Celebrating the curvy beauty of rattan

Rattan is familiar to many of us. But to our designer Carl Öjerstam it’s more than familiarity. It’s passion. "There's something about rattan that's timeless," he says. "I've been making furniture with it since the 90's and I love the possibilities you have using it." Some of these possibilities show in the STORSELE armchair. It celebrates the curvy beauty of rattan with a design so comfortable you don't need a cushion. No cushion? Yes, by exploring the right seat angle and lumbar support, we believe we’ve succeeded.

Native to tropical Asia, rattan grows much like a vine, reaching up into the canopy and then dropping to the ground becoming thicker along the way. Once cut and sorted, you boil or steam it and then bend it by hand. Once cool, it hardens into shape. Carl worked out the prototype for STORSELE while in the factory outside Jakarta in Indonesia. "Rattan is so hands on," he says. "It's more like you're sculpting a chair, and over the course of a week you work very close with skilled craftspeople to make it together."

Creating a comfortable seat

The development team wanted to create comfort through the design itself – without a cushion. Then, it becomes extremely important to get the right seat angle and lumbar support. "The seat curve is something I work on before anything else," says Carl. "Then I build the chair around it."

An inviting place to sit

The result is a highback armchair that uses the natural qualities of rattan to create a gracefully curved design, with a comfort that needs no cushion. For Carl, the armchair's inviting feel is its biggest calling card. "I think there's something about rattan furniture that just speaks to people. They have this classic shape that still fits in with everything whatever the style, and at the end of the day they're simply nice to sit in."