José Carlos Jiménez Jaramillo discusses guadua building with festival visitors.
Photo courtesy of Embassy of Colombia in Washington, D.C.
José Carlos Jiménez Jaramillo rakes coffee beans as part of the coffee production exhibit.
Photo by Cory Grace, Smithsonian Institution
José Carlos Jiménez Jaramillo.
Photo courtesy of Embassy of Colombia in Washington, D.C.
José Carlos Jiménez Jaramillo stands with Juan Valdéz.
Photo courtesy of Embassy of Colombia in Washington, D.C.
José Carlos Jiménez has been studying the properties of building with guadua bamboo for over eighteen years. His interest started as a child when he was living on a family farm near a forest patch of guadua. In his work, he is involved in every stage of the process from cutting the guadua to designing and constructing buildings.
"I started to work with guadua and I became enamored with this natural element. Guadua is smooth, easy to work with, light—it has many virtues. I have great empathy for it."
