The natural swimming pond at Gut Guntrams near Vienna features garden furniture by Filipino star designer Kenneth Cobonpue. (Apart from Gut Guntrams, the former couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and Queen Rania of Jordan have also bought rattan furniture from Cobonpue).

Why is rattan furniture suddenly so in?

It’s thanks to designers like Kenneth Cobonpue that rattan furniture is all the rage again. In his home country, the Philippines, grows the rattan palm (also known as the rotang palm). It is a climbing palm tree with vines up to 200 meters long.

These vines produce rattan (roots and ends) and bast (middle, softer part). Their pliability makes them great for wicker furniture, and they have this springy softness that makes them very comfortable to sit on.

How sustainable is wicker?

Rattan for wicker furniture has many environmental benefits:

• It grows very quickly (the vines can be harvested after only two years).
• The palms do not need to be cut, only the shoots are harvested (every few years).
• Unlike other tropical woods, rattan palms are not harvested from virgin forests, but grow on plantations.
• In contrast to synthetic materials (such as artificially produced polyrattan from polyethylene), the ecological balance is much better.
• The material is biodegradable.
• Rattan and cane are strong and durable.

Disadvantages:

• The rattan palm is native to Asia, mainly Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Due to the long transportation route, native woods can be ahead in terms of sustainability. However, our wood does not have these special characteristics.
• In colder countries, rattan furniture cannot be left outside during the winter, as it becomes pale and brittle.

Conclusion: Rattan is a natural and sustainable raw material and looks absolutely fresh in designs like the Yoda furniture collection!