Today we’d like to introduce you to Phillip Fiuza Lima.
Phillip, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born at Kennestone Hospital in 1977 and grew up in North Cobb. I went to Lassiter High School and then got my degree in International Business and Computer Information Systems at Mercer University in Macon, GA. After graduating in 2000 I moved up to Washington D.C. where I lived for several years before moving to the Philadelphia area in 2004. In 2006 I moved to Brazil in where I lived for 10 years before moving back to the Atlanta area to start my bamboo bicycle business here in the US.
I actually started my bamboo bicycle project in 2011 after I saw an article about two guys from Holland who pedaled from Alaska to the tip of Patagonia on bamboo bicycles! I since learned that the first patented bamboo bicycle was in 1896! From then I started building bamboo bicycles made from bamboo poles, but today I use engineered laminated bamboo to make specialty bicycles for “children” of ages from 3 to 7!
As a volunteer teaching people from 3 to 73 how to ride a bicycle I realized that there are many “children” that haven’t learned, and they were too embarrassed to learn because they thought they had to learn with training wheels. I also work with children with Autism and Down syndrome and realized that this bicycle was a great tool not just to teach them how to ride a bicycle, but to better understand their needs. That is when I created the Bamboo-bini™, a bamboo bicycle for children ages 3 to 7 that “grows” with them and you never need to use training wheels!
Currently I have a Kickstarter campaign going to raise money to get the machinery to manufacture these bicycles in scale, so I can sell the bicycle at a fair market price.
You can see it at www.bambooarticulation.com
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not at all, but it is just like riding a mountain bike through the forest with ups and downs, single tracks and wide-open trails. You just have to stay focused, so you won’t smack into a tree! However, if by chance you do hit a tree, just dust yourself off and get back on. That actually happened to me once in race, and I had to finish the race with just one arm. I came in dead last, but I finished! This is one of my memories to remind me to use my head, and not lose focus.
Now, there are tons of people that tried to destroy my dreams by either trying to steal them and claim them as their own, pretend to want to help, but only setting me up for failure, say I’ll never succeed and that I am a “rookie” and that I don’t know what I am doing. All I have to say to them is, “Thank you very much for your motivation!” It is because of these people that make me smarter, stronger, more determined and focused! I kind of feel sorry for them because they only do this because they have no self-esteem. Maybe they went through something difficult in their lives but have not overcome it, yet! All I can do is just pray for them and stay focused!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Having worked outside of the US I have come to appreciate more how blessed we all are here in the US. Even those that are homeless here have it better than most elsewhere, and we have everything here in the US to eradicate homelessness! After struggling in starting the bamboo bicycle company in Brazil due the economy, politics, and in your face all out corruption, and here in the US it is heaven compared to other countries, I decided to start again here in the US. When I saw that the bicycle community here has improved by leaps and bounds, though with more to improve, I wanted to be a part of this movement and share to with the community my experience. That is why I am working to get funding to open up the business in Atlanta along the Beltline.
“Think and build dynamically being responsible economically, socially and environmentally by making handcrafted products made from renewable bamboo for a better quality of life for those that make the products and those that use them.” That is our vision.
Bamboo ARTiculation is what its name states. Bamboo products that ARTiculate both physically and through our actions. We also don’t look to make ourselves look better by showing up others and pointing out our differences. Our goal is to see a need and fill that need and not make push products just to make a buck or two. Don’t like much talking about it as I rather just let our actions ARTiculate who we are. We’ll even have other similar products links and review so that people can compare and choose what best fits their needs.
What were you like growing up?
Active and at times hyper-active as I loved playing outside, curious, as I was called “Why boy” by my family since I was always asking “Why?”, destructive, in that I took everything apart just to see what was inside. Not always was I able to put it back together, but as I got older I was able to put things back together and even create new things and that is who I am today.
Now I am no saint, and in school I got in-school suspension a lot because I didn’t let others bully me and I got into fights, but I kind of did it on purpose sometimes because I got my school work done faster and got even better grades for it. I don’t recommend to doing the same, not even to my own son, but that is how I coped with challenges then.
Contact Info:
- Website: bambooarticulation.com
- Email:info@bambooarticulation.com
- Instagram:@bambooarticulation
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bambooarticulation
Image Credit:
Phillip James Fiuza Lima
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