|
Monday, May 22, 2006
Bamboo hut is the latest craze in S. Cotabato
POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato -- They are no longer the poor man's hut.
With a careful touch of class and craftsmanship, the nipa-thatched bamboo huts have, in fact, become a status symbol.
Producers of various bamboo products here have become emboldened by their sustainable venture on open-built cottages seen in resorts or in orchards across the region.
Lately, they embarked on producing closed-knit bamboo cottages serving real-time sleeping quarters -- the one that give tenants protection from prying eyes.
In fact among the pioneering bamboo house producers, the husband-and-wife tandem of Jun and Tata Bautista, has been besieged by orders since they started their venture few months back.
"We have been receiving inquiries from neighboring areas and, so far, have built nearly a dozen closed-bamboo huts that have been sold away easily," Bautista narrated at their furniture shop just along the national highway going to Koronadal City.
The hut that the Bautista couple produces usually measures 7-feet by 7-feet and could easily accommodate two persons. Roofed with cogon grasses, it has no kitchen or living room space.
However, they engineered seats fronting each other at the entrance of the house for leisurely chat at any time of the day.
The hut, which sells for P7,500, is elevated from the ground by about two feet for purposes of easy transfer from one corner of one's lot to another.
It will take about 15 persons to carry the closed-knit bamboo said Bautista, who assured that his craft could last a decade or more.
Bautista said each hut takes all but one week to construct.
He said one of those who ordered their bamboo house was a worker from another locality who was just renting a room.
"In the long-term, he can save from rent expenses. He had found a parcel of land to place the hut," his wife said.
Surprisingly, the couple's target market, are actually workers who are renting rooms as well as resort owners.
The Bautistas said they could construct larger huts depending on the client's taste.
But of course the price fetches higher than the prototype on display at the shop.
For larger huts measuring 10-feet by 10-feet or more, Jun recommends that this be constructed at the place of the client to avoid transporting problems.
"If there is an order for bigger huts, we will prepare the materials and bring them to the place of the client and assemble it there," he said.
Construction of closed-bamboo huts is obviously taking other furniture builders by storm.
Just near from the shop of the Bautistas, one prototype is being constructed.
Closed-bamboo huts, in a way, have become the newest curiosity sparkler among motorists passing by.
Although this enterprise, which literally started as a cottage industry, has been around for 10 years or so, the craftsmanship only improved lately.
Given the shot in the arm it badly-need, this thriving business has the potential to become a multi-million peso industry.
With a capitalization of only P10,000, one can already start venturing into bamboo furniture making, shared Eduardo Aligan, another bamboo craftsman.
"Building furniture sets and cottages out of bamboo has sustained my family for several years already," the father of two children said.
Skills, basic carpentry tools such as hammer and saw, a bolo, and of course bamboo, which is actually a grass and not a tree, are needed to start a bamboo furniture making business.
And even if the bamboo furniture makers in this town are not organized, they seem unperturbed as manifested by their continuing trade.
"Of course it would be a different story if we even just have a marketing help from the local government or through an association," Aligan lamented.
Marketing, indeed, could be one big factor for a business or an industry to thrive, but for an unorganized commerce such that of the bamboo product makers in this municipality, craftsmen have to bank on individual creativity to draw the attention of commuters or customers, the 38 year-old carpenter added.
Jovy Barreto, whose family is also involved in the bamboo furniture business, said artisans will continue to pick up the craft as this has become a family tradition transformed into a business endeavor. For how long, only time could tell however.
Furniture and cottage producers sourced raw bamboo supplies from the towns of Banga, Norala Surallah and Tampakan, all in South Cotabato province.
"We are buying a bamboo pole at P40 each, which is quite expensive," Aligan complained.
Last February, the Provincial Government honored products made of bamboo, apparently seeing its economic potentials, through the "Kawayan Festival." Bamboo is called kawayan in the vernacular.
Emmanuel Jumilla, head of the provincial investment and promotion center, said they want the bamboo industry to be fully developed for the benefit both of the local economy and tourism.
"We envision the province to be a major producer of quality bamboo crafts that visitors can buy as pasalubong of their loved ones," he said, referring to other bamboo handicrafts such as lampshades, wall frames and vases.
South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance Fuentes said bamboo is an integral part of the provincial culture, referring to thatched houses in rural areas made of bamboo.
"Kawayan (bamboo) mirrors the soul of South Cotabato. We should be the ones who should first patronize our bamboo products," she said. (RBS)
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(May 22, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
