Our bamboo comes from the award-winning holiday region, Anji (China). The bamboo, which grows in Anji is better and more expensive than bamboo from southern tropical areas...

The region is similar to our middle European mountain areas. Anji is a beautiful mountain area with forests, streams and apartments for tourists. A very well maintained landscape with small villages and bamboo farmers. The processing industry is concentrated in the valley. Everything is close to each other. It's climate is like south of the alps. In the summer warmer and humid, but also with snow in the winter and you can go skiing.

The bamboo, which grows in Anji is better and more expensive than bamboo from southern tropical areas. Also the processing industry is controlled, very strongly by the authorities since Anji has the status of an award-winning holiday region (similar to a nature protection area).

We produce bamboo office furniture since 2007 now and have delivered some couple of 100 desks to large and small customers. The material is unique. No other wood retains such a beautiful color. (You know that other wood veneers get yellowed and bleached out in time) This does not apply to bamboo. Bamboo is aging with dignity!

We offer 2 different surfaces:

1. Painted surface. Thus the material is wrapped around with paint/laquer (plastic). What you can feel when touching it is the paint's surface. The authentic feel of the wood is lost. Advantage of the painted surface is that the surface is sealed. Disadvantage is that scratches, etc. can no longer be repaired on-site. Thus it loses its originally sustainable property and will be disposed of as quickly as other veneer panels.
2. Oiled surface. Here, the surface is protected by the oil from dirt and moisture. But only to a certain extent. As every oiled furniture surface it is to be cleaned regularly and in case of deeper scratches sanded and oiled once more. The advantage is:
3. that employees take care on a clean desktop and
4. that the massive (thick) material is enduring many sandings, repairs and cleaning even after many years. (it is thick solid wood and not a thin veneer)
5. Finally a bamboo desktop with oiled surdace is easily to refresh and so many many years usable and a sustainable product.

Design: Bamboo solid wood deserves a special carving. It should not just be cut with straight sharp edges, but rather carved like a sculpture. So architecturally well-proportioned tops can arise, which again vary in design, effect and filigree. We manufacture round and elegant shaped desks since the 1980s and do not do plastic edge bendings. The forms we developed in these years focus on ergonomic aspects and space efficiency. The benefits of the round anthropometric Vital-Office office concepts are well expanded with the use of the bamboo material.

Usually you will learn very spontaneously, what kind of work quality and productivity in this office can be achieved and which are not. The advantage of a desktop in bamboo solid wood is in the sustainability and value, combined with an affordable price. The advantage for the entrepreneur is improved quality of work, mindfulness, and attractiveness. The advantage for the employee is appreciation and "feel good".

Appreciation and attractiveness may count the highest benefit for a corporation to use bamboo office furniture. The quality of our environment mirrors the quality of work done there.

This is well known today. So radically efficient, such as a clean city reduce the crime rate (see David Coleman "Social Intelligence" example of New York), so easily a quality furniture improves the mindfulness at work. The psychological factors are complex. But it is possible to observe yourself and get a feel for how an environment or furnishing affects you. Usually you will learn very spontaneously, what kind of work quality and productivity in this office can be achieved and which are not.  The desk is a tool that allows you to work with ease and same time is influencing your long term health. It is the heart piece of office furniture.

Vital-Office bamboo office furniture is a professional office furniture system. Not to compare with other bamboo furniture made by companies who are not professional in office ergonomics furniture requirements.

In the Vital-Office Concept (published as book) the objectives and influence factors of human stress-free and healthy Office design is defined. Among other things it is assumed that the value of our environment affects the quality of our work. The psychological factors involved are complex. ... The desk is a tool that allows you to work with ease and same time is influencing your long term health. It is the heart piece of office furniture.

The quality of our environment determines the quality of our work. This is well known today. So radically efficient, such as a clean city reduce the crime rate (see David Coleman "Social Intelligence" example of New York), so easily a quality furniture improves the mindfulness at work. The psychological factors are complex. But it is possible to observe yourself and get a feel for how an environment or furnishing affects you. Usually you will learn very spontaneously, what kind of work quality and productivity in this office can be achieved and which are not.  The desk is a tool that allows you to work with ease and same time is influencing your long term health. It is the heart piece of office furniture.

1. The advantage of a desktop in bamboo solid wood is in the sustainability and quality, combined with an affordable price.
2. The advantage for the entrepreneur is improved quality of work, mindfulness, and attractiveness.
3. The advantage for the employee is appreciation and "feel good".

A furnishing concept with bamboo office furniture, together with the given architecture, would like to create a delightful, pleasant and high-quality working atmosphere. In this bamboo environment, different professions will find their place. And as diverse as the work of a lawyer, architect, project manager or chief medical officer may be, all of you will value a pleasant work environment that is modern, contemporary and flexible enough to adapt to today's professional needs. 

You are right to be proud of yourself and your daily performance, to show appreciation to yourself and to let your clients share in it. 

Bamboo has already approached into all kind of rooms:

• As a popular parquet floor - particularly hard, abrasion-resistant and timelessly elegant
• as a piece of furniture, or
• as a solitary sculpture.

“Since I work for Vital-Office as an architect I am dealing a lot with the grenn bamboo material and develop many green office concepts, also for large international corporations. Within this job I ask myself, what exactly is this attraction of bamboo material?”

Of course, there are important issues such as sustainability, overall very valuable contribution to the environment and also it‘s authentic naturalness. Just to name a few. But bamboo is mainly a very nice, elegant and aesthetic material that has a very superior appeal.

Therefore, it deserves a careful crafting. It shall not simply be cut and fitted with a straight edge, but rather modeled as a sculpture. This helps to create architecturally proportioned tops, which again vary in effect and grace through differently shaped and profiled edges.

Bamboo is aging with dignity. If once getting on in years, it retains its beautiful, aesthetic and natural coloring and does not loose its good-looking, because of exposure to the sun, which e.g. gives other woods a yellow tinge. Also, humidity it can put away well and responds with less shrinkage and expansion than other woods. Looking at it more from a technical perspective, we know that no other natural material is more elasticity, hard and strong, which is combined with exceptionally low weight.

Only the interplay of all these details, impress consciously and unconsciously upon the user. An overall composition that is authentic, consistent and of appreciated high quality. Bamboo is with all its features a very modern, authentic and noble material.

Dipl. Ing. (Architecture) Petra Bodenburg:

Feng Shui masters value bamboo as energetically auspicious material. This is confirmed by scientific research.

As electrical equipment, such as computers, emit positive oxygen ions (in this case, harmful), so bamboo emits healthy (negative charged ion). And that, in an amount that far exceeds all other woods The measured values in a bamboo forest are at 10,000 m³ / a, in a normal forest 5000, in a park 1.800 and in closed rooms under 200.

• Positively charged (harmful) ions are associated with fatigue, headache and anxiety.
• On the other hand negative charged (healthy) ions are associated with positive effects on mood, clarity of mind and creativity. They do this by increasing the supply of oxygen to the brain, improving coordination and more mental energy.

Major green features are the fast-growing raw material that grows in only 5 years. Actually a bamboo grows from sprout in just 2 years to full size. Then it takes 3 years, until the wood has hardened. Thus, the bamboo plant is ripe for the harvesting or it will be broken in the next few years in a natural way by storm. Within 5 years enough sprouts have grown to replace, it is a natural selection. In fact, 25% of a bamboo forest can be harvested every year without compromising the nature in any way.

Is bamboo really environmental friendly?

If we compare Bamboo with regional woods such as pine, beech or oak, then bamboo is much more environmental friendly in many points:

1. Bamboo grows in just 5 years - European woods require 50-100 years.Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. It grows in only 2 to 4 months up to 20m high. After that, the plant needs four years to develop a hard wood structure. At the same time new shoots are growing automatically each year, so that each year 25% of the pipes in a bamboo forest can be harvested, without reducing the size of the forest or the number of trees per hectare. With the harvest of the older tubes more energy (light, water) is available for the remaining forest - thus the quality of the forest is increased.
2. The controlled cultivation and management is carried out under strict control of the government, the forestry inspectors, environmental authorities and associations. The FSC certification also guarantees recognized Western standards. 
3. Regional aspects shorten transport routes. In Western world we are used to buy anywhere. This means that raw materials and intermediate products are transported several times some 100 km from north to south and west to east. In the controlled growing areas of Anji, however, everything is close together. Within an area of about 100 km radius, bamboo is grown and fully processed to plates, parquet flooring and finished furniture. The transport to the seaport of Shanghai is only 160 km. The ecological balance of a sea freight is finally the most environmentally friendly transport route.
4. CO2 storage and oxygen production. Bamboo is an important and fast CO2 fixator. That means, bamboo absorbs and binds a large amount of CO2 during its growth. In Comparison, a bamboo forest binds 1,46 times as much as a European forest and 1,33 times as much as a tropical rain forest of same size. At the same time bamboo produces oxygen. One hectare of bamboo forest produces 1350kg oxygen and our European forest only 750kg. This is 1.8 times more ..
5. Under the condition that processing and transport not use more CO2, as has been saved in the plant, bamboo is neutral in it’s eco balance (LCA CO2). The processing of wood in Europe is dominated by the energy-intensive particle board industry, were wood is shreddered and with a lot of energy (heat) glued back to plates. The production of bamboo plates from the 25mm wide bamboo strips, is in comparison made with relatively small energy-saving machines.

Bamboo is a perfect example of a green product - sustainable, environmental friendly and as hard as German oak. Due to its extremely rapid growth of only 5 years, it binds huge amounts of carbon dioxide and producing more oxygen than most other plants. There are also amazing material properties:

Bamboo combines extreme hardness and high compressive and tensile strength with high elasticity and low weight. The high silicate content of the outer layers of bamboo ensures that the pipes are flame resistant. “ (Ref.: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/technik-motor/umwelt-technik/bauen-mit-bambus-aussen-hart-innen-hohl-und-dabei-hoechst-flexibel-1306694.html) 

Essential for the sustainable usage is the manufacturing process.
Vital-Office uses oiled solid wood tops that can be easily repaired if scratched during use. The thickness of the solid wood makes it easy for everyone to sand away scratches and re oil the surface.In comparison, veneered panels have only a thin veneer of 0.5mm and are usually protected by lacquer (similar to a plastic coating). Scratches and damages are logically not removable and the product is disposed more quickly.