Marcelo Villegas: Space Invadin' Bamboo Furniture

You're average bamboo chair is just that: Average. Unfortunately, lots of bamboo furniture, held back by the small size and boring linearity of the building material, just doesn't fire up furniture addicts. Somewhere along the line, this has caused chairs and tables made from the venerable "builder's grass" to be looked down on as cheap and chintzy. But Marcos Villegas is looking to swing that prejudice around with some bamboo that looks as though it was grown in an alien colony...

Villegas is a craftsman working out of Manizales, Colombia. Rather than trying to slice, split, and plane bamboo into a rectangle that fits the current modern aesthetic, he went for more of a log-cabin style. But by using bamboo rootstalks, and large old-growth beams, his furniture takes on a much more elegant, finished quality than it would if it were made of gnarled oak or knotty pine. These chairs have the bulk to hold up visually to any space, from a rustic cabin, to a Miesian Apartment. Your best bet for getting one of these beautiful pieces is to contact him through his website.
:: Bamboo Chairs by Marcelo Villegas [by DM]