Cane and Rattan Furniture – How these ‘Super Plants’ Can Help Save the Planet

Looking to cut down your carbon footprint? Do you want to see an end to mass deforestation? Every decision we make in our day to day lives can have a huge impact on the environment we want to protect. Ditching the plastic bags for reusable totes, recycling plastics, and choosing the ‘greener’ option has become a common practice for much of the UK. However, there is one industry that people rarely give a second thought too when it comes to the environment and that is the furniture industry. An industry that relies on the cutting down of 30-100-year-old oaks trees for sofa frames, tables, cupboards and much much more. Millions of trees are estimated to be harvested per year for our furniture destroying the precious forests we set out to protect. This is not to say all wood harvesting is bad news, there are many ways to sustainably manage tree farming that yields good quality woods whilst simultaneously helping the land. But there is another option, with a practice that goes back hundreds of years.

Natural Cane and Rattan Plantations

Weaving has been apart of human crafting for thousands of years with archaeologists dating a weaved item to the ancient Egyptians over 10’000 years ago. This love for weaving materials has been discovered on every populated continent and is a practice that is still enjoyed today. Vines are weaved into rattan sections to be used on a range of products. Often combined with natural cane frames, furniture made from these materials are 100% natural and are super strong. Cane plantations have been known to grow through concrete and displace sidewalk slabs. These super hard natural materials must take an age to grow though, right? No, cane and rattan vines grow at a staggering pace taking only a couple of years to be harvested. Of course, harvesting the vines must be done sustainably as premature harvesting can be a problem to the ecosystem.

FACT: When we said our frames are 100% natural, we meant it, our binding is made using the skin of the cane which is stripped and used to finish our furniture. (No leather here!)

Overview

As one of the world strongest and fastest-growing plants, it’s no surprise why it is the preferred choice of furniture for a conservatory or orangery. Grown in intense rainforest heat, the porous structure is designed for extreme weather and the durability to grow through dense jungle makes the material super strong (perfect for structural furniture). For more information on sustainable rattan harvesting check out what WWF has to say. https://greatermekong.panda.org/our_solutions/projects/sustainablerattan/factsinformation/