Please help with chair

I do not think this is anything, but thought I would check with you guys before disposing of it.

Is this rattan? Any idea of age? Has leather ties on it, pretty rough, I know.

Thanks

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I don't know what it is, but I really like it. From this one pic it looks like bamboo (rattan is basically bamboo.) I would change the fabric, but I'd love it on my porch.

 

Thanks Bev! It has been put out to the trash twice, but I just cannot seem to part with it! What fabric would you put on it?

 

Does look like rattan to me. While probably not by a known designer/maker, it is more interesting than a lot of what I see. Rattan and bamboo are really very different. Bamboo is a grass and hollow inside. Rattan is, technically, a type of palm.

"Most rattans differ from other palms in having slender stems, 2–5 cm diameter, with long internodes between the leaves; also, they are not trees but are vine-like, scrambling through and over other vegetation. Rattans are also superficially similar to bamboo. Unlike bamboo, rattan stems ("malacca") are solid, and most species need structural support and cannot stand on their own. However, some genera (e.g. Metroxylon, Pigafetta, Raphia) are more like typical palms, with stouter, erect trunks. Many rattans have spines which act as hooks to aid climbing over other plants, and to deter herbivores. Rattans have been known to grow up to hundreds of metres long. Most (70%) of the world's rattan population exist in Indonesia, distributed among Borneo, Sulawesi, Sumbawa islands. The rest of the world's supply comes from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Bangladesh"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattan

 

Since I'd want it on my porch, maybe a canvas type fabric with a white background and palm leaves. Something outdoorsy or Victorian toile.

 

Brad is probably right, but his eyes may see more detail than mine! I love being old. It covers a multitude of sins.

 

Was hoping you would come by, Brad. It caught my eye at an auction due to its all over leather ties for construction. Wish I knew who made it/or where, for sure. Thanks for the education, interesting, I love learning on this Board!

Bev, I love the ideas--maybe a colorful tropical print, that would be neat! I saw some gorgeous vintage barkcloth online that I coveted, alas, too expensive! Probably not the best for the porch anyway, due to weather.

Wonder what I could do to the leather pieces to strengthen them/make them look better. Guess I could just get new ones.

 

Use the same stuff you'd use on your leather boots.

 

Rest assured barkcloth wouldn't hold up well for a chair.
Especially if it was VINTAGE cotton barkcloth!

I'd definitely go with a tropical design. It would look fantastic on my lanai.

If that madras fabric is original to the chair, that would date it to the late 1960s to early 1970s, which it appears to be in design too.

 

Hi Happy,
First thing I would do would be to scrub it down good with hot salty water and a brush. Rinse it good with more hot water and let it dry. It will clean it and as it dries it will "tighten" up. Then I would treat the leather with a leather perservative using a small brush.
greg

 

You are welcome. Have to confess that I had to look up what exactly Rattan is. I knew it differed from bamboo but didn't really know it was a palm/vine. Consequently, I learned something in the process as well.

 

Reminds me of a joke.
Two five year olds were talking. Janice says "I found a condom on the lanai"
Billy says "What's a lanai?"
greg

 

Greg: add that to my story* about the woman who came back to my real estate office SO excited. She had just bought her "first two-bedroom condom."

*True - as witnesseth the living I.

 

For the record, there has never been, nor shall there ever be - a condom on either of my lanais!

 

so you like to ride bareback outdoors...?

 

I am shy! ;D