Rattan is a plant from Southeast Asia. It wraps around the sturdy trees typical of the rainforests of the tropics. The liana can be up to 100 or 200 meters.
Rattan
Rattan is a plant from Southeast Asia. It wraps around sturdy trees typical of tropical forests. The liane can be up to 100 and 200 meters long. In Asia it is a traditionally used material for the production of furniture. Don't confuse it with bamboo.
Rattan has no branches, but leaves that have hooks at the end of the blade. These trap the bark of the trees and their branches and grow to a height.
Thanks to the high air humidity in the forests, rattan has an inner layer of wood that is strong porous. While bamboo is hollow.
How to process rattan
Ratan vines are very flexible, but can be straightened to rattan rods in hot steam or in an oil bath. But the first can peel off the hard outside layer. Rattan rods are easy to move. In hot steam, however, they can be bent into any shape. This is used for many product types.
Rattan bark is not waste. It is used for the creation of mats, which we do not often encounter in Europe. Usually only products made of bent rattan are exported.
How rattan differs from bamboo
Bamboo is a fast-growing woody species of the genus Poacae. So it's woody grass. Inside, the bamboo is hollow. By contrast, rattan vines are made entirely of wood and grow impossibly slowly. Even 15 to 35 years, when they can be used for furniture production.
We weave from rattan or pedig
Rattan for outdoor furniture very often has a hard skin that is not peeled off and protects it from weather conditions.
Various baskets or containers you can found from the peeled rattan. These can also be decorated with peeled bark (often in corners). Rattan fibers are sea-coloured to obtain a colour other than their natural colour and are finally varnished with water-based varnish.
Most of the work is done manually, mostly at the mining site. The finished furniture is then imported into Europe.
The inner part of the vine is called pedig, which is already imported as a material from which you weave your own products more often. In our offer you will find pedig in all possible dimensions.
Advantages of rattan
- Rattan is very light material
- Furniture made of rattan is firm
- Ratan lifespan is long because it is resistant to mould, other pests, even bad weather
- Is environmentally sound
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Do you also like rattan? Look at our sortiment of rattan wood products.