Wicker Patio Furniture Collections, Items & Sets - Family Leisure

Family Leisure offers the broadest selection of Wicker Patio Furniture, Collections, Items and Sets. We feature the best manufacturers and brands including North Cape, Cast Classic, Caluco, Bahama Winds, Domus Ventures, Royal Teak Collection, Alfresco Home, Woodard and Acacia. Each manufacturer showcases a different style of designs and layouts. Modern, box-like themes are featured in the Florida Keys Wicker Set and the Cabo Wicker Sectional, evoking thoughts and images of South Beach, Miami. Discover a spectacular dining set, such as the Sicily Wicker Dining, which combines classic dining chairs and long tables with soft weaves, granting an all-weather dining set for your porch, patio or three-season room. Introduce a traditional deep seating set to that covered outdoor space, such as the Shambala Wicker, Sanibel Wicker or Georgetown Wicker. Luxurious chaise lounges offer innovative options to poolside or beachside seating, with contemporary looks and geometric outlines. Examples of chaise lounges include the Mirabella Wicker Chaise Lounge, the Lagos Wicker Chaise Lounge and the Halo Wicker Chaise Lounge. Day beds are quite popular additions to any lake house, giving family and guests a place to escape the sun and relax with a book or a laptop. If the home requires a relaxing experience that is different, be sure to inspect the Monterey Wicker Day Bed or Dundee Wicker Day Bed. Every piece in each set or collection can be ordered individually, from bar height seating to traditional patio furniture.

The History of Wicker Patio Furniture - Family Leisure

Everyone has heard of wicker, the well-liked style of Patio Furniture known worldwide for its strong and beautiful weaves. Many people remember rattan, the popular and comfortable furniture that sat on a porch or in a garden while growing up. Many think rattan is wicker or wicker is rattan. Historically people have confused or combined the two terms, interchanging wicker with rattan and vice versa. Let's clarify the terms.

Wicker and rattan both have long, interesting and intertwined histories. Wicker baskets, boats, tables, chariots and chairs were used by ancient Egyptians, typically made from strong grasses and reeds harvested from the Nile. Wicker baskets have been found under the ashes in the ruins of Pompeii, and eventually wicker furniture became popular in the gardens and verandas of Victorian Era plantations and estates in both England and America. British and Dutch traders brought the furniture home, falling in love with the exotic look and feel while trading in the Indian Ocean. In addition to looking great, this older wicker was prized for its comfort compared to the seating of the day, particularly with a deep seating pillow.

Wicker is any object that utilizes weaved plants, and can be made from a variety of natural materials such as grasses and vines. For centuries wicker furniture was exclusively made from rattan. Because of this seemingly complete use of rattan in wicker furniture, the terms mingled in the minds of the public, eventually combining to mean the same thing. But they are not the same thing.

Wicker is a production process that produces furniture and other objects. Rattan, on the other hand, is a vine-like plant that grows exclusively in the tropical climates and jungles of South East Asian states such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It’s been used for thousands of years to construct everything from baskets to furniture from Japan to China.

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines were traditionally at the center of the rattan trade, with the Malaysian city of Singapore as the major hub in the Java Sea for the export of this material until the late 1980s. This success in the export of the raw material leading up to the 1980s is misleading; Java Sea countries made small profits from the export of raw rattan, while the real value lied in the export of finished products by foreign manufacturers who reeled in large profits.

In addition to low profits, harvesting raw rattan is extremely difficult and required gangs of Indonesian men hiking into dense and challenging jungles to harvest locations miles inside the rainforests. Once cut, the vines were chopped into 10 or 12 foot lengths, bundled together, and hauled by foot out of the jungle to export centers. Starting in the 1970s these countries began to ban the export of this material. The new laws limited the amount that can be cut, decreasing damage and abuses to the rainforests and the laborers, while attempting to create a new manufacturing sector that traditionally was dominated by China, Japan and Taiwan.

But rattan has recently fallen out of favor of furniture manufacturers and wicker owners. These organic cords offered many advantages for furniture: it’s very strong compared to other types of wood and bamboo, features a uniform diameter and a solid inner core and when heated rattan is extremely pliable and can be bent into virtually any shape. For these reasons the Asian vine always dominated wicker furniture. But it is a plant which requires maintenance and will deteriorate quickly if left outside in the rain, wind, sun or snow. Recently furniture manufacturers turned to synthetic materials that offer the same benefits as traditional rattan wicker, without the constant maintenance. These all-weather wicker pieces are durable, will never become brittle, and offer colors that will never fade under the elements, UV radiation, humidity and water.

Wicker Patio Furniture Online & On Sale - Family Leisure

Wicker Patio Furniture has a style that is truly timeless, while today's modern materials create all-weather furniture that is strong and durable. Family Leisure carries the widest variety, from all-weather wicker patio furniture to traditional indoor wicker. The materials used today are made to last and are extremely comfortable. Old-world casting techniques, antique accenting and strong aluminum frames wrapped in colors such as Dark Java and Walnut create heirloom-quality pieces. Choose between in-stock cushion fabrics or a custom fabric to reflect your home's style. Free Shipping and the Best Prices Guaranteed! That's Family Leisure! Shop for Outdoor Wicker Furniture Online or in any local Family Leisure Store!