Bamboo Root Masks and Products from Bali

Mar 24, 2008 by Sean

Here’s a line of strange, fun & eyecatching products: Bamboo Root.

A collection of grotesque masks, windchimes, small pots — even keyfobs — all made from the root of bamboo.

No rhyme or reason to these products, the carver pulls the root and let’s his imagination do the rest of the work.

End result: a pretty neat line of one-off products:

http://www.indonesiaexport.com/frame.php?category=Bamboo+Root

Just for the hell of it: my favourite piece is the Ketongan (BRT-012) you see in the picture at the left.

A Kentongan is basically a noisemaker – anything that makes a big enough noise when struck to draw the attention of other villagers.

Traditionally, the night patrollers would use simple kentongan to alert villagers to danger (fire, theft, etc.). Often this would be a very simple instrument such as a length of bamboo struck with a wooden stick or a hollow wood log with a hole in the middle.

These days, you’re more likely to find Kentongan used in temples (in the same way a Buddhist temple will use gongs), the striking of the kentongan will announce a ceremony and invite villagers to gather.

Enough about Kentongan, enjoy the category and please don’t forget the many other bamboo products currently on offer in the catalogue:

• Bamboo & Wood Containers
• Bamboo Bird Houses
• Bamboo Products
• Bamboo Serving Trays
• Bamboo Totems
• Bamboo Vases
• Bamboo Windchimes
• Drums, Rainsticks & Didgeridoos
• Furniture — Bamboo
• Javanese Wood Trays & Coasters
• Lampshades
• Pandan Boxes
• Potpourri
• Stationery – Organic Material
• Tiki Bamboo
• Woven Placemats

[Update: December 28th, 2009]

You will also find a number of bamboo related posts in our News & Updates pages.

You can start by searching “bamboo” (you don’t need the quote marks) in the search box at the top right of every page.

Other notable posts include:

Bemused & Bamboozled (pardon the awful pun) — Problems with Importing Thatch into the USA

Bamboo Root Masks & Other Products

General Post on Bamboo Products

Bamboo Tiki Products and the Update on Bamboo Tiki Products

An older update on Bamboo and Wood Containers

Also, as a reminder, all of our prices are online but you first need to logon at: http://www.indonesiaexport.com/logon.php. If this is your first visit to Indonesia Export (hello & welcome), we’re a wholesale only company based in Bali — please take a moment to fill out our contact form and we’ll send you details for accessing our prices.