Bamboo and personal electronics, who introduced you two saucy bedfellows? The origins of the love affair between the grass most mistaken for wood and the aluminum, glass and plastic of our electronics is lost in the mists of time. What we do know however is that Bamboo is everywhere now, especially in the iDevice housing world. The iWave Bamboo case for iPad is a case manufactured completely from the fast-growing and sustainable plant.

The iWave is a two piece case that slides on from the top and bottom of the iPad, joining in the lower third. This means that the joints of the case are usually underneath your palms, leading mo to worry initially about pinching. The case slides on tightly enough however for there to be little or no play in it at all. Once it’s on, the sides are not going to be sliding apart. The seam wasn’t completely flush on my demo unit however and ended up with a slight lifted ridge on the upper side. This ridge isn’t tall enough to make for an uneven handhold but it is right under your fingers so it definitely makes itself known.

The back of the case is otherwise smooth aside from a small routed iWave logo at the bottom. The engraving is a nice touch, making the back a uniform color rather than stamping an obtrusive black or multicolored logo onto it. The bezel on the front of the case is about as thin as they could probably make it, eating up no more than about 1/4″ of the iPad’s bezel. I’ve seen cases with less depth on the edges, making them easier to swipe right off the edge of the screen but considering the materials and type of construction I don’t think you could make it much shorter without risking breakage.

The ports are fairly accessible with very large, well smoothed cutouts where the power and volume/mute buttons are. This made it very easy to power on or adjust volume without having to perform odd contortions with your fingers as is the case with many other alternative materials that can’t be made to the same levels of precision as plastic or metal. Standard cables will have no issues with the dock connector opening although some larger third-party connectors will have issues. The speaker holes are all milled out although they were a bit ragged looking on my sample. Not too unusual for an organic material but a contrast to how nicely all of the other ports are opened up.

Because of the thickness of the case the headphone jack is quite deep and it’s out of the question for anything but ‘tube’ type headphone’s like the official Apple earbuds.

The interior of the case is smoothly finished and I had no thoughts of scratching or damaging my iPad on insertion. The smooth interior is also complimented with large patches of a thin felt that protect the broad back of the iPad from scuffing or etching by the way of sand caught between the iPad and the rear of the case.

My overall impressions of my use of the iWave case over the course of a couple of weeks are ones of smoothness, the ridge on the back on my fingers and pleasant contours of the button cutouts. Unfortunately it’s also one of weight. As I passed my time using the case I found myself holding my iPad up in my hands less and less, instead resting it on my lap or knees to read. It wasn’t until I finished my evaluation and removed the case that I realized that despite the fact that it feels light when it’s off, it does add a significant amount of weight to your iPad when it’s on. If you’re not into heavy cases, I’d look elsewhere. On the flipside I will say that I also felt very safe using the iPad and setting it down in a variety of precarious poses and on some not-so-smooth surfaces with the feeling that it would easily be protected by the sturdy iWave.

The iWave Grass Roots Case is a solid example of what you can do with sustainable products at a reasonable price. There are more expensive options out there that may have a slightly better fit and finish, but they’re going to be three or four times as expensive. If you’re looking for a good looking iPad case made out of an unusual and sustainable material, then bamboo is for you and the iWave is a great place to start looking.

The iWave Grass Roots Case is available for $59.99. You can find retailers at iWave.