Rattan Furniture Made in Indonesia
What is Rattan? Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of old-world climbing palm belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of Southeast Asia, though they can also be found in other parts of tropical Asia and Africa. Most rattan palms are ecologically considered lianas due to their climbing habits, unlike other palm species. A few species also have tree-like or shrub-like habits. Wikipedia (2022, September 7). Rattan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattan
Types of rattan that are used for manufacturing furniture. There are more than 350 species of rattan scattered and growing in the forests of the Indonesian archipelago. However, only a few types of rattan are currently used to manufacture furniture, household appliances products, home decorative items and handicrafts. Below are several type of rattan that commonly used for manufacturing furniture in Indonesia.
Rattan Jernang Besar (Daemonorops Draco). The appearance of this type of rattan is slim, long stem, and has an ability to spread and climb up to a height of 15 meters. In addition, Rattan Jernang Besar also has midrib leaves, pinnate, slightly pointed ends, smooth thorns, and reddish green color. This Rattan Jernang Besar species, which is often found in the forest of Sumatra, has a yellowish-brown color with a glossy appearance. This type of rattan is perfect for manufacturing classic-style furniture with curvy design with a lot of detail and elegant finishing touch.
Rattan Semambu (Calamus Scipionum Lour). Another type of rattan that is commonly used to make furniture is Rattan Semambu. Semambu has a reddish-brown color with rough and strong character. We can find them grow a lot in the middle of Sumatra and Kalimantan forests. This type of rattan has a large size which is often used to make sticks due to its size and its straight structure. The nature of this type of rattan is hard that makes it widely used for various type furniture construction.
Rattan Dahanan (Korthalsia flagellaris Miq). Beside Rattan Jenang Besar and Rattan Semambu, there is Rattan Dahanan which also grows a lot in Sumatra and Kalimantan forest. This type of rattan is commonly used for crafting and matting baskets, home decorations, and various natural rattan home appliances. The color of this type of rattan is brown with a rough texture.
Rattan Jermasin (Calamus Ecojolis Becc). Rattan Jermasin mostly grows in the forests of Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan. This type of rattan has a fairly small diameter of 6 to 10 millimeters and the length of its segment ranges from 150 to 400 millimeters. Even though the diameter is not large, the Jermasin rod is very strong so that used as the main material for manufacturing rattan furniture. Dried Jermasin has a beautiful yellowish and shiny color. It is a perfect color for manufacturing any shape furniture without adding any artificial color.
What types of furniture that are suitable to be manufactured in rattan? The nature of rattan that withstand of loads and pressures, sturdy, and durable, makes it a good alternative material for manufacturing various furniture besides wood. As well as wood, rattan has several types of species as we’ve discussed in several paragraphs above. Each species of rattan has different tenacity and fiber texture. Those characters determine which type of rattan is suitable for making furniture and which type of rattan is perfect for crafting decorative items or small products. It requires a certain designs and sizes to manufacture a fine, strong and durable products.
As a complement to furniture, rattan also used to craft various decorative items and household appliances. We can see many interior products made of rattan in interior design themed magazines and furniture shop. There are many product variants made from rattan that exposed, such as mirror frames, television frames, photo frames, flower planter, plates, bowls, chopsticks, straws and so on.
As an illustration, we are able to manufacture a cot with Rattan Jernang Besar and Rattan Semambu, but not with Rattan Dahanan or Rattan Jermasin. And vice versa, we are able to matt baskets and rugs with Rattan Jermasin or Rattan Dahanan, but not with Rattan Jernang Besar or Rattan Semambu. However, it is possible to combine several types of rattan for manufacturing one furniture design.
What type of finishing touch that is suitable for rattan furniture? We can apply two types of finishing into rattan furniture. The finishing type is natural color with stain being final coated in clear, or we can apply paint finishing on it. Some of us prefer rattan furniture with original rattan color. The original rattan color gives natural vibe for any interior style. Adding a rattan furniture in natural color to a modern themed interior, creating a warm and natural atmosphere. But painted rattan furniture can also be exceptional. With a combination of a unique design and striking color, a piece of painted rattan furniture can be stands out among the other furniture. It shall zest up the room atmosphere, for sure.
What is the plus character of rattan?
Light Weight. Besides wood, we can use another material option for making furniture, such as iron, stone, marble and terracotta. However, those materials are more suitable for making special design furniture placed in a specific area and not to be moved. While rattan has light weight that makes it easy to manufacture into any shapes of furniture and also convenient for its mobilization.
Easy Material Treatment. As well as wood, the harvested and well dried mature rattan has tenancy and low moisture content that does not require special treatment to make furniture. However, as a preventive measure against fungus and woodworm, it is better to apply anti-pest treatment to the raw rattan.
Easy to Shape. Rattan rods are very flexible. They are easy to bend and shape according to the design we want. We can create a beautiful curvy furniture design using rattan.
Strong and Durable. Although it has a light weight, rattan is tenacious, strong, and durable. Rattan is able to withstand loads of up to tens or even hundreds of kilograms. We can sleep comfortably and soundly on rattan bed and rattan sofas.
Easy Maintenance. Unlike wooden furniture that requires special care due to its susceptible to termites and moisture, rattan furniture requires no special maintenance. The only thing that we need to do is clean the dust on the rattan furniture periodically. We should not expose our rattan furniture under direct sunlight to be able to keep it to last longer.
How to buy Rattan Furniture and Rattan Decorative Items from Indonesia? If you are new to Rattan Furniture and Rattan Decorative Items business or wish to meet with new supplier to upgrade your business volume, we suggest you to have recourse to and partnering with parties who have been experienced in the that field. It is better investing time and the necessary at the beginning rather than experiencing bigger losses due to wrong decisions making caused by the lack of knowledge about Rattan Furniture and Rattan Decorative Items. There are many Indonesian sourcing agents who will be professionally happy to assist you identify the Rattan Furniture and Rattan Decorative Items manufacturer. Feel free to contact LUMASA for further assistances. LUMASA 24 hours support available at +62 812 2805 4565 or e-mail to [email protected]. Creative Design, Pleasant sourcing, and Smart shopping!