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Natural fibers in the living area

Rattan and seagrass captivate with their natural charm, bring the sun of Asia into the house and are climate-friendly. Bamboo even produces more oxygen than trees.

The natural fiber bamboo is as hard as wood and light as feather

The United Nations declared 2009 the year of natural fiber. A good decision!

Bamboo is a miracle grass: hard as wood, as light as a feather. As rigid as stone, as elastic as rubber. It thrives in tropical heat, but also comes with a frosty climate. Is food, medicine and building material. So far 1500 varieties are known - some grow up to one meter overnight. But above all: bamboo brings the exotic into the house - in the form of parquet, as an accessory and furniture. Also watery hyacinths, seagrass, banana leaf or rattan are interwoven into beautiful bowls, armchairs or beds. And manufacturers and designers are constantly searching for new natural fibers that they can process, because the demand is enormous.

Also, because many people have become aware that they can buy the exotic plants with a clear conscience: stalks instead of wood conserve the significantly slower renewable resource forest. The water hyacinth, for example, proliferates like weeds. To intertwine them into furniture or accessories is a wise use, as you have to set limits to maintain balance in tropical waters.

And bamboo is available in almost inexhaustible quantities around the globe and turns more CO2 into oxygen than the comparable amount of trees. Also rattan grows very fast. Torn from the jungle, today it is grown on huge plantations. This has a positive effect on the climate and creates millions of jobs in the world's poorest countries. Whole villages live from rattan factories or find jobs from leading international manufacturers that fabricate in Asia. So the rattan boom is a huge win for all involved. The importance of this sustainable economy for developing and emerging countries is also demonstrated by the UN initiative to declare 2009 the year of natural fibers.

Also, because many people have become aware that they can buy the exotic plants with a clear conscience: stalks instead of wood conserve the significantly slower renewable resource forest. The water hyacinth, for example, proliferates like weeds. To intertwine them into furniture or accessories is a wise use, as you have to set limits to maintain balance in tropical waters. And bamboo is available in almost inexhaustible quantities around the globe and turns more CO2 into oxygen than the comparable amount of trees. Also rattan grows very fast. Torn from the jungle, today it is grown on huge plantations. This has a positive effect on the climate and creates millions of jobs in the world's poorest countries. Whole villages live from rattan factories or find jobs from leading international manufacturers that fabricate in Asia. So the rattan boom is a huge win for all involved. The importance of this sustainable economy for developing and emerging countries is also demonstrated by the UN initiative to declare 2009 the year of natural fibers.

In Asia, especially in the southeastern regions, stalks and grasses have always been the livelihoods of people. They supply the raw material for houses, fences, mats and almost all everyday objects.

The first exotic armchairs, sofas and tables with merchant ships of the English, Portuguese and Dutch arrived in Europe in the 18th century. During the colonial era, the Asian jewelry became a model for the local manufactories. They were fascinated by their exoticism, their lightness, but above all by the material: the tropical plants were unusually flexible. They flexed without breaking - to a pitch that Holz did not join. And in comparison to the willow common in this country, the craftsmen were able to braid far more filigree with them.

Braiding is one of mankind's oldest craft traditions, and there are as many weaving techniques and patterns as peoples. To this day, wicker furniture is produced manually. Because machines have neither dexterity nor intuition to get the most out of the material. Plaitters need about ten days to make a piece of furniture out of the average pipe, which is three to seven millimeters thick. So every wicker furniture is unique with its own history, even if it is offered by manufacturers in series. They are not just about beautiful furniture, but also about the idea behind it.

Loom is the only wickerwork that is machine-made but fully recyclable. It is made of paper that is tightly wrapped around a wire and weaved into surfaces on a loom. They are later stretched onto a frame. When the British manufacturer Lloyd invented Loom in 1917, it was a small revolution. Loom convinced with its fine meshes as on-board furniture of the Zeppelins, as a stroller and as a noble interior. Lloyd Loom classics from the 1920s are sought-after room decorations today.

Strong in the coming: The latest development is to intertwine fibers made of plastics according to ancient craftsmanship. Hula made a splash, the rattan looks deceptively similar. The synthetic material is used to make designer objects by hand, which, in contrast to the natural network, survive rain and even storm damage.

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