Name- Saksham Khetwani & Yashvi Juneja

ID- 19080021 & 21080064

FABRICS AND FURNISHINGS

Woven Bamboo House of South Ethiopia

Ethiopia has been using bamboo for over 1000 years. The Gamo and Dorze communities used

bamboo for their cultural houses: “Waje, Yare, and Kaara”. They vary in shape, size, material

used, and method of construction. They use different materials such as bamboo, barley, wheat

steam, grass, and wood. But the most important one is bamboo since they use it as a structural

material for roofing and its stem cover for roof covering. They also use bamboo as a wall layer

called “Loshe”, as a shingle form to strengthen the structures. Dorze community is an ethnic group

found in the Gaamo highlands in southern Ethiopia. These people work professionally as weavers.

Southwestern Ethiopia has a tropical climate and the temperature lies around 25 degrees to 27

degrees Celsius, this type of climate is an asset for the habitation of bamboo as it needs a tropical

environment to grow. Bamboo is a natural material that is fire resistant and it is environmentally

sustainable as it is available in abundance, it is also economically and socially sustainable as it is

built by the community and also promotes tourism. Bamboo as a construction material has good

tensile strength and good compressive strength. It is also very useful as it can be used in multiple

forms, can be split, flattened, and weaved and we can even use the leaves and the other layer of

the bamboo. It is also light in weight as it is hollow from the inside. The mobility and portability

are not very difficult as it is grown in nearby places hence, it is easy to move around and the whole

process takes place in the same area where the house is being built. To build the structure the

craftsman does all the work by hand and no machines are used in this process. The labor work is
divided between both men and women, wherein, men majorly are involved in construction while

women provide help through collecting and further transporting materials to the site. Tools like an

axe and sickle are used to build the structure and techniques like weaving and splitting are done to

build the framework of the house. Along with bamboo they also use thatch at the base as it protects

from pest attack and also provides thermal comfort, outer layer of bamboo is also used for

waterproofing. While doing the construction first the main structure of the house is made and then

its extensions are done and are further divided into rooms. All this construction is done by hand

and no machinery is used during all of this.