Rattan furniture is furniture made from the stems of rattan, a climbing palm native to the tropical forests of South East Asia. The tough, flexible outer skin is split to make cane for seat weaving, while the solid inner core is steamed and bent to form frames or woven into decorative wickerwork.
Rattan was imported into Europe in large quantities from the seventeenth century, initially for cane seats, and became very popular for lightweight furniture in the Victorian period, when chairs, settees, tables, plant stands and day beds were made in elaborate curving designs for conservatories, verandas and garden rooms. Colonial administrators in India and the Far East used rattan extensively because it suited hot climates. In the twentieth century, designers produced sleek Art Deco and mid-century pieces, and Franco Albini and others brought rattan into modernist design. When buying, check for broken strands, loose bindings, brittle or dried-out stems and weak joints, and note whether the original finish survives. Good antique and vintage rattan has a mellow honey colour and pleasing texture, and it adds lightness and an easy, relaxed character to a conservatory or garden room.
