Rattan is a vine mainly grown in Southeast Asia, though it does grow in other places as well. Rattan manufacturers use it to make furniture and fabric. Because of its strength, contractors use it in the construction of suspension bridges.

Rattan education and training can help you learn the best ways to work with rattan. The type of education you seek may depend on the area of expertise you want to learn. When it comes to rattan, you can focus your education choices on a variety of opportunities, including the following options:

1. Understand the basics of working with rattan.

2. Gain education and training in textile production and processes to become a rattan supplier for fabric.

3. Focus your education on training for furniture design with rattan or wicker.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get education for rattan online

To learn the basics of rattan, you can utilize online resources. In some cases, rattan suppliers provide information as a way to prove their quality. Other sources include news articles on textiles and technology or educational papers provided by universities or colleges. Some organizations that work with rattan also provide educational information.

I recommend: UC Berkeley provides an in-depth article that covers basic facts about rattan. It includes information on how rattan farmers grow and process the product. PT Rattanland Furniture provides educational information on rattan, including cultivation. It doesn't offer rattan wholesale, but it does offer special prices and overstock sales on some of its products.

Learn how to be a rattan manufacturer for fabrics

Most textile degrees will prepare you for things like buying rattan, learning how to weave the rattan and discovering new technologies to help you process the fabric while reducing expenses. Whether or not the program covers rattan will depend on the college or university offering the degree. If you have any questions, you should contact a representative for the program. Another way to gain textile education is to attend conferences and events specific to rattan textiles.

I recommend: Education-Portal.com offers a description of an associates degree in textile production. With this degree, you learn how to work with and design textiles, including rattan. The Institute of Textile Technology at North Carolina State University provides an overview of its fellows program and provides information on textile resources that offer more information on a degree in this field. The Textile Institute has members in over 80 countries. It hosts conferences and events, some of which focus on new textiles like rattan.

Find opportunities to work with rattan producers to make furniture

When it comes to making furniture with rattan, you might want to consider a formal education in graphic arts that specialize in furniture design. In some cases, suppliers may offer courses to help you learn to use their products to create your vision. While many of these won't focus specifically on rattan, you can apply the information and skills you learn to working with rattan.

I recommend: The New Hampshire Furniture Masters Association offers a program through which you can work with a master to design and build furniture. It also has other educational programs like its studio-based programs. Fine Furniture Maker is a UK-based supplier of fine furniture. It offers courses on woodworking and furniture making.

Rattan is the woody stem of several species of vinelike tropical palm. Resembling bamboo, but with a solid core, rattan is a popular choice for furniture making, percussion instrument mallets and martial arts weapons, and it's often used for fencing and other landscape applications.

Rattan suppliers in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines produce wood that is sturdy yet flexible and resistant to rot. If you buy bulk rattan with the skin on, you can choose from several decorative patterns, including tiger stripes and tortoiseshell, which rattan manufacturers create through burning and scoring. Rattan is also available with the skin peeled, which makes is more flexible for furniture making, or stripped to its round central core and sold in coils to be woven into wicker for furniture, baskets and accessories.

1. Buy bulk rattan online from US rattan importers for use in landscaping, furniture and instrument making and craft purposes.

2. Order furniture and accessories made from rattan wholesale.

3. Add a tropical touch to your home office or hospitality business with furniture from US rattan producers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Buy bulk rattan from US rattan importers

Purchase rattan wholesale for furniture manufacture, landscaping and craft needs. US importers guarantee quality rattan in various patterns and sizes.

I recommend: Frank's Cane and Rush Supply carries 1-inch diameter rattan poles in 28-inch or 9-foot lengths, with or without skin and with optional tortoiseshell or tiger patterns. Frank's also offers round kooboo rattan, ideal for furniture repairs, in 1-lb. coils or straight bundles; call for prices on 10- or 100-lb. bales. Bamboo & Rattan Works carries 8- to 9-foot manau rattan poles in six diameters, with or without skin, and three diameters of kooboo rattan in 110-lb. bales; click "Wholesale" to request a wholesale catalog and pricing.

Import furniture from rattan producers and rattan exporters

When buying rattan furniture, you can get the best prices from rattan exporters and rattan suppliers in Indonesia and the Philippines.

I recommend: Sun Valley Rattan is a Philippines rattan supplier specializing in furnishings for the hospitality industry; they offer a money-back guarantee and competitive pricing. Indonesia's Rattanland offers a full line of wholesale rattan furniture and accessories and promises a high level of customer service. Indonesian Rattan Furnitures is a rattan manufacturer and exporter operating out of the rattan industry capital, Cirebon; they work with rattan suppliers from their own plantations in Sumatra and other islands.

Save on rattan furniture by going through rattan importers

You can find great sources of rattan wholesale by working with rattan importers who bring in furniture from rattan manufacturers around the world.

I recommend: D & F Wicker Rattan Imports offers furniture and accessories made from rattan wholesale to the trade only. Contact Canadian rattan distributors Boca Rattan for wholesale pricing or to become an authorized retailer. R & D Imports sells its St. Thomas Collection of furniture from rattan makers at wholesale prices in its Los Angeles warehouse, or browse the catalog and arrange online to purchase rattan furniture by the containerload.

Choose furniture from US rattan manufacturers

If you're buying rattan furniture to decorate a home office, restaurant patio, bar or hotel lobby, consider purchasing rattan online from US makers of rattan products. Many are small, family-owned businesses that will work with you to customize designs.

I recommend: FL's Stanley Chair Co. offers a unique line of rattan furniture lavishly upholstered in tropical fabrics, some with leather accents. Classic Rattan, in KY, has been manufacturing custom rattan furniture, including bar and patio furniture, since 1978. Check out the home office possibilities available from rattan distributors Fran's Wicker and Heritage House Rattan Interiors.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Buying rattan can be a 'green' choice in more ways than one, as rattan plantations often provide sustainable alternatives to destructive forest logging.

Rattan mainly serves the furniture industry. The skin of the plant is removed for weaving, and the harder part of the plant is used for strength and frame in the furniture piece. It is particularly a good choice for making furniture because it accepts paints and stains just like wood does.
Rattan is also widely used in making martial arts sticks due to its durability and lightweight properties. It is a common material used in the production of handles in percussion mallets, and resin produced from it also has been used to dye violins.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Nodes

Rattan nodes are the points of separation in the plant that look like knots going up the length of the plant. Nodes are areas of strength for the plant.

I recommend: Roatan Furniture talks about how rattan is often confused with bamboo because of the nodes in the plant.

Baston

A baston is a rattan stick used in martial arts for its durability and resistance. It is traditionally used in Filipino martial arts, particularly modern arnis and eskrima.

I recommend: Learn more about rattan sticks from Norm's Training Blades.

Sulphur fumigation

Sulphur fumigation is a process that large-diameter and peeled rattan goes through. The rattan is smoked overnight with sulphur dioxide fumes in an enclosed chamber, which not only helps preserve the rattan but gives it a uniform color.

I recommend: The article Rattan in East and South Kalimantan, Indonesia: a Case Study of the Production-to-Constimption Systems gives reference to the fumigation process in large-diameter rattan. FAO mentions the benefits of sulphur fumigation under the section titled "Secondary Processing."

Dragon's blood

Dragon's blood is a red resin exuded from the fruit of some rattan plants. Thought to originally have medicinal properties, it has also been used as a dye for violins and other things.

I recommend: Read more about Dragon's blood from Global Herbal Supplies.

Lowland dipterocarp forests

Lowland dipterocarp forests are the richest of rattan habitats. Conversion to oil palm or rubber plantations has become popular so large-scale rattan plantations are necessary to preserve and grow this resource.

I recommend: Learn more about Lowland dipterocarp forests from the Sabah State Government.

Interplanting

Interplanting is when a rattan species is intercropped with another plant, for example rubber trees, to take advantage of already well-managed establishments or semi-abandoned plantations.

I recommend: Learn about the interplantation of rattan with rubber from the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan.

Rattan is a rain forest plant that creeps around trees. You can use different species of rattan for different purposes. Most rattan importers obtain their supply from Indonesia. Rattan, unlike bamboo, is not hollow and is able to bend into curves. It can be flexible enough for weaving baskets or hard enough for use in intense martial arts training. When grown and processed in a sustainable manner, rattan can be an environmentally friendly material.

Rattan suppliers are experts in helping you find the right rattan for your needs. A rattan manufacturer uses various drying methods sometimes involving chemicals or oils depending on the size of rattan and the desired level of flexibility. Those looking for large quantities of rattan may wish to buy rattan wholesale. Discover these rattan applications and uses:

1. Find suppliers of rattan furniture.

2. Make or buy rattan baskets.

3. Buy rattan sticks for martial arts.

4. Use the resin from the fruit of the rattan to make dragon's blood.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Purchase rattan furniture

The most common use for rattan is furniture. Rattan furniture is highly prized for its beauty and durability. There are many places to buy furniture made from rattan online.

I recommend: Discover a variety of rattan furniture styles for every room in the home and check out indoor and outdoor furniture collections at Boca Rattan. Sun Valley Rattan has bedroom furniture and accessories for a tropical theme. Heritage House Rattan Interiors offers rattan office furniture.

Buy bulk rattan for basket making

Basket weaving is a traditional art. Rattan can be the perfect flexible material for your basket project.

I recommend: Frank's Cane and Rush Supply offers bulk rattan for basket weaving in rolls. See finished rattan baskets at Rattanland.

Learn about buying rattan sticks for martial arts

You can use rattan poles with skins as staves for martial arts training. In the Society for Creative Acronism (SCA), the only accepted material for making martial arts weapons is rattan. Because rattan sticks vary widely in flexibility, always make sure that you order the right rattan for your intended purpose.

I recommend: Norm's Training Blades offers information on its rattan sticks for martial arts. Martial Mart offers a variety of rattan sticks for various martial arts uses.

Make dragon's blood resin from the rattan fruit

The small red fruit of the rattan plant yields a resin known as dragon's blood. Historically, people used dragon's blood as medicine. Today, some varnishes and stains use Dragon's Blood for its dark red colored dye. It is sometimes even fashioned into beads for jewelry.

I recommend: Learn more about the uses of dragon's blood resin at Global Herbal Supplies or by visiting Botanical.com.