Advantages of bamboo as a material

Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on earth. Giant bamboo is not formally a wood, but it is a grass that, however, contains the properties of hardwood. The material is suitable for residential, industrial and commercial applications.

Bamboo has a natural beauty with a distinct look thanks to its grain. Other advantages? The material has high stability thanks to individual strips that swell and shrink less quickly. "MOSO® bamboo products convince with their ecological sustainability and quality advantages such as fire resistance and hardness. These advantages are backed by a guarantee of up to 30 years. The properties of bamboo are equivalent or even superior to those of most hardwood species and other building materials," says Edwin.

MOSO® can present several certifications. "Many of our outdoor product references have durability class 1 and usage class 4: resistant to groundwater and freshwater," Edwin continues. Other certifications revolve around surface mould resistance and fire class, for example. "As a matter of fact, every new product we launch on the market undergoes a whole series of tests depending on the area of application of the product. We also regularly ask our partners to test end products for us. That immediately provides findings from the field."

Sustainability, not an empty promise, but intrinsic to the material

Even when MOSO® was founded more than 25 years ago, sustainability was part of the company's DNA. "Our bamboo is harvested above the root. The bamboo plant consists of several stems to which new shoots grow every year. A bamboo stem is harvested after four to five years. Generally, 20-25% of the forest can be harvested every year without reducing its size. The material is intrinsically sustainable and does not need to be made sustainable through all kinds of processes or marketing pitches," Edwin clarifies.

Moreover, an LCA analysis showed that most MOSO® Bamboo Products are CO2 neutral over the lifetime of the products. "The footprint due to transportation from China is more than offset by the sustainable nature of the bamboo itself," adds Bregina. Bamboo is an inexhaustible resource that can also grow up to one metre a day. During growth, MOSO® bamboo absorbs more CO2 than is emitted during production.

MOSO® bamboo flooring on offer

Besides MOSO®, there are other players offering bamboo products in the market. How does the Dutch company position itself as a pioneer in the sector? Edwin doesn't have to think long about that: "The bamboo market is a very fragmented market with players sometimes offering only one or two products made from bamboo. In contrast, at MOSO® we have an extremely broad application field with flooring, cladding and terraces made of bamboo as well as a real R&D team studying projects and opportunities."

In flooring, MOSO® focuses on both project flooring, home flooring and stairs. "Within the flooring segment, project floors represent the largest volume. For example, we recently laid 9,000 m² of bamboo flooring in France and several town halls and public buildings around the world have also been fitted with our floors," says Bregina.

Consumers can choose from various indoor flooring collections. They are always beautiful, hard and durable floors with a 30-year guarantee and plenty of CO2 stored, one of the many advantages of bio-based products. We take a look at two collections.

MOSO® Bamboo Elite is a floor of long and wide planks consisting of three layers of solid bamboo strips. By pressing the middle layer crosswise, stability is optimised. The Bamboo Elite Premium is a wider extension (up to 190 mm) and is one of the most ecologically sustainable floors on the market. The Bamboo UltraDensity® solid bamboo floor is a project floor aimed at both indoor and semi-outdoor projects. Think train stations, airports, shopping malls or museums. This collection was also expanded to include ultra-high density stair treads with high abrasion resistance.

"In addition to our fixed collections, we also supply custom-made products at customer request," Edwin adds.

Extensive range of colours and patterns

MOSO® offers bamboo flooring in different shades: Natural, Caramel and Ecru and this in relatively long and wide planks. Customers can also choose from various motifs. The Bamboo Elite Herringbone, for instance, has long been an eye-catcher in the range, an aesthetic showpiece. This floor is offered in two bamboo optics, enriched with a warm caramel colour that creates an instant cosy atmosphere.

For those who are still unsure about which floor to choose, MOSO® has a handy online navigator to guide customers through the range, colours and patterns.

About MOSO®

MOSO® was founded in 1997 by René Zaal, Gerry Jansen and Arjen Veltman. The company, which once started with two floorboards, develops and produces various bamboo products for indoor and outdoor use. Reasons why MOSO® products are becoming increasingly popular? They meet the highest technical requirements and quality standards and they make applications more beautiful with a sustainable and renewable raw material, the MOSO® bamboo.

MOSO® operates from its headquarters in Zwaag (the Netherlands) and has sales offices around the world, including in Spain, the United States, South Africa and Italy. The company has a sales market of some 55 countries. The company has 95 employees worldwide.

Website: www.moso-bamboo.com