I’m just fascinated by woven chair seats.  Years ago I got this book, The Caner’s Handbook, and started working my way through all of the patterns.  To make a long story short, I eventually worked for the author of that book, Jim Widess, at his shop in Berkeley, The Caning Shop.  I helped them with repairing chair frames and they taught me new weaving patterns.

Now a big part of my business is repairing chairs with woven seats and I sometimes struggle with communicating with clients about their chairs because the terms used for weaving patterns and materials are obscure.  Most people refer to any woven seat as caned and this often leads to confusion so I’m here to clear the air on some of the more common weaving patterns and materials.

Cane is the outer bark of rattan.  It is cut into strips in different widths that have confusing names like carriage, common, fine fine, etc.  The most common weave is a seven-step pattern that creates octagon shapes across the seat.  Seats that have been hand woven have holes around the perimeter and if you look under the seat you can see how the cane is looped and tied on. If the seat has a groove around the edge instead of holes the seat is of prewoven cane webbing which is a much easier repair to do.  It’s a subtle difference but I think the hand woven seats look better.  A hand caned seat is one of my favorite patterns and I have plans to incorporate it into some of my new work soon.

Rush seats have cord that runs parallel to the side rails of the chair with the intersection of the weave going from the leg to the middle of the seat.  I know that sounds confusing, look at the picture of the Hans Wegner chair I did a couple of weeks ago.  Originally rush seats were woven with twisted cattail leaves, which is slow and hard work and the seats aren’t long lasting.  Now most chairs are woven with paper fiber rush that is incredibly strong but still has an authentic rustic look.

Danish cord, another favorite of mine, is also made of paper fiber but is wound tightly and then three of these strands are wound together to make the cord.  Obviously, it’s found on Danish Modern furniture (and my own) and woven in a simple under over pattern to make a very strong seat with a clean modern look.  If you have cats beware!  They love to sharpen their claws on it!

I fix a lot of chairs and I really enjoy bringing life back to a broken and unused piece.  After all, vintage furniture is the greenest way to decorate a home.  My specialty is repairing chairs with woven seats and I hope that after reading this you will no longer refer to any woven seat as caned!

Baby steps are a good start!

So you’ve taken all the steps during your remodeling project to make sure what you bring in to your home doesn’t have toxic chemicals which could off gas and make you sick. You installed cabinets made out of grass, used zero VOC paints, non toxic based glues, FSC certified wood flooring and tile containing recycled content. Do you have a green home? The answer is no. Why? There is no silver bullet to green home and lifestyle, but instead a thousand silver BBs. Doing just a few green things, although very important, are only small steps.

It is important to purchase and install materials in your home that will not potentially harm you and are eco-conscious, but you still need to go one step further to make sure you address your home’s efficiency. I don’t care how green you claim to be, green should be measured by your utility bill.  So what if you compost! How much water, gas, and electricity do you consume? Is your house leaky or tight?  How old and efficient are your mechanical systems?

Over the week, I will be addressing the issues of a complete green home and why green interiors and exteriors, including energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality are so important. Both play a vital role and you really can’t have one without the other.