About us
Teragren is a U.S.-based manufacturer of fine bamboo flooring, panels, veneer and parquet butcher block. We are also a company on a mission. Like all businesses, we want to be successful. But our definition of success includes not only high-quality products and excellent customer service but also environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing and business practices.
From the moment our company was founded in 1994, we have been committed to developing and manufacturing beautiful bamboo products that:
- Enhance home and business environments for years and years
- Pay farmers and their families fair-market prices for raw materials in China
- Pay fair wages to factory workers in China
- Reduce dependence on dwindling timber resources
- Rely on renewable-resource materials
- Adhere to stringent, environmentally sensitive specifications
- Promote green building
- Help neutralize our company's environmental footprint
Today, Teragren is one of North America's largest manufacturers of environmentally friendly bamboo flooring, stair parts, trim, panels, veneer and butcher block countertops. And our mission hasn't changed.
Passionate about the environment
Bamboo flooring was a scant segment of the U.S. flooring market when avid environmentalists Ann and David Knight saw the need for environmentally sound building products. They co-founded the company they would eventually name Teragren based on the principles mentioned above, insisting upon high standards, ISO-certified factories and an ongoing effort to measure and improve the way Teragren works.
Dedicated to uncompromised quality
The key to exceptional quality—and the ability to guarantee it—lies in controlling manufacturing. That is why Teragren makes all our own bamboo products.
Some companies simply import bamboo flooring from any number of factories based on the lowest price—with little concern for the amount of harmful chemicals used in the factory finish or manufacturing adhesives. Others have no idea what kind of bamboo was used in manufacturing or at what age it was harvested. (If it's too young, the fiber will be soft and the flooring products too may be as soft as pine or fir which can cause post-installation problems like warping, cupping or delamination.)
As the manufacturer of all Teragren bamboo products, we control production from harvest to distribution. We specify materials and processes that meet stringent European, Japanese and U.S. environmental standards and we set the bar very high when it comes to the beauty and performance of our products.
Our stringent manufacturing specifications call for Optimum 5.5™ Moso bamboo that is harvested sustainably only at maturity between 5-1/2 to 6 years when fibers are most dense. As a result, Teragren bamboo averages 25 percent harder than red oak and 12 percent harder than North American maple. Our patented Synergy strand bamboo flooring is 100 percent harder than red oak and 43 percent harder than non-strand Teragren bamboo flooring, making it perfect for high-traffic residential and commercial interiors. (U.S. Patent 5,543,197; Mexico Patent 204281)
Expanding distribution
Solid-strip, traditional bamboo flooring was Teragren's first product. Over the years we've expanded our line to include wide-plank and floating floors; natural, caramelized and stained flooring; flooring stair parts and trim; panels, veneer and most recently parquet butcher block for countertops and tabletops. We offer beautiful, high-performance bamboo flooring options for virtually every type of installation and provide an abundance of complementary products to allow you to complete your design from threshold to tabletop.
When Ann and David Knight became majority shareholders in 2001, the company undertook a vigorous expansion plan, adding new products like matching stair parts and coordinating panels and veneer while broadening our distribution network. Today, Teragren flooring products are available through exclusive flooring distributors and retail flooring dealers in all 50 states, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa. Our panels and veneer are available nationwide through fine distributors. Teragren ships select flooring, trim, panels and veneer worldwide direct to a customer's nearest port from our factory in China or from one of our stateside distribution centers.
Architects, designers, builders and consumers are finding Teragren's complete line of bamboo products a valuable asset. Visit our product gallery and you'll see Teragren products that have been installed in libraries, museums, offices, restaurants, retail shops and multi-family high-rises, as well as new and remodeled homes.
Keeping our principles
In 2006, Teragren was named by Inc. magazine as one of "The Green 50" companies that are setting the standard for environmentally friendly business, and as one of the top 10 local "Greentrepreneurs" by Seattle Metropolitan magazine. In addition, in August 2007, Teragren was named one of Inc. magazine's 5,000 fastest growing companies in America.
While he continues to expand environmentally sound development through Teragren, David Knight is nurturing the next generation of environmental leaders as a board member of the Environmental Leadership Program. He has also worked with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Fortune 500 members exploring ways to mitigate container ship emissions. Teragren is also working closely with the renowned Bainbridge Graduate Institute's pioneering MBA program in sustainable business to measure and mitigate our environmental footprint.
Teragren follows the principles of The Natural Step, a program that focuses on applying basic concepts of sustainability. Teragren products also contribute to one or more credits within the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System™.