The rattan industry might be in its final season in Macao. Some even believe that it has the longest history among all other “traditional” industries in the city. Once flourishing with over 20 factories in the 70s, it has scaled down to one last surviving store -- Rui Ji Rattan Company.

 

Mrs. Tang, wife of the owner of Rui Ji, has been in the industry for over 30 years. According to Tang, the shop has been around for 19 years, but they stopped making their own rattan furnitures around three years ago due to old age, the lack of workers and high labor costs. She stated that people from Macao nowadays seldom choose to use traditional rattan furniture. Although the business is diminishing, she stated that there will always be a certain group of people looking for rattan furniture so “it will never be completely dead”.

 

This type of traditional art of furniture making has been around Macao before WWII and had a prominent place in our trading history with Europe. However, most of the industries didn’t survive the development of the fast-growing city and the process of making rattan furniture remains vague to many of us.

 

“Rattan”, a word originated from the Malaysian word “Rotan” is the main stem of climbing palm. It's an extraordinarily versatile material extremely durable and strong, flexible yet resilient. Mrs. Tang explained that one rattan chair takes three to 10 days to complete. “Back in the day,” she said, “there would be 3-4 workers working in our house and each in charge of a specific task.” There are the seven steps of rattan furniture making:

 

1. The outer soft layer of the rattan is first peeled, sanded and measured

2. The rattan needs to be soaked in sulfur to prevent insects from decaying the rattan

3. Heat is then used to shape and blend the rattan to from and create different curves

4. The burnt rattan skin must be scraped off before nailing the main frame together

5. Then the process of cane binding is used for both decorative purposes and additional strength of the joins, but canes must be applied wet, because the binding will shrink as they dry

6. Polish the whole furniture and then spray color if necessary, this process will be repeated a few times

7. Varnish and lacquer are then painted on the rattan furniture

 

The art of making rattan furniture might be on the verge of disappearing in Macao, but everything has a beginning and an end, all new things must have a past. Nowadays, instead of the traditional rattan furniture, we see more and more plastic rattan furniture emerging into our society, which according to Mrs. Tang is actually “more durable against the rain and the sun”.

 

The old Macao is passing as the old rattan industry is passing, but it is the foundation of the city we are building upon, and hopefully it’s giving birth to a new and better version of Macao.