Blog Posts
Woven Furniture Restoration
Danish Cord Woven Furniture Restoration:
Danish cord is a classic material used in mid-century modern furniture, known for its durability and distinctive aesthetic. We're skilled in Danish cord restoration, utilizing authentic materials and techniques to restore the original strength and beauty of the woven seats. We're dedicated to preserving the essence of Danish cord furniture.
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Single Rail Danish Cord weaving includes Moller, Morgensen, Arne Hovmand-Olsen, Poul Volther, Poul Cadiovius, H W Klein, Skovmand, and Andersen Chairs.
Double rail Danish cord weaving, including Wegner's Dining Chair 23.
Weaving Danish cord using the rushing pattern utilized on Wegner's Wishbone Chair 24 and Armchair Chair 22.​
Moller 71 Chair
Woven with Natural Danish Cord
Wegner Dining Chair 23
Woven with Natural Laced Danish Cord
Wegner Wishbone Chair 24
Seagrass Woven Furniture Restoration:
The seagrass used in chair weaving comes from Asia.
The seagrass is twisted to form a green rope material when newly woven and will brown as it ages.
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Seagrass is a courser and more rigid material than the Danish cord material.
It tends to sit more proud and offers beautiful tones in the twisted grass.
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Seagrass can be woven in different patterns, as shown above; however, many chairs are designed to accept a specific gauge or size of material and pattern.
Some exceptions to this rule are ladderback chairs and stools.
Borge Mogensen Chair
Gio Ponti Style Chair
Binding Cane / Rattan
Rattan or binding cane is a thicker gauge cane used to wrap the backs and seats of many mid-century pieces, creating intriguing patterns with an airy depth and character.
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Often, the cane wraps around the woven piece's frame using a no-nail technique.
Binding cane is also used to wrap lamps and pod chairs and to create magazine shelves on vintage tables.
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Hans Olsen's rocking chair is an iconic piece that creates intrigue and interest in its simple, airy form.
More than once, I've come across beautiful cane back lounge chairs that have been incorrectly restored by drilling holes through the frame of the backrest. There is no reason to butcher these excellent woven chairs. The backrest can be removed and mailed to Caning Canada at our winter site in Fort Langley from mid-October to mid-April for expert cane restoration.
Hans J. Wegner Teak and Cane Round Chair
Model 532A Rocking Chair Back designed by Hans Olsen and produced by Juul Kristensen
Hans J. Wegner for Johannes Hansen
JH 539 Cane Stool
Pre-Woven Cane
So many mid-century woven chairs, tables, and even daybeds sport pre-woven cane surfaces.
Many of these pieces were designed with close weave cane patterns.
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Care and attention to detail are essential when restoring these beautiful cane pieces. Many of these woven surfaces can be removed from the frame and mailed to Caning Canada for cane restoration.
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When a woven piece has multiple panels and curves, cane repair becomes a new dance.
Every piece wants you to step through the cane installation in order.
When you get the dance right, the cane submits and shows its appreciation for decades of beauty.
You can extend the enjoyment of this beauty with proper care and maintenance of the woven surfaces.
Thonet Cantilever Armchair Model B64 by Marcel Breuer - Standard Weave
Arne Vodder For France & Daverkosen
Cane Back Dining Chair - Close Weave
Vintage Cane Back Chair
Radio Weave
Handwoven Cane
Talk about lost art. Handwoven cane is individual strands of cane woven through holes in the chair frame.
Being a master weaver isn't just about years of experience, knowing and understanding weaving techniques, or naturally feeling the form and tension.
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It's about finding the reason within the chaos and taming it to structure and form.
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If we're not coming to your location, check the woven surface to see if it can be removed and mailed for cane replacement.
Handwoven Cane
Fibre Rush
Fibre rush is a durable one-ply, a twisted paper resembling real bull rushes.
Paper fibre or "fibre reed" was introduced when China had an embargo on rattan reed exportation.
Paper fibre became the substitute for natural rattan reed. Material is wrapped around the four dowels, framing the square of a seat and creating four triangles.
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Surfaces can often be removed and mailed for weaving.
Fibre Rush
Shaker Tape
Shaker tape is cotton cordage material available in multiple colours. We stock beige Shaker tape. Shaker tape is a beautiful way to reuse broken wicker or reed chairs with a relatively unobstructed, sturdy frame.
The Shaker's
Initially designed in the late 1700s by followers of the religious group the Shaking Quakers, shaker furniture has become a staple in our interior design, known for being timeless and elegant.
Shaker-style furniture has clean lines, tapered legs, and minimalist designs. It's simple, functional, practical, and elegant. Early Shaker furniture artisans focused on simplicity and integrity in their designs because they believed excessive ornamentation or decoration was a sin of pride.
"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Shaker furniture has become increasingly popular for traditional and modern homes as our busy lifestyles cause us to seek simplicity and calmness in our home décor.
Ladder Back Chairs
Most often seen in Shakers' woven-seated rocking chairs, ladder backs are backrests made out of a few wooden boards which run horizontally to the chair's posts. Yet, Shakers could mould soft or hard lines into these sections to develop a beautiful linear flow, and these wooden rocking chairs were very lightweight so that they could be hung from a nail in the wall when they weren't in use.
Paints and Stains
Shakers painted or stained most of their furniture with a specific variety of sanctioned colours they could use, which include yellows, reds, greens, and blues.
Shaker Tape
Furniture Design Styles
Modern furniture - The Modernist movement began in the early 1900s with the Bauhaus School of Design.
Mid-century Modern - a design style of roughly the 1930s through the mid-1960s characterized by clean lines, streamlined organic forms, and lack of embellishment.
Vintage refers to something authentic from an era at least twenty years ago, while retro is new items made to imitate past items.
Bohemian is personal and relaxed. Boho styles are not styled for any other person’s enjoyment but your own.
Japandi design combines the elements of Japanese and Scandinavian designs to create beautiful simplistic functionality and a connection to nature.
Scandinavian design refers to the pieces of Demark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Scandinavian design has returned due to its clean lines, natural elements, and emphasis on sustainability.
Hygge (pronounced “hyoo-guh”) is a Danish word that most closely translates to cozy in English.
A minimalist home showcases pieces like an art gallery and isn't cluttered.
Eclectic interiors can be considered “opposites attract,” for example, mixing a farmhouse-style chair with an Art Deco piece.
French country balances old with new. Some pieces in the room are new, while others might be vintage finds or passed-down heirlooms.
Hollywood interior design combines mid-century modern and Art Deco. Lines are clean decorative details that balance beauty and function.
Rustic interiors use wood, stone, and other organic elements to let natural beauty shine, allowing each piece's character to stand out.
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Coastal or cottage styles create a soothing place incorporating clean and simple with pops of natural tones and colours.