How humble rattan furniture is experiencing a modern renaissance

By all accounts, rattan has become a booming interiors trend. Ticking boxes for sustainability, style, versatility and more, the fast-growing vine prolific in tropical regions has been in trend forecasters’ sights for the past few years. And it’s no longer just a cheap and cheerful material ubiquitous in budget homewares, but rather a highly designed luxury item. A resurgence of the age-old craft – one of the oldest industries in Hong Kong but dating back to ancient Egypt – inspired the inclusion of rattan in “Embracing Craft, Connecting Culture”, an exhibition by charitable organisation Crafts on Peel in Central. Local weavers Cecilia Lai and Barnard Chan, co-founders of Breakthrough Art Studio, showcase in an exhibit called Dual Echoes two versions of the nostalgic peacock chair, so named for its flared, tail-feather-like back. One is faithful to the original design; the other a contemporary reinterpretation. Their second exhibit is the sculpture Auspicious Horizons, a pair of rattan and wood installations in the form of a dragon and phoenix, symbols representing spiritual harmony in Chinese culture. Lai and Chan picked up their skills in Taiwan and then honed their technique at Yue Kee Rattan Factory, founded in Hong Kong in the 1950s but now manufacturing in Xingning, Guangdong province. “On their return to Hong Kong in 2024, Cecilia and Barnard assisted in cataloguing Yue Kee’s invaluable design archives [at the company’s warehouse] in Tuen Mun, facilitating a comparative analysis of regional techniques that ultimately informed the development of their distinctive contemporary style of rattan artistry,” says Penelope Luk, creative director of Crafts on Peel. The peacock chair, which originated in the Philippines in the early 20th century under American colonisation, gained popularity in Hong Kong in a variety of ways, including through local films and beauty pageants. “Initially gaining prominence as the celebratory seat for winners of the early Miss Hong Kong and Miss Exhibition pageants [late 1960s to 70s], it became intrinsically linked to notions of beauty and success,” says Luk. “Today, its legacy persists, evidenced by the tens of thousands of peacock chair posts on Instagram, demonstrating a cross-generational appreciation that elevates it to the status of a cultural icon, embodying a potent blend of nostalgia and enduring glamour.” For their interpretation, Lai and Chan considered using “every kind of material”. “Synthetic materials stole the spotlight from rattan in the 1980s, but trends are cyclical and recently rattan is back, and, of course, natural materials in general are a hot trend,” says Lai. “In Dual Echoes, we extracted the spirit of the classic version and tried to transform some details to make it attractive to a new generation. While traditional peacock chairs are heavily embellished […] to exude an overarching majestic imposition, contemporary peacock chairs prioritise simplicity. By accentuating subtle beauty, the contemporary version fits into modern aesthetics. We also played around with colours to emphasise the structural beauty of this chair, treating it like an artwork.” Two Indonesian designers also championing rattan are Abie Abdillah of Studiohiji and Alvin Tjitrowirjo of alvinT, both of whom exhibited their contemporary designs at Singapore Design Week last year. As a student of industrial design in 2004, Abdillah was baffled by the perception of rattan as a “cheap, outdated, poor quality” material – at least in his home country, Indonesia – a bias he attributes to the proliferation of mass-produced synthetic rattan furniture from the 80s. Because of the artisanal nature of the vine, which is bent and shaped by hand, each piece is a one-off, upping the exclusivity factor. “I’ve been to the rattan forests, I’ve interviewed farmers who need to harvest [the vines] for several days or weeks in quite challenging terrain, and that deserves more recognition as well,” he says. On establishing Studiohiji in 2014, Abdillah embarked on a mission to revive the centuries-old tradition of rattan processing, reimagining it for contemporary design. His ambition to change the mindset at home soon gave Abdillah an international platform as an emerging design talent in Southeast Asia. Since then, Studiohiji creations have been exhibited at design fairs from South Korea to Singapore, Japan to Italy, leading to a collaboration with Italian furniture label Cappellini, launched during Milan Design Week in 2016. The revival of rattan in luxury furnishings gives fitting recognition to what Abdillah calls “this ingenious material”, allowing him to design furniture such as the honeycomb-inspired Madu Lounge Chair, created from large-diameter rattan “poles”. Happily for designers such as him, it’s a perfect match for biophilic design, which seeks to reconnect people with nature. “In exploring new possibilities for the strong character of rattan, I try to create something that is truthful to the materiality itself,” he says. “As a designer, this means looking beyond merely pleasing aesthetics to elevate the craftsmanship and quality so relevant to current trends.” Another example is the Kupu Kupu chair, a design inspired by the butterfly wings regarded in Asian culture as symbols of freedom, beauty and happiness. “In Indonesia, butterflies are often seen as a blessing,” says Abdillah. “This cultural impression made us want to make a product that could ‘fly’ like a butterfly towards a better future.” Tjitrowirjo agrees that rattan has been regarded unfairly as an “underdog” material. “Rattan had its golden days in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, when it was popular in Europe and America,” he says. “The arrival of the synthetic version dealt [the material] a killer blow. That changed expectations of how furniture should be, especially for outdoor use.” And it’s true, he concedes, synthetic rattan has more resistance to UV and water damage, as well as to mould. “Then, maybe five to seven years ago, the comeback started,” says Tjitrowirjo. “The market became fed up with plastic furniture and was longing for something natural. Several memorable pieces designed in the 50s and 60s started being reproduced – among them, the hanging Egg chair by Danish designer Nanna Ditzel, the Continuum armchair by Italian designer Gio Ponti and the ball-shaped Palla by Giovanni Travasa, and that brought a bit of the glory back into rattan.” One reason is environmental awareness, he says. Whereas hand-woven rattan is more sustainable and can be repaired, once plastic homewares become damaged or wear out, they are usually discarded. The “strong, intangible values” of rattan represent another driver behind its revival. Globalisation brought with it uniformity and homogeneity in all things consumable, and society is tired of that, according to Tjitrowirjo. While alvinT also works with other materials, including wood, metal and Andesite volcanic stone, “rattan is something we want to champion”, says Tjitrowirjo, citing its cultural significance in Indonesia, and its economic importance to indigenous communities. The goal for designers is contemporary interpretation. “We don’t want to copy what’s been done in the past,” says Tjitrowirjo, “but to bring a diverse perspective that will elevate rattan to its optimal position in the market.” Three recent alvinT pieces represent this ambition: one is Jiwa, a shelf that looks like a shrine, “reminding us that craft is closely intertwined with spirituality”; another a Dahan bench that “looks a bit like a branch, reminding people that if you give a tree water and sunlight, it lives”. The third is alvinT’s Ndare collection, completed last year in collaboration with an indigenous community in Borneo and social enterprise Handep. “The rattan strands we used for this collection were individually picked from the forest, hand split, sawn and shaved, then naturally dyed and woven,” says Tjitrowirjo, “almost like a farm to table piece.” “Embracing Craft, Connecting Culture” at Crafts on Peel, 11 Peel Street, Central, until April 5. By appointment only. Visit craftsonpeel.com

How humble rattan furniture is experiencing a modern renaissance

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Rattan is being reimagined with rarefied flair, with contemporary interpretations by young artisans in Asia resulting in highly designed pieces of art

Rattan is being reimagined with rarefied flair, with contemporary interpretations by young artisans in Asia resulting in highly designed pieces of art