Celebrating Visionaries in Bamboo Innovation

Jörg Stamm was born in Olpe, Germany. He studied and worked as a cabinetmaker and carpenter journeyman through the 1980’s in Germany. His first introduction to bamboo was in the jungles of Madagascar, in 1986, where he was working as a translator and technical assistant to Dr. Bernhard Meier doing lemur (primate) field research. Jörg was actively involved in the historical discovery of a hitherto unknown primate Hapalemur aureus, which became known as the Golden Bamboo Lemur.

He was curious to travel to South America; he went to Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Ecuador before, but was afraid to go to Colombia because of the war on Pablo Escobar. However, 1991, he went for a quick 4 weeks visit and it appealed to him. He moved to Colombia in 1994.

Jörg Stamm is well known for his design and construction of engineered bamboo structures, using traditional European methods with influx of typical regional techniques, as well as his many workshops about efficient methods in bamboo construction and “hands-on” training on structures like bridges, schools, houses, pavilions, and art objects. He also has expertise with bamboo laminates, applying protection by design principles for long term preservation of wooden structures.

Jorg’s experience is unique. He has been sought out to consult on various technical projects, including development of industrial bamboo processing facilities, machine installations, staff trainings and product development. These have taken him to all around the world.

Some highlights of his career include working to create a list of national bamboo species and suppliers with the Design Office of Lucila Aguilar in México at the Green School in Tulum; design of productive and touristic infrastructure for indigenous people via ethno-engineering with local materials in Panamá; designing earthquake resilient lightweight structures in bamboo, again with Lucila Aguilar in Mexico; and nearly 20 years of technical consulting, evaluations and installations of bamboo processing equipment for UNIDO projects in Ghana, India, Cuba, East Timor, Aceh-Indonesia, Ambon-Indonesia, Ethiopia, Mexico, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Vanuatu.

In addition, his technical consulting for capacity building and design of sustainable bamboo plantations, plus management planning and training in agro-industrial processing of bamboo in indigenous communities was part of an EU-sponsored program in his home country of Colombia during the first part of the twenty-first century. In 2004, he started Ecobamboo, a preservation and laminate factory in Cali, Colombia, which led to some of the very first treated Guadua poles exported abroad to places like the USA, Mallorca, and Germany.

However, Jörg Stamm might be best known for his bridge building. Over 20 years ago, he was building bamboo bridges in Colombia. One of the first was a project involving the design and construction 3 bamboo bridges in Southern Colombia, 12 to 18m, and then one much larger, 40 m, in Pereira, a project with UTP/GIZ, followed by an enormous bridge of 52m, again in Pereira. A tremendous push came in 2007-2008, with the “Three Mountain” project: a 2000m2 factory building in bamboo for the John Hardy Company in Bali, Indonesia. Mr. Hardy was impressed and invited Jorg to design and build the 22m Sibang bamboo bridge in Bali and the design office, prototype classrooms and guesthouses at the now famous Green School.

He is an accomplished writer, too:

Stamm and Vahanvati, 2018: Bamboo Preservation Manual, UNIDO-Vanuatu.

Stamm 2014: Bamboo Construction Manual. African Bamboo / GIZ - Ethiopia.

Stamm, 2010: Woven Strand Board and Woven Strand Lumber in Guadua. Proceedings at Symposium on Bamboo laminates, National University of Colombia.

Stamm, 2009: Seven concepts to build a bamboo bridge. 8th World Bamboo Congress proceedings, Bangkok, Thailand.

Stamm, 2008: Following the natural advantage of a Giant Grass: Structures with entire bamboo culms at Guadua Symposium, Los Andes University.

Faust, Gnecco, Mannstein, Stamm 2006: Evidence for Post-conquest Demografic Collapse of the Americas in Historical CO2 Levels. Earth Interactions, Vol. 10.

Guía para la construcción de Puentes en Guadua. Booklet edited by UTP/GTZ in February 2001, Pereira.

Bambusbruecken in Kolumbien, Bruderverlag, “bauen mit holz”, October 1995
Report about the first modern bamboo bridge in Colombia.

His works have been featured in several film and video documentaries about Bamboo Bridges, broadcasted in German and Swiss and British TV channels, as well as several videos from Geoversity Design in Panama, and many videos posted on YouTube.

Master Stamm is a true mentor, with students from all parts of the globe eager to work with him again. In the past 25 years, Jörg has shared his knowledge and experience in building with bamboo through teaching workshops. He has lost count of how many but estimates he has led at least 60 theoretical and practical workshops on bamboo construction and design. The “students” have been farmers, craftsmen, academics, young enthusiasts, and his peers. And now he is here with us in Vietnam to teach some more.

In addition to his hands-on teaching, he is in constant demand for conference presentations to share his insights and expertise on such subjects as Bamboo as Building Material in Urban Environments at the Bio-based Building Summit, Region “Ile de France” in Paris. He was a recipient of the renowned “Fibre Award” for the development in bamboo in November 2019. This award is given to practitioners working in contemporary, plant fiber-based architecture. Truly he has been interested in sustainable materials for decades; as early as 1992 he was involved in the design and construction of a residential building according to the principles of eco-architecture.

We are so fortunate to have him here with us, to share and celebrate bamboo, and we are proud to honor him today with the World Bamboo Pioneer Award.