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Enjoy Your Vintage Wicker

© Barbara Bell

Among the oldest crafts in the history of mankind is basketry, in which rods of reed, rattan, willow, grass or split bamboo are woven into objects of utilitarian value, made graceful by the natural materials and skill of the weaver. Almost as soon as baskets were first made, furniture was also made from a form of basket work called wicker. This process produces the shape of the object by weaving split or whole rods of willow (osier) around a warp of stiffer rods. Osier/wicker furniture was known in ancient Egypt in 3000 BC, tub-shaped wicker chairs appear on Roman stone reliefs, and wicker furniture continued to be common through the 16th and 17th centuries. Now, however, the phrase "wicker" is used generically to refer to the furniture itself or the process which may include other materials such as cane, reed and rattan.

Bar Harbor Style

Rattan is native to Southeast Asia and is a climbing palm with a thin hard bark which can be bent without breaking. Cane is the pared outer surface of the rattan palm, and reed is the inner core. Until the 19th century, the reed was discarded, but in the mid-1800's reed became much more common than rattan as furniture material. Willow reappeared in the early 1900's as the favored material. Examples of early 19th century wicker furniture may be seen in museums and private collections, but by mid-century wicker furniture was widely popular for its usefulness both indoors and outdoors. Its simple material, left its natural color or stained, as well as the obviousness of its construction made it a welcome contrast to typical heavy Victorian furniture. The basic material could be designed as elaborately or as simply as desired by weaving designs into the material, and comfort supplied by loose cushions. A more health-conscious public saw wicker as clean and sanitary, reminiscent of country living and healthy lifestyles.

Wicker furniture manufacturing in the United States began with the Wakefield Rattan Company which later merged with the Heywood Company to form the Heywood-Wakefield furniture company. But wicker was being made all over Europe as well, and was influenced greatly by the Arts and Crafts movement in England and by many Continental designers in the early years of the 20th century.

The benefits of cane and wicker in furniture making are that they combine strength and light weight with simple form and relatively inexpensive raw materials. In addition, with proper care wicker can be used both indoors and outdoors. This made it popular in institutions such as hospitals, nurseries, and hotels. By World War II's end, an interest in open floor plans and lighter weight furniture reignited wicker's popularity. New manufacturing techniques and man-made materials created an even more economical version. By the end of the 1960's wicker and its imitations appeared in such forms as tables, magazine racks, hat stands, planters, chests of drawers, bed frames, lamps, shelves and desks.

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