Two rattan armchairs can look identical in a photograph and be separated by a factor of four in price and a decade in life. One is woven from mature pole over a wrapped frame and will still be in the family in thirty years. The other is skinned in thin plastic strand over a steel tube that will rust through in three. So what is the best quality rattan furniture is not really a question about brands, even though every list online answers it with one. It is a question about materials, frames and workmanship, and five checks that anyone can do in a showroom. This article covers what the best pieces are made of, the five checks, whether rattan is durable and waterproof, and where to buy it at volume.

Table of Contents

What Is the Best Quality Rattan Furniture Made Of

The word rattan covers two entirely different products, natural and synthetic, and the best of each is made from a specific material that cheaper versions imitate.

Manau Pole for Indoor Frames and Natural Weave

Natural rattan is a climbing palm, and the best furniture grade is manau, a thick, straight, dense species from Indonesia and Malaysia that steams into curves and holds them. Frames made from mature manau pole of 25 to 40 millimetres are heavy, stiff and resist splitting. Cheaper furniture uses thinner, younger or lower grade cane that flexes and cracks at the joints.

Polyethylene Weave for Anything Outdoors

Synthetic rattan is a plastic strand woven over a metal frame. The best is high density polyethylene, stabilised against ultraviolet light, which stays flexible and keeps its colour for years in full sun. The worst is PVC, which is cheaper, goes brittle and cracks within a couple of summers. The strand should be thick, slightly textured and consistent in colour all the way through rather than painted on the surface.

Aluminium Frame Under Any Outdoor Weave

The frame under a synthetic weave should be powder coated aluminium, which is light and cannot rust. Cheaper sets use powder coated steel, which is heavier and rusts from the inside the moment water gets through a scratch in the coating. Lift a corner of the piece: an aluminium framed armchair can be lifted with one hand.

Five Checks You Can Do in a Showroom

Quality in rattan furniture is physical and nearly all of it can be felt. First, weight and rigidity: sit down, lean back and try to rock the frame, because a good piece does not creak or twist. Second, press the weave with a thumb, since a tight weave springs back and a loose one stays dented.

Rattan Furniture

Third, look at the joints, which on natural rattan should be bound with peel or leather wrapping rather than glue or staples, and on synthetic should show welded aluminium under the weave. Fourth, check the finish for an even sealed surface with no bare patches, drips or bubbles, because the finish is what keeps moisture out. Fifth, on anything with cushions, read the label for high density foam and a solution dyed acrylic or olefin cover, since a cheap cushion fades and flattens long before the chair fails. The same checks are what a serious buyer runs before placing a bulk order with any rattan furniture manufacturers shortlist, and they take five minutes.

Is Rattan Furniture Durable and Waterproof

The two questions arrive together and have different answers, because natural and synthetic rattan behave very differently once they leave the showroom.

Is Rattan Furniture Durable Enough for Daily Use

Natural rattan made from mature pole with wrapped joints lasts for decades indoors and is stronger than most timber furniture at the same weight. Its weakness is dryness, which makes the cane brittle, and the cure is keeping it away from radiators. Good polyethylene weave over aluminium lasts ten to fifteen years outside in most climates. The pieces that fail early fail at the joints or the frame, which is why the showroom checks concentrate there. What the natural material is and how it is turned into a chair is worth understanding before buying.

Is Rattan Furniture Waterproof or Only Weather Resistant

Natural rattan is not waterproof. It will tolerate a splash and a covered porch, but standing rain swells the fibre, lifts the finish and invites mould, and no lacquer changes that. Synthetic polyethylene rattan over aluminium is fully weatherproof and can be hosed down. The rule is simple: if the furniture will get rained on, buy synthetic, and if it will live indoors or under a solid roof, natural rattan is the better material and the better looking one. Outdoor pieces are specified on strand type, frame metal and cushion fabric, and the sourcing rules for rattan garden furniture wholesale are different enough that most buyers run them as a separate programme with separate samples.

Who Makes the Best Rattan Furniture and Where to Buy It Wholesale

The brand lists online name West Elm, Pottery Barn and CB2, which is true for a retail customer and useless for a buyer, because none of them makes furniture. The best rattan furniture is made in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines by manufacturers that own their weaving floors, and it reaches those retailers through exactly the sourcing route a hotel group or a home decor brand can use directly. For a buyer, that means choosing between a manufacturer and a trading company, which decides who controls the weave, and choosing the wrong wicker furniture supplier costs more in replacements than the saving on the first order.

Rattan Furniture Manufacturer

At volume, indoor and covered pieces in natural rattan come from the craft regions that grow it, and buying rattan furniture wholesale in natural fibre is a question of pole grade, joint wrapping and finish consistency across a container. Ask for one sample chair, then ask for the same chair from the same order three months later, and compare them.

Conclusion

What is the best quality rattan furniture? Indoors, mature manau pole with joints wrapped in peel or leather and an even sealed finish. Outdoors, ultraviolet stabilised polyethylene strand woven over a welded aluminium frame with solution dyed cushions. In either case a piece that does not creak when rocked, a weave that springs back when pressed, joints that are bound rather than glued, a finish with no bare patches and a cushion label worth reading. Natural rattan is durable for decades but not waterproof, synthetic is weatherproof for a decade or more, and the best of both is made by manufacturers in Southeast Asia rather than by the brands that sell it.

Artex Nam An is a Vietnamese handicraft manufacturer producing natural rattan, bamboo and seagrass furniture and homeware for retail and hospitality buyers, woven on our own floor from graded pole with every joint wrapped. See the current furniture range on our furniture page, or tell us where the furniture will live and how many pieces you need and we will send a sample before we quote.