French rattan, cane and wicker furniture: a guide to woven seating

Rattan and cane furniture is light, cool to sit on and easy to move, which is why French dining rooms, cafés and terraces have used it for three centuries. Designers return to it for the same reasons: in its 2026 trends survey, 1stDibs reported that wicker and rattan furniture was cited by 27% of the designers it polled (see the 1stDibs survey press release). Sellers use the four words loosely; they mean different things.

Rattan

Rattan is a climbing palm from tropical Asia with a solid, flexible stem, unlike hollow bamboo. Steamed and bent, thick rattan poles make the frames of armchairs, sofas and tables, with joints wrapped in binding. Rattan is strong in tension and light: a rattan armchair often weighs under 15 lb (7 kg).

Cane

Cane is the glossy outer skin of the rattan stem, cut into narrow strips. Woven by hand through holes drilled in a seat frame, it gives the open, octagonal mesh the French call cannage. Machine-woven cane, sold in sheets, is pressed into a groove and held with a spline. Both look similar from a distance; the frame tells them apart.

Wicker and rush

Wicker is a technique, not a material: any pliable strand woven around a frame, whether rattan core, willow (osier), paper fiber or synthetic resin. Rush is different again: twisted leaves of marsh plants, or twisted paper, wound around a seat frame to make the chaise paillée of French country kitchens.

Cane chairs and cane-back chairs

French cane seating appears on Louis XV and Louis XVI style dining chairs and bergères, on dressing-table chairs and on bentwood bistro chairs. Our guide to French cane chairs, cannage styles and repair explains how to tell hand-caned seats from pressed sheet cane and when damage can be repaired. For the carved provincial frames, Lo Cantou explains French Provincial furniture, and our French Provincial style page sets it beside French country.

Terrace and bistro chairs

The Paris café terrace chair has a rattan frame woven with colored strands in patterns, built to be stacked, moved and left outside under an awning. Inside the bistro, the bentwood chair dominated; in parks, the metal chair. Our guide to French bistro chairs compares the three families, their sizes and their care.

Bentwood

Bentwood chairs are made from solid beech rods softened with steam, bent around forms and screwed together; Michael Thonet industrialized the method in Vienna, and his model No. 14 of 1859 became the archetypal bistro chair. Many firms followed. Seats come in cane, pressed wood or solid wood; see bentwood chairs: labels and checks.

Rattan and wicker furniture

Mid-twentieth-century France produced rattan terrace armchairs, rattan-and-bamboo cabinets, wicker sofas and woven headboards for holiday houses and verandas. Our guide to French rattan and wicker furniture covers vintage forms, period versus new and care.

Look underneath

Turn a cane chair over. Hand caning passes through a row of drilled holes around the seat, with the strands tied off underneath and pegs or a binding strand covering the holes. Sheet cane sits in a single groove with a spline; it is not wrong, but it is usually a later or factory seat. Look at the wear on the rail where hands and feet have touched it for decades.

Joints, bindings and finishes

On rattan frames, check the wrapped joints: original binding is tight, darkened and worn smooth; new binding is pale and sharp. Nails or staples may hold later repairs. Old rattan often carries layers of paint or varnish; a crisp, uniform finish with no wear at the arm ends suggests recent production or refinishing. Describe what you see rather than a date.

Labels and stamps

Some bentwood makers stamped or labeled the underside of the seat ring; some terrace chair makers fixed small plates. A label supports an attribution if it matches documented forms; a "Thonet-style" chair without one is described by form. Attribute only by mark, as with every guide in this series.

Broken strands and sagging seats

Press the center of a cane seat: it should spring back. A dished seat or broken strands at the front rail mean re-caning soon. On wicker, look for loose ends and gaps where strands have snapped; small repairs are possible, wide breaks are not. On rush seats, sagging and a hole at the front edge are the usual failures, explained in our guide to chairs with rush seats.

Indoors and outdoors

Natural rattan, cane and rush dislike rain, constant sun and very dry heating. Use them on a covered terrace or a veranda, bring them in for winter, and keep them away from radiators, which make cane brittle. The Canadian Conservation Institute's notes on basic care of furniture, wooden objects and basketry explain why stable humidity matters for woven plant materials.

Re-caning and re-rushing

A hand-caned seat is a craft job, often taking a full day or more per chair; sheet cane is quicker to replace. Re-rushing in natural rush or paper rush follows the same logic. Ask the restorer which material and method they will use, and keep the work faithful to the original seat where possible.

Cleaning

Dust woven furniture with a soft brush or a vacuum on low with a brush head. Wipe with a cloth barely dampened in mild soapy water, then dry in the shade. Avoid soaking, which loosens joints and swells strands unevenly.

Seat heights

Dining chairs suit a seat height of about 17–19 in (43–48 cm) for a table of 29–30 in (74–76 cm). Counter stools need about 24–26 in (61–66 cm), bar stools about 29–31 in (74–79 cm). Old French chairs can be lower than modern ones; measure the seat at its front edge, not the frame.

Mixing woven chairs at a table

Cane, rush and bentwood mix well around a farmhouse table if the seat heights match within about 1 in (2.5 cm) and the wood tones are close. Our pages on French country chairs and French country dining tables show combinations.

Buying documented pieces

Ask for photographs of the underside, the seat and every repair. Lo Cantou lists woven and caned seating with these details. A designer furnishing a terrace or a dining room for a client can send a brief to Antiques 360 and receive documented pieces with the landed cost known upfront.

Kitchen and dining room

Rush-seated chairs belong to the kitchen table; cane-back chairs and bentwood suit the dining room. Our guide to French country furniture places them among the larger pieces.

Sunroom, patio and garden

Rattan armchairs and a wicker sofa make a sunroom; terrace chairs and a small bistro table suit a covered patio. In the open garden, iron is safer than woven furniture; see our French country garden page.

Bedroom and living room

A cane-backed headboard, a wicker chair by the window or a caned bergère suits the bedroom. In the living room, one rattan armchair lightens a room of upholstered seating; our French country living room page shows the balance.

Each guide takes one kind of French woven or bent seating, with the checks before you buy and the care that keeps it sound. New guides are added as they are published.

• French cane chairs: hand cannage, Louis styles, bistro seats and repair
• French rattan and wicker furniture: vintage forms and care
• French bistro chairs: choosing rattan, bentwood and metal café seating
• Bentwood chairs at home: steam-bent beech, maker labels and what to check
• Living with chairs with rush seats: natural or paper rush, sagging and re-rushing