Furniture Reweaving by Craftsman Furniture Service In Sacramento California. Rush, Cane And Wicker Reweaving. Serving San Francisco, Stockton, Carmichael, Davis.

WHAT IS FURNITURE REWEAVING?

Woven furniture, or furniture items which include woven elements, have been in use from the earliest civilizations of Egypt and China.

The common rush woven seats are so called because of the use of bulrushes for this weave in ancient Egypt. Cattail, the common North American name for this marshland plant, is still the primary material used in genuine rush seats. Several other materials, including even banana leaves and heavy, twisted, kraft paper, are also now sometimes used to weave rush pattern seats. Binder cane, a wider cut of the outer skin of rattan, can also be used on a frame designed for rush. Material innovations resulting from a lack of the standard weaving materials during the American westward migration of the nineteenth century include rawhide as well as ash or oak splint.

The hard, glossy, outer skin of the rattan vine has been used since the days of ancient China for weaving seats for chairs. This rattan cane is still the most widely used material used for chair seats and is available in pre-woven sheets as well. The most common woven pattern is illustrated in the photo to the right, but other interesting and attractive weaves have been developed for hand woven cane chairs as well and if you have one of those weaves, we can help you.

The elaborate designs of victorian era wicker furniture resulted from a discovery of Cyrus Wakefield, a Massachusetts businessman in the 1850s. He discovered that the core of the rattan plant, previously discarded as waste, could be bent to hold a shape and could be stained or painted. From hoops for skirts to hoops for chair backs to fanciful curlicues and woven sheets came the widely distributed wicker furniture of the late nineteenth century and beyond.

As with all other furniture items, woven items become worn or broken and need rejuvenation. On pages accessed by the links below, we will illustrate the services we offer to those with woven furniture.