Rattan is a climbing or trailing member of the palm family. With over 600 different species, rattan is considered to be one of the strongest woods, growing as high as 30 metres. Due to the rising demand for rattan, unsustainable harvesting has become a problem. Fortunately, a number of synthetic materials have been created to combat this exploitation of natural rattan.
We craft our rattan garden furniture from environmentally friendly Rehau Raucord® rattan, a premium synthetic weaving material, designed to look and feel as good as natural rattan, but offering greater strength, durability and weather-resistance than its genuine counterpart.
Wicker is not a material but an ancient weaving technique used to create items from natural materials, such as rattan, seagrass and so on, and synthetic materials such as Rehau Raucord® rattan. So our wicker garden furniture is woven with rattan, and is also rattan garden furniture! Wicker furniture is sometimes referred to as wickerwork.
The difference between rattan and wicker is that rattan is a material and wicker is a weaving technique. So, rattan furniture is furniture that has been manufactured from rattan, either natural or synthetic, and wicker furniture is furniture that has been woven, either from rattan, seagrass, bamboo and so on. To illustrate, we sell both synthetic rattan wicker furniture and natural seagrass wicker furniture.
Our seagrass furniture is furniture that has been woven with natural seagrass fibres. Seagrass isn’t actually a grass at all, but is a flowering plant that grows in shallow waters. There are over 70 different species of seagrass. The strain of seagrass we use for our furniture is water hyacinth.
One of the fastest growing plants known, water hyacinth grows naturally in the internal waterways and rivers in Java, where it is considered invasive and a pest, and needs to be cleared for the rainy season or it will cause lots of flooding.
Our woven, wicker furniture is made from Rehau Raucord® rattan. Raucord® is a premium synthetic weaving material manufactured by Rehau, who have been designing and supplying all-weather rattan for over ten years. Rehau Raucord® rattan has been designed to look and feel as good as genuine rattan, but offers the following advantages over its genuine counterpart:
Our all-weather rattan furniture is crafted from Rehau Raucord® synthetic rattan, which is often considered to be more durable than its natural counterpart. Our rattan furniture is strong and durable, virtually impervious to extremes of weather, and it won’t fade, even in direct sunlight.
Our Rehau Raucord® rattan furniture is exceptionally strong and durable, guaranteed to last you through the seasons. Rehau are leaders in their field, designing high-quality polymer-based rattan for over ten years. Raucord® rattan furniture is extremely durable and hardwearing, boasting fantastic weather, water, temperature and UV resistance so it won’t rot, warp or fade. It’s also scratch-resistant so should keep on looking tip-top for years to come.
What's more, you can even leave your rattan furniture outside all year round – no need to cover or store for the winter – and it will keep on going! Simple cleaning is all that's needed to bring it back to its full glory.
With proper care and maintenance, there’s no reason your rattan furniture shouldn’t last for at least 10-20 years.
--
We hope you found this article helpful. If you’d like to know more about our teak garden furniture, please see our other FAQ pages or contact us by phone or email and we’ll do our best to help.
Was this answer helpful to you?
