Cane and Rattan Dining Chairs: What to Know Before You Buy
By Furniture1006 min read
Woven dining chairs have been everywhere for a few years now, and the labels have got muddled along the way. Cane, rattan and wicker get used as if they mean the same thing, and natural weave gets sold alongside plastic that looks near enough identical in a photograph. Here is what the words actually mean and what each one is like to live with.
Cane, rattan and wicker are three different words
Rattan is a climbing palm. The stem is solid, flexible when steamed and very strong, which is why it gets used for chair frames and bent into curves.
Cane is the outer skin of that same stem. It is peeled off, cut into thin strips and woven into the open hexagonal mesh you see on a chair back. On most chairs it comes as a pre-woven sheet, pressed into a groove around the frame and locked in with a thin strip called a spline.
Wicker is not a material at all. It is a weaving technique, and you can weave it from rattan, willow, bamboo or plastic. A chair described only as wicker tells you how it was made and nothing about what it is made from.
So a chair with a bent rattan frame and a woven cane panel is accurately described by both words, which is how the confusion started.
Natural weave and synthetic weave
This is the distinction that actually affects what you buy, and it is worth checking the specification rather than the photograph, because at a glance they look the same.
We stock both, deliberately.
| Natural cane and rattan | Synthetic resin weave | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Plant fibre from the rattan palm | PP or PE strands woven to look like cane |
| Look | Slight colour variation, visible grain | Very even, uniform colour |
| Ages by | Warming to a deeper honey tone | Staying as it is |
| Dry heat | Can dry and become brittle | Unaffected |
| Damp and spills | Wipe and dry promptly | Wipes clean, no issue |
| Best suited to | Dining rooms and living spaces | Kitchens, conservatories, busy households |
Neither is the better material. Natural cane has depth and character that synthetics do not quite reach, and it patinates. Synthetic weave shrugs off the things that damage cane, which matters if the chairs live in a hot kitchen or a room that swings between damp and dry.
The honest version is that if you love the look and want it to age, buy natural. If the chairs will take a beating, synthetic is the sensible choice and there is no shame in it.
What we stock, and which is which
Our woven dining chairs split across both camps, so it is worth being specific.
Natural rattan and cane:
- The Nora cane back chairs use a genuine woven rattan cane backrest in a solid wood frame with a walnut finish, on black metal struts.
- The Elara rattan chairs pair a natural rattan back panel in a wood frame with a white upholstered seat and black powder-coated legs.
Synthetic weave:
- The Rattan Back cantilever chairs use a PP and PE woven panel on a rubberwood backrest frame. That is the one to choose if the chairs are going somewhere warm and busy.
Cane-look in a wood-effect frame:
- The Vienna cantilever chairs put a rattan-style cane backrest in a wood-effect frame on a polished chrome cantilever base, in tan or green.
The frame matters as much as the weave
Woven backs turn up on two very different chair shapes, and they behave differently.
Four legs is the traditional arrangement. It is stable on uneven floors, it stacks better, and the back panel takes the load straight down through the frame. Nora and Elara are both built this way.
Cantilever, the C-shaped tubular base with no back legs, has a slight spring to it that makes the chair feel softer than it looks. It also slides in and out without catching on a rug. The trade is that all the load goes through one continuous bend, so cheap versions flex more than they should. The ones worth buying use decent gauge steel: the Rattan Back chairs run a 2.5cm chrome-plated tube and are rated to 136kg per chair.
That weight rating is a useful proxy for build quality generally. Our four-legged woven chairs are rated to 113kg and the cantilever ones to 136kg, and any woven chair that does not publish a figure at all is worth a second look.
Looking after a woven back
None of this is difficult, and it is the difference between a chair that lasts a decade and one that sags in two years.
Dust it properly. Vacuum with a soft brush attachment, or run a dry paintbrush along the weave to lift dust out of the holes. Dust that sits in the mesh is what makes old cane look grey.
Keep it away from direct dry heat. A radiator directly behind a natural cane back, or a full summer of direct sun, will dry the fibres and make them brittle. This is the single most common way cane fails. Synthetic weave does not care.
Wipe, do not soak. A barely damp cloth for marks, dried straight afterwards. Natural cane absorbs water, swells and then dries loose, which is exactly how a taut panel turns into a saggy one.
Do not tip back on two legs. Obvious, routinely ignored, and it puts the whole load onto the weave and the joint at the same time.
Do not sit on the backrest. Cane webbing is made to be leaned against, not stood on. It is the most common way a panel gets pushed out of its groove.
If a natural cane panel does start to sag slightly, a light mist of water on the underside and a slow air dry will often tighten it back up as the fibres shrink. That trick works on natural cane only, and it will do nothing at all for a synthetic panel.
Do they suit your room?
Woven backs are visually light. They break up the solid mass that six upholstered chairs put in a room, and they let light through, which is why they work so well around a heavy wooden table or in a small dining space where matching solid chairs would feel like a wall.
They pair naturally with warm woods, cream and off-white walls, and any of the earthy tones that have been running through interiors lately. Against a very cool grey scheme, natural cane can read as slightly out of place, and that is worth holding a sample up for before you commit to six of them.
Find yours
Every set comes as a pair, with free UK delivery and 30-day returns, so a table for six is three sets. If you are buying for a full table, use Make an Offer and we will see what we can do.
Browse the dining chairs, or if you are still working out how many you need, our guide to how many dining chairs fit around your table does the maths for you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cane and rattan?
They come from the same plant. Rattan is the stem of a climbing palm, used whole as a solid pole for frames. Cane is the hard outer skin of that stem, peeled off and cut into thin strips, which is then woven into the open mesh you see on a chair back. So a chair can have a rattan frame and a cane back, and both descriptions are correct.
Is wicker the same as rattan?
No. Wicker is a weaving technique rather than a material. You can weave wicker from rattan, willow, bamboo or synthetic resin, so calling a chair wicker tells you how it was made but nothing about what it is made from.
Do cane dining chairs last?
Yes, with reasonable care. Natural cane is stronger than it looks and is still used on antique chairs a century on. What shortens its life is very dry heat, standing water and people tipping back on two legs, which stresses the weave and the frame at once.
Can you clean a woven cane back?
Vacuum it with a soft brush attachment, or work along the weave with a dry paintbrush to lift dust out of the holes. Wipe marks with a barely damp cloth and dry it straight away. Never soak natural cane, and keep it out of a dishwasher-hot steam cleaner entirely.
