Barrel Chair with a Close Woven Back in Kubu Grey Rattan

A barrel back, close woven, which is the quietest statement chair we make and the one that suits a room that already has a lot going on.

Every piece here is woven by hand, which is not a marketing line but a description of the only way it can be done. Rattan cannot be machine woven around a curve, so a chair back is somebody sitting with a former and a bundle of soaked cane for most of a day. The consequence is that no two pieces are identical, that the binding at the joints varies slightly, and that a weave that is perfectly regular is usually a sign of extruded plastic rather than good workmanship.

Specification

• Dimensions: 760mm wide by 780mm deep by 1100mm high
• Seat or working height: seat height 420mm with the cushion
• Frame: steam bent rattan pole, 40mm at the hoop, over a hardwood core at the seat
• Weave: hand woven, close weave on the seat and open lattice on the back
• Finish: rattan soaked in a natural clay wash before weaving, which gives the soft grey that people spend a lot of money trying to fake with paint
• Load rating: tested to 140kg
• Indoor or outdoor: Indoors, or a covered veranda or conservatory that stays dry. Natural rattan is not garden furniture and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a chair that will go grey, swell, split and unravel inside two seasons. If you want rattan outdoors you want woven polyethylene, which is a good product honestly described and something we do not sell.
• Assembly: Arrives fully assembled and wrapped. Nothing to build, no fittings to lose and no allen key.
• Weight: approximately 17.0 kilograms
• Weaving time: about 2 days for one chair
• Cushion: 100mm foam with a feather wrap, cover removable
• Every chair is slightly different, which is what hand weaving means
• Arrives assembled and wrapped

What you get

• One barrel chair with a close woven back, assembled
• Seat cushion with a removable cover
• Felt pads and a spare set
• A care card and a small repair kit of matching cane

Care

Dust it with a soft brush rather than a cloth, because a cloth skates over the weave and a brush gets into it. Two or three times a year wipe it over with a barely damp cloth and let it dry away from a radiator. Rattan does not like being dry any more than it likes being wet, so a piece that lives next to a radiator or in a room with the heating on all winter will benefit from a light mist of water once a month, which sounds like an old wives' tale and is the single most useful thing anyone will tell you about it. If a strand lifts, do not pull it. Damp it, press it back and hold it with masking tape overnight.

Where it works

The boho end of the range, which mostly means texture. A woven piece next to a plain one reads as considered and three woven pieces in a row read as a garden centre, so the rule we give people is one large woven piece per wall and as many small ones as you like. Works particularly well against a dark wall, where the light catches the weave and the piece stops disappearing.