By Plantation Bamboo
We were delighted to receive some lovely photos and feedback on a beautiful, modern kitchen recently crafted by Nic Harvey from Harvey Woodcraft in Christchurch.
Nic’s love of woodwork began years ago in the UK when he was working in “French Polishing”, before moving to New Zealand and retraining in Joinery. He set up Harvey Woodcraft just over 4 years ago.
“I work from my home garage which has been converted to a full professional joinery shop”, said Nic. “It’s small but I don’t let that stop me taking on the big projects. I advertise myself as a bespoke joiner and love to make ‘cool stuff’. I’ve never made the same thing twice with all of my kitchens being unique, made to the client’s brief and always with a little bit of my own flair” he proudly added.
“The bamboo kitchen certainly came under my scope quite nicely. My clients, ‘Helen and Jerry’ were recommended my services from a previous client – a ‘one off’ walnut kitchen”, said Nic.
Nic explained that Helen already had bamboo in mind to use. She wanted something that was a natural product, was sustainably sourced and in lighter tones. “Their house is on a very awkward section – a big hill, with a huge pine forest to their right and stunning views from their balcony. So the kitchen had to blend and mould to these surroundings” he said.
“I designed the kitchen from a few of their sketches using SketchUp – and with a bit of back and forth we got there. The 3D modelling program really gave them a full perspective view of what their kitchen would look like. This is a vital part of my process”.
Nic researched and found that Plantation Bamboo’s 20mm vertical natural bamboo panel was a perfect choice for this job. “It’s a very stable material, easy to work with and simple to cut and sand” he said. “I applied four coats of Osmo Hardwax oil for the finish. That took a lot of work, but it was worth it”, he added.
“We also used one 30mm vertical natural bamboo panel to create the shelving area under the island. The uprights were the same material. I really enjoyed making that part!”.
We love the way Nic routed the cupboard and drawer handles. “My own flair really came out with handle detail. Each one cut with a specific router cutter to give the detail I was after. Choosing 20mm bamboo was perfect for this handle to be cut into, as it offers enough depth to get the feel for it spot on” he said.
Clever use of LED lighting strips really enhanced the bamboo joinery too.
“I was a little sad to see this one finished as I just enjoyed working on it so much! But I’m always on the look out for the next one, that hopefully will involve some more bamboo!”
The team at Plantation Bamboo are passionate about this incredible, natural and sustainable material – Bamboo. As New Zealand’s only specialist bamboo importer and distributor, Plantation offers top quality bamboo building-related products that represent great value-for-money, direct to customers all over the country. We firmly believe that bamboo is the next generation in sustainable building materials.
The Plantation Bamboo team is committed to providing exceptional service, superior products and a strong desire to exceed customer expectations. After 16 years in business, we have established bamboo market leaders – with strong product knowledge and over 1000 satisfied customers, including some of New Zealand’s leading home building companies, architects, designers, builders, and numerous homeowners.
Plantation Bamboo imports and distributes their products directly to you, and understands that it is important to work with a reliable company. We offer not only a solid and varied range of products with great prices but also comprehensive warranties, technical and installation support, manufacturing information and thorough product testing.
Products are supplied and distributed directly out of our warehouses in Auckland and Christchurch, offering our products New Zealand wide. We can also refer you to good Installers and Joiners if needed. The plantation is excited to be part of the global innovation and movement towards using bamboo as a truly stunning and sustainable building material.
Although it may all look the same, the quality of bamboo products from different manufacturers and suppliers will differ greatly. The quality of the finished product is highly dependent on the quality of the raw materials used in the production of the bamboo product, and also the manufacturing and quality assurance process itself.
Ensure that you are dealing with a reliable company. One that offers not just a great price and a wide variety of coordinating products, but can also provide product specification data sheets and manufacturing information, as well as good warranties, sound installation practices and prompt technical support services.
If you're thinking bamboo - think Plantation Bamboo.