Bamboo is a plant with important cultural significance in China. Because of its strength and flexibility, bamboo is a symbol of integrity and is often depicted in combination with pine tree and plum blossom (known as Three Friends in Winter) in Chinese art. As a material, bamboo is used to make furniture, vessels and items for the scholar’s desk such as brush pot and wrist rest. In modern times, the craft of bamboo is still valued for its aesthetic beauty, lightweight and versatility, although traditional bamboo work has declined just like many other crafts. The V&A China collection houses a small number of historic bamboo work such as brush pots and wrist rest.

Vase Jaune and Basket IV come from the series the Clan, a group of bamboo ware created through parametric design and traditional craftsmanship. The concept is inspired by the connection of families associated with kinship sharing the same ancestor. Artist Gamzar uses Grasshopper, a visual programming language, and parametric equations to design the structural mock-ups. Sharing the same design logic, different forms of bamboo ware in this series are rendered by modifying the parametres. The works are then created by bamboo crafting. The object retains an unrefined quality which is partly intentional to reflect the materiality of raw bamboo and lacquer. Two objects from the same series will be acquired in order to illustrate the design methodology.

Hong Kong-based artist Gamzar grew up in a Teochew-Hakka family and is a designer by training. He became interested in bamboo work and after apprenticeship in Taiwan and Zhejiang, has been making bamboo crafts with computer-aided design since 2017.