboo bird feeders were good, but we didn't see any with roofs.