Cane Weaving

Name: Graphical House
Price range: $

Being an intricate craft, cane weaving is both time and labour intensive. Depending on the complexity of the pattern, it can take our artisans anywhere between one and three days to finish weaving a single piece of our furniture.

Weavers

Our cane weavers are from the traditional weaving communities of Karaikudi, a town in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu and Bangalore, where we are based. They bring decades of weaving experience, generational knowledge of the craft and the material to our production process.

Cane strands are stripped to the required thickness of 3 mm or 4 mm using a simple contraption. A specialist cane peeler works in conjunction with 3 or 4 weavers to continuously supply them with strands.

Material

We source our cane from the north eastern part of India. Cane is obtained by peeling flat strips from the outer edges of rattan reeds. Cane is a resilient natural material and our handcrafted cane seats and backs can last for several years without sagging with proper usage.

The wrap-around weave and double strand pattern of the Tangāli Collection is handled by our more experienced master weavers.

Peeled cane strands are soaked in water to make them more pliant for weaving.

The cross cane weave seen in this image is an alternative to the more traditional diamond weave.

The Tangāli Modular Chair is one of the most difficult chairs to weave due to its curved contours and unique weave pattern.

Nils Sveje of INODA+SVEJE, examining the weaving details of the Tangāli Day Bed prototype, part of the second collection of furniture the duo created in collaboration with Phantom Hands.