GIANT BAMBOO RESEARCH in the UK – CORNWALL 🎋✨
For the first two weeks of September, Nagaoka Meichiku, Kyoto-based bamboo studio visited the UK for the first time sponsored by Kyoto Prefecture. The aim of our visit was to research UK-grown giant species of bamboo and its potential for large-scale design and installation work.
We began in Cornwall, working with Trebah Garden to view, cut and trial giant bamboo species, to see what kinds of installation work might be possible with fresh UK grown bamboo. Our plan is to start shaping ideas for a collaborative bamboo flowers design submission for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 🌸✨ together with Trebah, an RHS Partner Garden.
We started with Trebah Garden Head Gardener, Darren Dickey, exploring their ‘Bamboozle Area’ a collection of around 50 bamboo species thriving in Cornwall’s sup-tropical climate. The bamboo here is carefully managed through regular cutting, rhizome-proof barriers and thoughtful placement of running versus clump-forming species. We were joined by BBC Radio Cornwall with the brilliant Maddie Baker fluent in Japanese 💓🇯🇵 covering our research.
A joyful moment came with the creation of a miniature koetsu-ji gaki, a curved Japanese bamboo fence made entirely from finely split Trebah-grown Moso (Phyllostachys edulis or Timber bamboo also commonly used in Japan) 🎋✨This was gifted to Trebah to share the precision and elegance of takegaki and to see how well UK bamboo performs using traditional Japanese techniques and in the hands of mastercraftsman Aki!
Whilst in Cornwall we also spent time at Falmouth University with the Sustainable Product Design course, led by Evy Dutheil, who shared wider material research and studio work of her students — from algae-based alternatives to plastic, to water-collecting and condensing systems designed to function even in dry climates 🌱 it was such a joy to hear of these projects and think of possible ways to involve students in collaboration. At the Eden Project, we encountered tropical bamboos, thriving and ever shooting within the Jungle Biome on a diet of seaweed fertiliser and bamboo mulch at a scale I have never before seen 🎋✨ It was great to hear how the soil has been improved and sits on initial mining site and layers of clay, then 50/50 gravel mix with compost on top.
RHIZOMATIC CONNECTIONS – LONDON 🎋✨
Our London days continued at Kew Gardens, where we explored the Japanese minka house and bamboo collection, encountering solid bamboo, flowering bamboo (a reminder of its place in the grass family 🌾), and the iridescent sheaths of Semiarundinaria fastuosa 💓✨ We also visited Kyoto Garden, Holland Park, the Design Museum, Japan House, Chelsea Physic Garden, and Eccleston Square Garden, sharing news of our international bamboo exchange and gathering inspiration around materials, landscape and more-than-human design thinking (The Design Museums’ latest exhibition.)
Huge thanks to all the gardeners, institutions, educators and friends who welcomed us so generously — and wonderful Japanese bamboo team who somehow survived Heathrow to Truro and my driving!
This trip laid foundations for future large-scale floral bamboo collaborations and adventures continue with our Chelsea submission… 🎋💚✨
