case study · community built across cultures
wabi sabi environments
Lotus Pagoda came out of a community Brian Scharf spent five years building across two continents.
It started with the Balifornia Temple Tour, a cultural exchange Brian organized that brought creative students from the U.S. together with Agung's community in Marga, Tabanan. Brian and Agung traded knowledge on solar design, animistic arts and the traditions of Agung's ancestors, and that two-way exchange set the tone for everything that followed. The group traveled across Bali, worked alongside local craftspeople and learned to weave natural materials into structures, including installations at the Bali Spirit Festival.
That work led to the Lotus Pagoda, a mobile, expandable bamboo pavilion that grew with the vision of the Wabi Sabi art collective, which Brian co-founded and led. Over five years, he led the collective in designing and installing mobile bamboo pavilions and immersive fiber art environments, creating programmable healing village spaces where festival communities in the U.S. and Bali could gather.
how brian led
five years, two continents, one pavilion that kept growing.
- built community across cultures
- He brought U.S. artists and students together with a Balinese village community and kept that exchange going through five years of tours.
- led through making
- Participants learned by making real work together, from village workshops to festival installations.
- held a collective together
- As lead artist, he kept a group of artists moving toward a shared vision as the work grew into touring pavilions.
- championed natural materials
- The collective shipped bamboo and fiber from Bali to show what alternative building materials could do, just as interest in bamboo construction and natural building was growing worldwide.
the archive
bamboo, fiber and gathering places.
Tap any photo to open it full screen.
Lotus Pagoda sits in the space between cultural exchange and skill sharing. It's still how Brian works: bring different people together around a shared idea, then build it with them.