bambam kart

context

The tawlailir is the traditional mizo cart — a single-axle, bamboo-framed, human-pulled platform that carried loads out of the fields for generations. Bambam kart is the studio’s attempt to take that geometry seriously and redraw it for the roads and loads of the present.

The work began in 2025, in partnership with NOA Mobility. This page is the place where the science and mechanics of the bamboo will be written down — why the culm behaves the way it does under a load, and what that means for a cart that has to carry more than a basket of rice.

the science

In progress. This section will cover the material side of the project:

• fibre orientation in Melocanna baccifera and Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, and why longitudinal strength comes cheap while transverse strength does not
• the node as a structural event — what the diaphragm contributes, and where the culm wants to fail
• moisture, age-at-harvest, and the curing regime the cart’s members were taken through
• treatment against borer and fungal attack, and the trade-off between treatment depth and fibre damage

the mechanics

In progress. This section will cover the cart itself:

• frame geometry — how the single-axle tawlailir was re-drawn for a wider bed and a different centre of gravity
• joint strategy — lashed, pinned, and bolted connections, and where each one earns its place
• load-path analysis against a timber-and-steel baseline
• field trial reports from aizawl and champhai, and what the cart taught us that the bench could not

status

Prototype in build with NOA Mobility. Build log, load-test figures, and field-use photography to follow.