| You may have heard of the terms "rattan furniture" | | | | The term "rattan" refers directly to the raw material, |
| and "wicker furniture". You often see these terms on | | | | while the term "wicker" refers to the building process |
| furniture labels, in home improvement magazines, on | | | | of the furniture. To the consumer, it doesn't really |
| home furnishing related websites and other channels. | | | | matter. They both refer to the same thing. |
| So what do these terms mean, and what is the | | | | Therefore, they are often used interchangeably. |
| difference between the two? If you are going to | | | | Some people even refer to the process of creating |
| consider buying some rattan furniture for your home, | | | | rattan furniture as "caning". In Asian countries, caning |
| you may as well learn more about what you are | | | | is sometimes considered at art form. There are many |
| about to buy. | | | | types of caning processes. And the level of difficulty |
| The word "rattan" refers to a type of cane. When | | | | that a workman is able to overcome depends very |
| we hear someone saying that they bought "rattan | | | | much on the level of skills. Caning skills can take many |
| furniture", we immediately associate the furniture | | | | years to perfect. |
| with its building materials - rattan cane. Rattan cane is | | | | You have to be a little bit careful when buying |
| abundantly available in Asia. In its raw form, you can | | | | furniture. Although the terms "rattan furniture" and |
| hardly do anything with rattan because it is very | | | | "wicker furniture" are used commonly to refer to the |
| tough. | | | | same items, there may be different types of |
| However, someone soon discovered a way to | | | | furniture under each category. For example, wicker |
| soften rattan cane to such a state that it becomes a | | | | furniture can be made from other materials such as |
| bendable material. The cane is treated with high | | | | bamboo reeds, or rush. If the type of material used |
| temperatures to soften the materials. It is then used | | | | concerns you, be sure to ask about the materials |
| to wrap around aluminum frames to form different | | | | when buying "wicker furniture". After all, it's just a |
| types of furniture. The manufacturing process sounds | | | | term used to describe the manufacturing process. |
| easy, but it's actually not that simple to execute. The | | | | On the other hand, if you are buying "rattan |
| cane, when cooled, becomes tough again. Therefore, | | | | furniture", you can instead ask about the |
| whoever is doing the weaving has to do it with | | | | manufacturing process. Is the pattern that you see |
| speed and accuracy. If there is any mistakes, it is | | | | created from cane webbing (a very commonly seen |
| very difficult to reverse the process and correct the | | | | process)? Is it a complicated pattern that is rare? |
| mistakes. The entire process of creating and | | | | Rattan furniture can last for many years, and has |
| converting the rattan cane from raw material to | | | | been rising in popularity in recent years. Maybe it's |
| polished furniture is known as "wicker". | | | | time to add a few pieces of new furniture to your |
| As you can see, both terms have different meaning. | | | | home. |