Natural Plant Fiber Furniture & Décor

Humans have woven natural plant fiber into baskets, and later into furniture and accessories, since the stone age. Weaving dried plant materials: dried vines, dried cacti, dried grasses, hemp, and cotton, is one of the world’s oldest arts & crafts, predating pottery. To this day, weaving of dried plants into useful furnishings is one of the practical arts common to cultures throughout the world.

Ecologically Low Impact, Renewable and Abundant

Dried plant fibers are light weight, durable and extremely abundant and they are easier to harvest than wood or animal products. The ecological impact of weaving fast growing grasses and vines to make furniture, window treatments, and floor coverings is lower than cutting forests, as the material is renewed each year. Even bamboo is a grass, not a tree, and grows to maturity in just six seasons.

Creating a Casual Atmosphere

Rattan and bamboo furniture and decor (as well as wicker, sea grass, rush grass, and sisal furnishings) are uniquely attractive. Woven spun plant fiber and rush grass furniture introduce a rustic, tropical element into the interior decoration of a room. Suggesting the relaxed, casual, carefree atmosphere of tropical beach bungalows.

Plant Fiber Furniture is Conveniently Light Weight

Modern Americans are more mobile than at any time in history, changing homes often. Rattan, wicker, rush grass, and other types of natural fiber furniture are all much lighter than comparable wood furniture and thus easier move. Rattan & natural fiber chairs, chests of drawers, coffee and end tables are a much lighter burden to bear when going up and down stairs to change dorm rooms, apartments, or houses.

Improvements in Natural Fiber Furniture Technology

Since European countries colonized the tropical areas of Asia, Europe and the U.S. have imported rattan and wicker furniture as well as rush grass and sea grass window treatments and bamboo and sisal rugs. However, rattan and wicker do not absorb dye well, and generally need to be painted. The paint flakes over time, and the rattan and wicker furniture can lose their visual appeal.

Woven Spun Plant Fiber Cord Absorbs Dye Beautifully

Now large machines can process and spin durable natural plant fiber cord from a broad range of plant fibers, providing a uniquely strong and easily dyed furniture making material. Beautiful furnishings: room dividers, head boards, baskets, laundry hampers, chests, trunks, end tables, and planters, woven from tough spun plant fiber cord, are beginning to replace wicker and rattan in the woven fiber furniture & décor import market.

Spun Plant Fiber from Rattan Alternatives

Spun plant fiber cord furnishings do not require rattan to manufacture, as rattan becomes less available due to over harvesting. Spun plant fiber cord can be created from a wide range of abundant, renewable plant material, and the beautiful deep dyed colors (black, white, cream, beige, honey, mocha, mahogany, burgundy, cherry rosewood) do not require painting.

Rush Grass, Sea Grass, & Spun Plant Fiber Cord

Rattan furnishings have become more expensive than most rush grass, sea grass, or spun plant fiber cord furniture and decor. Woven natural fiber furniture crafted from rattan alternatives are offered at remarkably affordable prices. As attractive or to many, more attractive than rattan, yet crafted in traditional wicker and rattan designs, this new wave of natural fiber furnishings represents a leap forward in the plant fiber furniture market.

Ecological, Economical, & Aesthetic Advantages of Woven Plant Fiber Furnishings

Natural fiber furnishings offer distinct advantages to the practical interior decorator. One of the most gratifying is their remarkably low cost compared to similarly sized and designed wood furniture. The second is that they are much lighter than wood and more convenient in modern mobile lifestyles.

Additionally, they absorb dyed colors beautifully, accentuating classic casual, tropical beach style designs. Also, dyed plant fiber or stained rush grass does not flake off the way paint does from aging wicker or rattan. Also, the sustainability of natural fiber furnishings is better than their solid wood counter parts.

Sales Rising as Popularity Grows

Generally speaking, sales of woven fiber furnishings in classic rattan designs are rising as these attractive, sustainable, durable, and lightweight furnishings are discovered by the forward thinking and creative home decorating public.