Shades Of Green

Cane, made from the rattan vine, is one of the more sustainable décor offerings in the market today, but definitive steps need to be taken to regulate production. Here's the past, present and future of cane

By Chuck Ross
CTW Features

Cane is coming back in a big way, but processes surrounding it need to be examined to ensure its future. Image courtesy David Francis Furniture

Furniture made from cane and rattan is getting a big boost these days because of growing interest in sustainably grown products. Consumers are seeking materials that can match the performance of hardwood, but without the potential damage to forest or rainforest environments that harvesting hardwood can cause. Rattan and cane can be options for such shoppers, though the materials aren't entirely problem-free.

Rattan sometimes is confused with bamboo. Both species grow throughout Southeast Asia, but they are two very different plants. Bamboo, an increasingly popular flooring material, is actually a grass, which grows into a strong, hollow and woody stalk. Rattan is a vine, with an outer skin that can be peeled to make cane and an inner, pithy core that can be hollowed out to create wicker. Both bamboo and wicker offer environmental advantages, though rattan production generally results in less collateral damage.

"They're both sustainable in the sense that they grow quickly," says Piper Sledge, an associate with the New York City-based Rainforest Alliance. "But rattan tends to be a bit more on the sustainable side, because rattan grows on trees, so you have to keep the forest as a forest."

Bamboo's popularity has led to some destruction of rainforest areas, Sledge adds, as local populations have cleared land to make way for bamboo production. It's also a highly invasive plant, and can quickly overrun indigenous species if it's left to grow unchecked.

David Francis, president of David Francis Furniture, says rattan's reborn popularity has resulted in some forests being completely stripped of the vine. He says a number of countries, notably the Philippines, are working to regulate rattan production.

"It's becoming a major issue that has created councils to prevent wholesale destruction of the rattan forests," Francis says.

A new group called the Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC), formed earlier this year, could help assure future buyers that their purchases aren't the result of such practices. Products sold by furniture companies that belong to the organization will bear labels indicating their level of adherence to sustainable practices already established by such groups as the Forest Stewardship Council. Details of this program likely will be in place in 2008, according to Gretchen Ruethling, communications coordinator for the Rainforest Alliance, an SFC member organization.

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