Understanding Form through Bamboo Maquettes

Creating bamboo maquettes as a precursor to larger structures is a traditional process used by Balinese and Vietnamese bamboo carpenters. Following this traditional, I often use maquettes to study the designing and weight dynamics of future pieces.

I also use bamboo maquettes to study how a piece might feel, on its own or combined with other maquettes and bamboo elements. Each has its own feeling and expressiveness and building small models like this allows me to imagine how larger pieces might convey emotional resonance.

It’s often a challenge to scale up, however. Bamboo carpentry responds differently as the bamboo gets larger and heavier; joints that I’ve modelled lack the strength, and I’ve often failed to make things bigger that I’ve envisaged small. Maquettes are useful as a prototype guide, but larger piecies often take direction that are only nasceant in their smaller cousins.