Bamboo Designs : CNC Routers play an important role !!!

Miami based designer Facundo Poj found his inspiration in demolition salvage yards after years of work with documentation, renovation and restoration of old institutional buildings at several Boston based Architecture firms. He spends much of his time looking for treasures in junk yards, salvage yards and aircraft graveyards where he searches for objects with a soul and a lasting quality to them. Delving deep into the biography of objects and materials to uncover the historic value of each, Facundo transcends the need for understanding just the style and form. 

Facundo also invests much energy researching new ways of using great quality materials which are not that far into the unconventional, but which have not fallen yet into the hands of large scale mainstream manufacturing; materials like salvaged cardboard or engineered bamboo. All his furniture pieces are designed through high technology, handcrafted, and built for life.

In his own words, “I always start conceptualizing these pieces from a single line. Put the pencil down once, give the paper a single stroke, pick the pencil up.

Structural strength, stability, ergonomics, primary & secondary functions must all be solved with this one line.

Minor adjustments of proportions and function then follow. All necessary devices are accounted for and my line is then digitalized. This must be done so that all repetitions, all layers, inherit exactly the same contour.

All the components are arranged so that they can all come out of a few sheets of hard pressed Chinese bamboo. I choose this material because it is manufactured in large enough sheets, it is noble, strong, hard, durable and sexy to the touch. Bamboo is also a fast growing grass and this helps prevent forest depletion.
A CNC router then dances over the sheet cutting all the serpents and fragments. The pieces are then threaded together by hand with oak dowels, glued, and press together. The sanding process is long and difficult due to the hardness of the material. The piece is then finished with a clear non-toxic water based coating.

This low tech-high tech-low tech process is for me the ultimate. The piece is a combination of both, the highest technology available to design and construction, and the sensibility of the human hand.”

Born in Argentina in 1971, Facundo trained as a master builder in his native Buenos Aires and moved to  Boston in the early 1990’s where he graduated from Architecture school and also received a Masters Degree in Urban Affairs and Environmental Problems.

Sought after by many, the likes of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton USA, Veuve Clicquot, Ecoist, Dom Perignon, Citrine by the Stones, Simmons of Argentina have bought and displayed Facundo's work proudly.

To know much more about this very talented and soulful designer, visit his website - http://facundopoj.com/