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You Are Here > Estate > Sunroom > Wicker
| In the 125West.com Sunroom, you will find a beautiful selection of high-quality wicker and rattan furniture. Wicker and rattan furniture mixes well with upholstered pieces, providing texture and nature to the home environment, patio, or sunroom. Natural colors and materials, wide arms, deep comfortable proportions, and tropical design define our collections. |
Yesteryear Wicker and Spice Island |
Yesteryear wicker offers a large selection of casual yet elegantly styled wicker furniture for everyday living. Yesteryear also has brought back 19th century designs of the Victorian era back to life in several popular collections. All-weather outdoor wicker groups also are available. |
South Sea Rattan |
| The South Sea Wicker & Rattan Furniture Company has been offering stylish casual home furnishings since the year 1984. Wicker and rattan furniture offers comfort and versatility for the homeowner, who wants to convey a feeling of casual elegance. Most of the furniture originates from Southeast Asia and is manufactured by hand. After import, the product is carefully inspected before assembly and finishing in the United States. All materials used in the assembly process are made in the USA. The fabrics are from North and South Carolina mills, and all cushions, covering, and upholstery are done in North Carolina. |
 Antiqua |
 Bermuda |
 New Twist |
 Shelter Island |
About Rattan and Wicker
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Wicker refers to products that are made from reed, cane, rush, willow or other natural materials. When wet, these materials are pliable enough to be woven. Rattan is a vine that grows in the tropical forests of the Far East. Growing hundreds of feet in length, it is one of nature's strongest materials. It will not splinter or break and is ideal for making furniture. Once molded, solid rattan retains its contours permanently. When good quality materials are used and the vines are woven properly, rattan woven furniture should last 100 years or more with normal use. Some wicker antiques of the Victorian period are still in use today. The oldest surviving pieces of wicker furniture date from the Egyptian Empire. These pieces include chests made of reed and papyrus, wig boxes made of reed and rush, and wicker hassocks and chairs. Wicker's durability comes from the properties of the material. A rattan vine, which can be cut into various widths and shapes, is filled with fibers running lengthwise through it, giving the vine the strength of multistrand cable. A vine will bend, but unlike wood, it will not splinter or break. Many Americans, who are accustomed to wood furniture, mistake wicker's flexibility for weakness. Converting the fourteen-foot lengths of harvested vines into a piece of finished furniture involves a number of processes, virtually all of them done by hand. The thorny leaves of the vines are removed by pulling each length across a forked stick driven into the ground. Bundles of rattan are floated down the river through the jungle to the sea, where the material is cured in the sun before it is shipped to the factory. At the factory or at the wholesaler's, machines cut the vines into all kinds of shapes. The smooth, strong outer skin, or "cane," is often used to make chair seats, known as "cane seats." Cane is usually woven by a machine. Workers prefer to work with rattan core products that are still a bit green and pliable; but if the material becomes dried out and rigid, they simply soak it for a few minutes until it regains its flexibility. When steamed, rattan vines can be bent and twisted. As the material cools and dries after steaming, it gains rigidity. After drying, wicker will maintain its molded shape permanently. The production of wicker has its roots in basketweaving, and furniture of this kind was produed in ancient Egypt and Greece. Wicker furniture was popular in American and English homes throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Wicker refers |
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