Style GREEN LIVING

SPLENDOR IN THE grass

Custom cabinets made of eco-friendly bamboo transform kitchens and baths into contemporary Zen havens.

TEXT BY JENNIFER J. BUSH PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHAS METIVIER

    Richard Goodman built homes for a living for many years. But his true calling came when his hands touched one of the most majestic grasses: bamboo.
“I look at it as an art form,” he says.
“When bamboo cutting boards started to hit the market about four years ago, it reawakened a passion I had for furniture building but never really got to express as a homebuilder.
“I always thought I was an artist,” he says. “When I saw this bamboo, I thought this was an opportunity to express who I was.” The Laguna Beach resident spent years developing his skills as a cabinetmaker before launching a 25-year career as a homebuilder. But bamboo presented a unique set of challenges even to the skilled woodworker.
It required 18 months working alone in his shop to develop a product line made from bamboo. He designed butcher block-style countertops from endgrain bamboo and sleek, contemporary-style cabinets using end-grain veneer on a bamboo base. And he experimented with formaldehyde-free adhesives and nontoxic finishes.
    In the summer of 2004, his sleek, contemporary cabinet designs and bamboo home furnishings debuted at the Sawdust Festival.
    Today, his Laguna Bamboo showroom in the heart of Laguna Beach’s artists’ community displays his custom-designed bamboo kitchen and bath cabinets, interior doors and moldings. German-made hardware gives pieces the look of fine furniture. Goodman’s clean, minimalist designs work in harmony with tropical and Japanese styling.
    He uses only environmentally-friendly glues and finishes. These finishes give the bamboo a dark, rich color. In its natural state, bamboo is very light. Its reed-like appearance takes on the illusion of texture, yet feels smooth to the touch.
    “People come into the shop and want to touch it,” Goodman says. Its smooth finish resembles silk. “Bamboo has been revered in the East for so long for its beauty.”
    And durability. “The finishes and sealers protect it from stains; you can spill wine on it,” he says.
    Goodman says he uses top-grade bamboo from China. Pricing for his custom designs is comparable to that in other high-end kitchen and bath shops.
    Beware of the different grades of bamboo available on the market, he says. Most of the bamboo used in the building industry is grown in China. The strongest plants are harvested in August of the fifth year, he says. And there’s a specific protocol on how it’s supposed to be brought to the market.
    Unlike wood, bamboo continues to develop new growth from its root system after the plant is harvested. And because some species of this Asian grass can grow up to three feet a day and takes only five years to harvest, bamboo is considered an important sustainable resource in the building industry.
    Laguna Bamboo is building the kitchen displays for the Huntington Beach-based Bosch appliance manufacturer to use at the national kitchen and bath trade shows this year.
    “We’re on the cutting edge of bamboo technology,” Goodman says. “Bamboo flooring is now a staple in the industry. I see that happening with bamboo cabinetry; eventually it will become an integral part of the industry.”
Contact the writer at jbush@ocregister.com or 714-796-5020.
RESOURCES
The Laguna Bamboo showroom is at 1 025 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, call 949-494-01 26 or log on to
www.lagunabamboo.com