Re Caning and Restoration of a Cane Fronted Cabinet

Cabinet doors re caned in the original pattern, with the reed spline replaced rather than glued over, which is what the previous repair almost always did.

Made to order runs to a fixed sequence. You send measurements and photographs on our form, we send a drawing and a cane sample, you approve both, and only then does the weaving start. Half at order and half before dispatch. Weaving is slow, so allow ten to fourteen weeks, and be aware that the lead time is longer between November and January because the workshop closes for two weeks and everybody wants theirs before Christmas.

Specification

• Dimensions: made to your dimensions, within the limit in the product name
• Seat or working height: as your drawing
• Frame: as specified, solid hardwood or steam bent rattan
• Weave: hand woven in the pattern you choose from the sample card
• Finish: any finish in the range, or matched to a sample you send us
• Load rating: as the equivalent standard piece, stated on your drawing
• 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: delivered assembled unless the size makes that impossible
• Weight: approximately 14 kilograms
• Lead time: 10 to 14 weeks, longer over the new year
• Drawing and a woven cane sample issued for approval before work starts
• Payment: 50 per cent at order, balance before dispatch
• Weave patterns: six way, seven way, close woven, herringbone and open lattice
• Made to order items are exempt from the 14 day cancellation right once weaving has begun

What you get

• Your piece, made to the approved drawing
• A copy of the drawing and the approved cane sample
• All fittings, a spanner and an allen key where the piece needs them
• Felt pads and a care card
• A length of the matching cane webbing for future repairs

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

This is the piece people mean by coastal: pale, woven and light enough to move with one hand. It sits happily against white or off white walls and against the greens and warm neutrals that have replaced grey in most houses. In a room with a lot of hard surfaces it does the job that a rug does, which is to take the edge off the echo.