What does not yet exist in the market can also become an opportunity for innovation. That was the premise that led Natalia Pérez, an interior designer specializing in sustainability and retail, to spend more than a decade exploring the potential of bamboo and ultimately turning it into the foundation for new biomaterials.
Her journey began with Proyecto Menos es Más, the interior design studio she founded after graduating as an Interior Designer in 2010. It was there that she began asking a question that would eventually shape her career: what do you do when the materials available on the market do not reflect the values you want to bring into your projects?
For Natalia, the answer was to create them herself.
“For me, innovation comes from within, not from the outside. If you simply follow trends, you never give yourself the space to follow your own path.”
From Bamboo to the Lab
In 2011, during a workshop at the Centro Metropolitano de Diseño (CMD), Natalia gained a deeper understanding of bamboo and its possibilities. The potential of this natural resource sparked a research journey that would eventually extend far beyond interior design.
In 2012, she began working with Argentina’s National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) on testing and trials related to the material she would later name Bambuflex®.
The process did not happen overnight. Between 2012 and 2016, while continuing to develop the material, Natalia also traveled and spent time learning from Indigenous communities, seeking to broaden her understanding of sustainability through different ways of thinking about the relationship between land, resources and production.
That research eventually led to Bambuniverso, an innovation lab focused on bamboo-based biomaterials, as well as new developments such as Bambustone®.
What If Leather Didn’t Come From Animals? What If Stone Didn’t Come From Quarries?
These are some of the questions driving Bambuniverso’s work.
Bambuflex® is conceived as a plant-based leather made from bamboo, while Bambustone® explores the concept of a “plant-based stone.” Both developments aim to expand the range of material alternatives available to industries such as fashion, furniture, product design and interior design.
The opportunity also begins with a locally available resource. According to information provided by the project, bamboo is present or cultivated in 18 of Argentina’s 23 provinces, opening up possibilities for developing production chains rooted in local territories.
“Luxury can be sustainable, and it doesn’t have to cost us the planet.”
For Natalia, however, the material itself is only one part of the equation. Her vision also considers where resources come from, the people involved in producing them, their potential to scale, and what happens to them once they have fulfilled their purpose.
“When you choose a material, you are not just choosing the material itself; you are also choosing the story behind it,” she says.
Innovation Also Means Changing How We Produce
Bambuniverso addresses a broader challenge: today’s production and consumption models generate environmental and socioeconomic impacts that are pushing industries to seek new alternatives.
The project approaches its biomaterials not simply as products, but as part of ecosystem-based production models designed to support sustainable development, with the potential for international application and scalability.
The initiative also connects design with the local bioeconomy. Natalia sees bamboo as an opportunity to create new value chains and strengthen communities involved in its production, while also exploring its environmental potential.
The team is currently working to build and consolidate the Bambuniverso FabLab, while establishing collaborations with brands and seeking partnerships with investors and strategic partners interested in becoming part of this emerging industry.
Technology, Yes — But With a Human Essence
The same philosophy shapes Natalia’s perspective on artificial intelligence. At Proyecto Menos es Más, AI tools are used to streamline visualizations and certain technical processes, but not as a substitute for creative judgment.
“Artificial intelligence should simplify processes, but the essence must remain human.”
For Natalia, innovation does not mean chasing every new technology or trend. It means understanding what you want to change and designing from that starting point.
What began as a need to find materials aligned with her own values ultimately became a research journey spanning more than a decade, centered on the possibilities of bamboo.
Instagram: @proyectomenosesmas_estudio
Interview by Gabriela Carmona Rivera
