Here is some information about the contributors, in order to speaking. Please do post on social media during the event, using #UKBambooSummit24 #ImagineBamboo #WorldBambooDay and tagging any of the contributors.
In order of speaking...
Orit Azaz, Creative Director, Imagine Bamboo
Orit is an independent artistic director, theatre maker and facilitator with a passion for creating performances and events, often large scale and outdoors, that bring together artists, experts and communities on an equal basis to share new experiences and conversations.
Since 2009, much of Orit’s work has been in outdoor public spaces, working with the UK’s leading contemporary circus company Nofit State, as artistic director of large scale, open air, circus theatre performances, including Parklife, Barricade and Open House; and with Coventry based Imagineer Productions on Bridge 2019-2021 and Imagine Bamboo 2021 – 2024.
Imagine Bamboo was originally commissioned as part of Birmingham 2022 Festival, Commonwealth Games. Since then, Orit has continued to lead the project in partnership with Imagineer and convenes the informal Bamboo in the UK group that has grown out of this epic collaborative work.
@oritazaz
(32) Orit Azaz | LinkedIn
Chris Matthews, Associate Director, Atelier One
Structural engineer Chris has embraced Atelier One’s curiosity and passion for experimenting with new ideas and novel materials.
Some key projects include the staging for the London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies, Spaceframe (a carbon fibre LED framing system used globally, winner of the Structural Awards innovation category), SEE Monster (a repurposed North Sea oil platform brought to Weston Super-mare) and the Kitkat Club (switching the Playhouse Theatre to work in the round).
Chris has helped develop Atelier One’s bamboo expertise over the last 10 years and is a strong advocate of structural bamboo use within the UK.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/atelierone/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cptmatthews/
Dr David Trujillo, Assistant Professor Academic, School of Energy, Construction and Environment, Coventry University and Head of Bio-based Materials, Atelier One
Dr David Trujillo has over 25 years’ experience in the structural use of bamboo. His work with bamboo has been both academic (with 50 publications in the field) and practical, as he has led and fostered the development of ISO standards on the topic. David currently works as an Assistant Professor at Coventry University within the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience and also as the Head of Bio-Materials at Atelier One. David is the UK’s designated expert to Working Group 12 – Bamboo Structures to ISO Technical Committee 165.
(32) David Trujillo | LinkedIn
James Marr, Bamboo Bicycle Club
James Marr, born in a rural landscape, combined his passion for cycling and sustainability with engineering expertise. After working in water hydraulics and renewable power generation, he founded the Bamboo Bicycle Club in 2012, promoting self-built bamboo bicycles. Over 12 years, he taught 180+ classes, driving innovation in the cycle industry through bio-composite designs. Marr has worked globally on bamboo design projects, including for the UN and Article 25. His work has been featured in prestigious venues such as the London Design Museum, Réunion des Musées Nationaux - Grand Palais, Muzej - Museo Lapidarium, and the IFB2016 Innovation Showcase. He has also been part of documentaries, panel talks, and academic collaborations.
bamboobicycleclub.org
Instagram: @bamboobicycleclub
https://www.facebook.com/bamboobicycle
Sundar Bharadwaj, Terragrn
Sundar Bharadwaj is the founder and CEO of TERRAGRN, a nature-based solutions project in South Africa's coal mining region. The project employs 40 locals and uses chemical-free methods to regenerate soil. They have planted a biodiverse agroforest with a dominance of bamboo and are planning to expand to 2,000 hectares.
TERRAGRN has secured a partner for their bamboo pellets, crucial for South Africa's transition from fossil fuels and they are exploring bamboo's use in construction with Atelier One and the University of Coventry.
As CEO, Sundar oversees a team focused on mitigating climate change, ensuring food security, and promoting social and economic progress.
Susanne Lucas, World Bamboo Organisation
Susanne Lucas is a founder and the Executive Director of the World Bamboo Organization.
Her professional background is in horticulture, as she works in the field of landscape design and garden development. Through seeing bamboo as a beautiful plant, her knowledge expanded to appreciating the myriads of global applications of bamboo as a vital natural resource, providing solutions as an environmental remedy for degraded land, an economic opportunity for communities in need, a sustainable building material, a biofuel, a fiber, climate change mitigator and so much more. She holds a BS in Horticulture from Colorado State University, served as a director for the American Bamboo Society for many years, is past president of the American Bamboo Society, and served on the board of the International Plant Propagators Society Eastern Region. She has published many articles about ornamental bamboo, and in 2013, Reaktion Press UK
Website: www.worldbamboo.net
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/groups/112134877655/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/WorldBambooOrganization
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/worldbamboo/
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannelucas/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-bamboo-organization/posts/?feedView=all
X / Twitter : @worldbamboo
#worldbamboo #worldbambooday #bamboonow
Kjell Tahon, Bamboologic
operational management | marcom | shareholder
Kjell has a Master’s degree in communication science, and has broad international marketing, sales, and communication experience in several sectors, such as financial, private equity and socio-economic agricultural projects in Africa.
In addition to his extensive experience in greenfield management, marketing & communication he has a broad network of individual and institutional (impact) investors.
Gemma Thomas (she/her/they), BRILLIANT BAMBOO CIC
Following the collaboration with Imagine Bamboo, Gemma founded Brilliant Bamboo to continue imagining future projects for Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. A creative producer and director of ideas who brings together artists with communities with experience from other sectors to think about futures.
She is an experienced producer of ideas and frameworks for artists and partners to work within. Since 2013 she has led Appetite (Arts Council England-funded Creative People and Places programme) in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. She is a Board Member for Stoke Creates and chair of The Portland Inn Project CIC.
Dan Thompson, Artist & Writer
Dan Thompson is an award-winning, neurodivergent, Working Class social artist and writer. Dan has worked with Turner Contemporary, Tate Exchange, Appetite CPP, Frequency Festival and many others. He has been finding ways to involve more people and a wider range of people in the arts for 25+ years. Living in Ramsgate, he is chair of Talking Birds, Coventry, and an associate artist with Brilliant Bamboo.
Substack: danthompsonstudio.substack.com/about
Instagram: instagram.com/danthompson33
Website: danthompson.co.uk
Mish Weaver, Director, BAMBOO circus, Nofit State Circus
Mish Weaver is a rare mixture of Circus designer & director with 30 years’ experience. Having studied Fine Art Sculpture and later, Choreography, she mixes a love of weight-bearing structures with circus props, specialising in choreographing performance on, around and with objects.
Mish’s main ambition is to be useful, and to find a realistic way to balance her work as an artist, her experience of mentoring and guiding performance work towards serious subjects. In the face of Climate breakdown Mish has been nudging the circus industry to be more socially aware and socially engaged – to this end she facilitated two ‘Serious Circus Symposiums,’ which have served to inspire action from within the circus world. Mish is based in Bristol, UK.
@mishweaver
Tom Rack, Artistic Director, Nofit State Circus
Tom Rack is the Artistic Director of NoFit State Circus and the last of the original founding members. Formed in 1986 in Cardiff by five friends with a love of juggling and street preforming nofitstate has gone on to become the leading U.K. contempory circus touring both nationally and internationally both in the Big Top and outdoors. Tom plays a key role in defining and shaping the company’s creative journey and creating a context for the new and different approaches to circus NoFit State is known for and it’s reputation for innovative, exciting, accessible and high quality work.