Museums are invaluable repositories of our collective history, showcasing artefacts telling stories of past civilisations. Yet, amidst the vast collections displayed online, one might notice a curious gap in knowledge regarding a humble yet significant item: the wicker or basket chair.
Defining the wicker chair
'A wicker chair is entirely or partly made of wicker.'
This definition might seem straightforward, but it encompasses a rich tapestry of materials and techniques. Wicker traditionally refers to basketwork crafted from interlaced slender branches or plant fibers, such as grasses. It typically comprises a static (stake/grass coil) and an active (strand/binder), intricately woven together.
Early wicker finds
Wickerwork may pre-date pottery, with evidence of its existence dating back thousands of years.
In Iraq, Dutch archaeologists have unearthed concave pottery shards bearing impressions of wicker baskets used as clay lasts. Around 200 AD, Roman soldiers from Gaul (France) brought small statues of the Dea Nutrix along the northern border of the Roman empire. Dea Nutrix statues portray the goddess sitting in a wicker chair and nursing two babies. Early Christian sarcophagi in the Vatican, show that the stake and strand wicker chairs had the highest divine status in the 4th century.
Craftsmanship through the ages
The earliest tools used in wickerwork were as simple as the materials themselves. The techniques of wicker crafting have evolved from coiling grass thousands of years BCE to creating complex modernist designs out of wicker.
In the 17th century, European colonists from Portugal, Britain and Holland heading to southeast Asia marveled at the very heavy ebony 'Company Chairs', based on the Dutch 'knob chairs'. The seat mat was made of durable rattan-skein. Even though the seat was thin as paper and translucent as lace, it was sturdy enough to sit on safely!
The arrival of rattan in Europe
The arrival of rattan in Europe marked a turning point. For 200 years, until around 1850, rattan was only used to secure cargo on sailing ships. Seawater was drained to the bottom of the ship through vertical rattan bundles, after which the water was pumped overboard.
Natural materials
Willow sticks and twigs were popular for bentwood chairs made by nomadic people, as they do not have stationary workshops and many tools like a furniture maker would. They could make willow furniture with nothing more than a hammer, a saw and some nails.
By the mid-19th century, Cyrus Wakefield in Boston realised that the qualities of rattan were superior to willow. It was more durable and more pliable, resulting in flat decoration spirals. The core could be cut overlength into very long strands with constant diameter.
Rattan is a climbing plant of the palm family. Its solid core allows crafts people to work with this material as they were used to with willow.
Together with rattan, bamboo was introduced in Europe for furniture making in the late 19th century.
Bamboo is hollow inside, it prefers to snap instead to curve. Only a heated bamboo strip is easy to bend. The construction is a matter of making joints with a hole that has the diameter for the smaller stick.
Design
By 1900, the traditional spirals in rattan furniture design gave way to more straightforward designs influenced by turn-of-the-century architecture. Movements such as Bauhaus ushered in sleek, minimalist styles and iron tube chairs.
Architect Ida Falkenberg-Liefrinck realised that iron tube chairs were too expensive for most people. Rattan chairs were a cheaper alternative. During World War II, the transport of rattan to Holland was blocked. In 1946, she and Elmar Bercovich designed a modern buff stained willow chair.
Soon after the war, rattan became available again and chairs with loop legs became very popular. In the 1930s, designers started curving rattan reeds like pretzels or figure-eights. After World War II, these chairs got the nickname 'Belse-8'.
These curved rattan chair legs did not appease the modernist sensibilities of the 1950s.
The rattan legs were replaced by iron rods and tubes that carried a rattan cup. Van Sliedregt designed an iron tube frame with a loose rattan seat. Jan Herbert Roe of Rohé designed the very popular 'Kuipje 149' chair, which won an award at the Triennale of Milan 1957.
Synthetic materials
Innovation continued with the introduction of synthetic materials. The Rohé Rotan Factory's 'STALON' line, featured iron tube frames and seats strung with plastic wire.
This new line shocked traditional wickerwork craftsmen, but it paved the way for the weather-resistant outdoor furniture we know today.
By understanding the rich history, techniques and materials of wickerwork, we can appreciate the artistry and innovation behind these seemingly simple objects.