One ought to find out the difference between wicker and rattan furniture.
Here is why.
Imagine, you’re in a furniture store, hunting for some exquisite wooden furniture for your patio or your lawn, and you’ve been suggested to buy furniture made of rattan, but you pick one made of wicker or the other way around.
Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to do that, and I definitely wouldn’t blame you for confusing or relating wicker and rattan as the same kind of furniture. Even expert eyes are easily deceived. They might have a similar appearance and might be of use for a summer leisure, but they are starkly different.
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Unless you’ve seen the Wicker Man starring the late great Sir Christopher Lee, you’d be surprised to know that the wicker is a technique and not a material. Older than most furniture trends, this method begins by foraging for materials found in nature in their raw state and then made sufficiently wet to weave into a particular shape, be it furniture or an idol of a pagan god.
The commonest materials used for making wicker furniture are rush, willow and yes rattan core. The last material is the source of confusion for most.
Rattan is a lightweight vine usually growing in the South East which is extremely flexible and durable and has a rapid growth rate. A cousin of the palm tree, its strands are collected and their skins peeled off and used for weaving and binding joints. The core is used for making furniture, steamed and sliced to make different shapes for the furniture.
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Rattan gives one several options for crafting furniture, including on the color front. Featuring a spectrum of naturally available colors, you can either create sets with different colors or a single set with multiple colors, experimenting with patterns as you proceed.
Wicker furniture, on the other hand, can be synthetically painted. And just like the outer appearance of it, wicker furniture is now also available in synthetic material, which is not only extremely durable but also is resistant to damage from the sun, hence preserving its appeal for a much longer time.
But, non-synthetic wicker furniture does not guarantee durability, the age of service depending upon the type of material used.
Ultimately, the fundamental difference is not in the material itself but rather the taxonomy. Rattan furniture is solely made of rattan materials while wicker furniture can and is made with a combination of different materials, both natural and synthetic, including rattan.
In the end, it is not the make that passes the final judgment, but the shape, as evident by the general confusion. Hence, considering the difference, go for the furniture that best suits the aesthetics of your house or living space.
Wicker and Rattan Furniture Ideas Follow
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What do you think about the ideas above and about the actual difference between wicker and ratan? We would love to hear your opinion on the subject in the comment section below ?