Rattan Rocking Chairs

Shopping for a vintage rattan rocking chair? Lightweight, durable and versatile, rattan furniture is whatever one wants it to be: elegant or rustic, chic or workaday. And rocking chairs are unique in that they don’t just offer a place to rest — they offer an opportunity to reminisce. The presence of one of these classic pieces stirs up our penchant for nostalgia and has the power to transform a space. 

Few things inspire such extreme devotion as furnishings crafted from the versatile fibers of a tropical palm native to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Indeed, antique and vintage rattan furniture has found legions of devotees over the years. The long-lasting natural medium, made popular in Great Britain and the United States during the Victorian era, is a master of disguise, able to mingle with a wide range of styles — when done the right way.

For rattan rocking chairs and other rattan seating, there is no shortage of popular search terms for interested parties — suggestions include Bielecky Brothers, Heywood-Wakefield, Hans Wegner, Ficks Reed and Thonet.

Thanks to the latter, the humble rocking chair acquired something unexpected: style. In 1873, James Tissot painted an introspective young woman in a Thonet No. 1 rocker, whose curved beechwood frame resembles the tendrils of a twisting vine; the seat and back are rattan, and the chair is provided with a convenient footrest. Pierre-Auguste Renoir sketched a woman in a Thonet rocking chair; later so did Pablo Picasso, whose home and studio were full of bentwood rockers.

Several mid-century modern designers were inspired by the rocking chair. Early in his career, the Danish master Wegner — who worked frequently with rattan — designed a rather staid rocker with slender spindles and a cord seat; he followed it with a more adventurous version in which the seat and back were corded netting. Ole Wanscher, another Dane, designed an upholstered rocker with a teak frame that became a classic. 

The use of rattan stretches from prehistory to IKEA. To clarify, rattan is not bamboo, which is a rigid, hollow reed. Stalks of rattan (whose name derives from the Malay rotan) are dense, steamable and bendable, which is why it lends itself to curvaceous designs and infinite creative uses in a way bamboo does not. Nor is rattan synonymous with wicker, which is a broader term for woven items — often made of rattan fibers but also of willow, other pliable reeds or even synthetic materials.

“Furniture made out of woven materials has occurred since the beginning of time and in every culture,” says interior designer and rattan aficionado Amanda Lindroth, noting that in earlier times, rattan furnishings were most often found in semi-outdoor settings like sunrooms and porches.

Rattan pieces were welcomed indoors in the mid-20th century, and over time the medium has been put to use by giants of modernism such as Josef Hoffmann, Thonet, Jean-Michel Frank and Donald Deskey. 

Find antique and vintage rattan rocking chairs on 1stDibs.