Seat Weaving Supplies Cane Information

The rattan vine

Cane as a descriptive term probably came from "skein" meaning the yarn or material used to weave. The cane that is used for seatweaving is not a cane at all, it is the shiny outer skin "skeined" from the rattan plant, a large jungle vine with barbarous spines that help it to climb through the tropical forests. Woven cane as a method of chair seating was first introduced into England during the second half of the 17^th century. To begin with the holes in the chair framework were very widely spaced apart giving a coarse and unattractive weave. As time passed, the canework became finer and more closely woven eventually giving us the fine six way pattern that we are familiar with today. The popularity of cane as a seating material has remained virtually constant in Europe where even today a good percentage of modern furniture has some canework either for its decorative qualities or for its practicality. In England however, its popularity has largely been dictated by fashion. During the Regency period many "faux" bamboo chairs were made, some with finely crafted cane seats. The Brighton Pavilion was a trend setter, and as its style was based around Far Eastern influences, rattan and bamboo became popular. English furniture manufacturers wanted to reflect this style and so cane seating became more widely recognised. Since then a revival of Regency style at the turn of the 20^th century saw an increase in the number of pieces of furniture using cane, Bergere salon suites became popular with their cane back and side panels and almost everyone had a dainty little cane seated bedroom chair. Many of these Edwardian pieces are highly prized now and therefore the caneworker's art is making a comeback.

There are many more woven cane seat patterns, they are less common and often more complicated - like the snowflake design and the many "close woven" willow style patterns. As the labour cost of creating these seats has always been high, furniture manufacturers reserved this method of weaving for only the finest quality chairs. Needless to say such rare specimens now command the best prices but are commensurately more costly and difficult to restore. For more details about restoring these types of chairs please visit Former Glory by clicking the button below.