Why is it called Captain Bamboo?
More than ten years ago, our workshop started selling handmade paper lamps online in China. We needed a trademark for our products.
Our workshop is in a town in China that is famous for bamboo weaving. Bamboo is the material we make our lamps from. It is also part of how people here live.
A few hundred metres from our workshop there is a panda park. Two pandas live there.
The men in our workshop like to go there and watch the pandas eat fresh bamboo shoots.
We always joke about it: we make paper lamps out of bamboo thread, and like the pandas, we all live on bamboo.
So we wanted a name to do with pandas and bamboo.
At that time, our boss played Dota 2 a lot.
His favourite Courier in the game was a cute panda. Its name was Captain Bamboo.
Captain Bamboo, the panda Courier from Dota 2. © Valve Corporation. Dota and the Dota logo are trademarks of Valve Corporation.
We all liked the name, so that is what we went with.
There is no deep meaning behind it. It just came from a real and happy place —
a group of people who love bamboo, living next to pandas, doing work with bamboo.
Born from Bamboo & Paper Heritage
We come from Qingshen, Sichuan, China — a place famous for bamboo craftsmanship and the hometown of giant pandas. Neighboring Jiajiang has a long history of handmade papermaking. Where rich bamboo forests meet traditional handmade paper, the custom of crafting paper lamps was naturally born. Our local area is home to several workshops producing lamps for famous global home brands, and we are one of them.
Isamu Noguchi blended traditional paper lamps into modern design, sharing that soft glow with homes around the world. To recreate these master series pieces, we partner with a historic workshop in Mino, Japan that has been making washi paper since 1956. By combining fine bamboo from the panda's home with authentic Mino washi paper, we craft lamps that bring classic tradition into simple modern living.
Our Craft: Small Batches Made by Hand
We moved away from the mass-production assembly lines used for global brands, choosing instead natural Japanese washi paper and fine local bamboo. Bamboo is strong, flexible, and eco-friendly. Every lamp at Captainsbamboo features:
- Hand-balanced tension: Every curve is shaped with care for just the right balance and tension.
- Small-batch crafted: Our artisans take their time to ensure seams are clean and frames are sturdy.
- Eco-conscious: We use natural materials and low-impact shipping to protect the planet.
Why did we enter the North American market?
Half of it was to grow. The other half was to get back at the people who had hurt us.
Before 2024, we protected our partners. So we only made lamps for export and sold them online in China. We did not sell in other countries ourselves.
We worked like this for many years. We made the products. The partners sold them overseas. We thought this was a good way for both of us to succeed.
But in autumn 2024, the New York company that sold in the US asked us for a lower price. Its Chinese owner also wanted to be our only supplier.
We said no to both.
They asked our workers to take our tools, our materials and our moulds. They wanted to start their own shop with them. When we found out, we ended the deal.
For almost a year, this went on and on. It took so much of our time. The business really suffered.
This made us think hard, for the first time:
we should get closer to the people who buy from us. That way we can make better work. And that is the best reply to a partner who did not treat us fairly.
