It's the fastest growing plant on the earth. Bamboo grows 30% faster than the next fastest growing plant. Up to 1 metre per day!

Bamboo generates more oxygen than trees and is known to purify the atmosphere.

It doesn't need any fertilizer to grow.

Bamboo can tolerate extremes of precipitation and temperature.

This plant is a viable replacement for wood, and one of the strongest building materials.

It's tensile strength is 28,000 per square inch versus 23,000 for steel.

Bamboo is an essential structural material in earthquake architecture. In Limon, Costa Rica, only the bamboo houses from the National Bamboo Project stood after their violent earthquake in 1992.

A high yield renewable crop that can be harvested annually.

It's a crutial element to World wide economy. Bamboo and related industries already provide an income, food and housing to over 2.2 Billion people.

Plyboo (a bamboo laminate) is now available for panelling, flooring, paper, fuel, housing construction, furniture and many other uses.

It is an excellent plant to grow on fragile soil, along river banks or places prone to earthquakes and mud slides, because it greatly reduces rain run-off and can prevent massive soil erosion.

Current research points to bamboo's potential in a number of medicinal uses.

It's a nutritious food source for millions of people, and used as a natural food preservative in Japan.

It is an exquisite component in any garden providing shade, a wind break, acoustic barriers and most importantly it has great aesthetic beauty.

I'm sure that bamboo will continue to inspire me and my design work well into the future.