Manufacturing

The rattan or aluminum chair manufacturing is essentially based on the work of three craftsmen: the rattan worker who assembles the structure of the chair, the cabinetmaker who makes the frame of the wooden seat, and the cane workers who act to garnish the piece.

It is a complex process requiring years of learning for certain tasks, in particular caning, or weaving. Everything is done by hand, especially since rattan is a “living” and non-regular material, it is only possible to work it by artisanal methods.

The structure of the furniture: the work of the rattan person

The profession of rattan person is mainly learned in the workshop with experienced rattan craftsmen. The manufacture of the seats is entirely artisanal. It implements a know-how that is acquired over time. Five years of experience are necessary to earn the title of qualified assembler. Making a seat therefore requires expertise and dexterity, but not only that. Indeed, if the experienced rattan worker is able to manufacture traditional furniture, such as the iconic Parisian bistro chair, almost with his eyes closed, he will have to show imagination and creativity to adapt to the sometimes fanciful inventiveness of decorators. The right rattan is an essential pillar for the manufacture of new models. He will shape by hand the furniture imagined from a single raw material: rattan.
Rattan is worked raw, splinted or debarked according to almost immutable processes. Several phases of work are necessary to build a Drucker rattan chair:

Manufacturing steps

Preparation

The preparation of Rattan components from rattan “poles” (3 to 5m).

Cutting

The cutting consists of cutting the poles into segments corresponding to the needs (seat structure, feet, arms, backrests) according to their diameter and the location of the knots. These sections are then refined and the knots carefully sanded. Work that requires great expertise.

Steaming

A steaming of about twenty minutes at 100 degrees is necessary to soften the rattan.

Bending

By this operation the rattan is bent then fixed on a mold from which it will take the irreversible shape while drying. There are more than a hundred molds, each corresponding to a shape. You have to act quickly, the dry perch does not remain malleable for long.

Drying

The curved piece is left as it is, attached to its template, for three days.

Frame weaving

The frame is woven first before the structure is assembled.

Assembly

The previously curved parts (legs, backrests, armrests, etc.) are assembled to form the structure using screws and nails specially manufactured for Drucker.

Backrest and armrest weaving

The weaving of the backrests and arms is carried out on the assembled structure.

Planking

The planking which consists in camouflaging the stapling of the straps on the frame is characteristic of the traditional aesthetics of rattan seats.

Finishing

quality control, adjustment of the feet, installation of protective domes which reinforce the base of the feet and finally varnishing.

Our materials

Preparation

The preparation of Rattan components from rattan “poles” (3 to 5m).

Cutting

Steaming

A steaming of about twenty minutes at 100 degrees is necessary to soften the rattan.

Bending

Drying

The curved piece is left as it is, attached to its template, for three days.

Frame weaving

The frame is woven first before the structure is assembled.

Assembly

The previously curved parts (legs, backrests, armrests, etc.) are assembled to form the structure using screws and nails specially manufactured for Drucker.

Backrest and armrest weaving

The weaving of the backrests and arms is carried out on the assembled structure.

Planking

The planking which consists in camouflaging the stapling of the straps on the frame is characteristic of the traditional aesthetics of rattan seats.

Finishing

quality control, adjustment of the feet, installation of protective domes which reinforce the base of the feet and finally varnishing.

Our materials

These are the stages in the manufacture of a Drucker chair, to which are added the choice of colors which has become one of the strong points of the creation of Maison Louis Drucker.
Making a Drucker chair requires both expertise and dexterity.
In addition to manufacturing, Maison Louis Drucker also restores pieces that are sometimes a hundred years old or remakes a collector’s piece identically. Maison Louis Drucker has carefully preserved the molds and templates since the beginning.

The cabinetmaker

At Maison Louis Drucker, the cabinetmaker, in consultation with the rattan worker and the decorator, must design and manufacture the custom frame of the furniture to be made. It is up to the cabinetmaker to choose the quality of wood necessary for the resistance and use of the furniture. He must also draw, design and shape the first frame, which he must then manufacture in as many frames as required by the number of chairs, armchairs, benches, etc. desired. The frame is an essential element for the robustness and elegance of the piece of furniture, as beautiful above as below.

Weaving, creating a decor

The classic technique of weaving on a rattan structure

Caning or weaving blades of natural rattan, or Rilsan or Raucord fibers is an ancestral know-how that is similar to basketry. It is a kind of braiding intended to garnish seats, backrests, armrests, headboards or any other furniture. It is a job that requires a lot of care and dexterity. Sophisticated caning requires long experience. Caning a chair can take between three and thirty hours of work depending on the complexity of the jacquard and the number of colored strands to be woven. The traditional work of weavers from Maison Louis Drucker on rattan furniture is done strand by strand, each strand is stapled, stretched and stapled again on the back or frame while creating the chosen pattern. The tension should neither be too tight, the strand may come loose, nor too flexible. Experience is essential.

Technique of weaving on metal

On aluminum structures, the strands are not stapled but knotted. Knots are invisible. It is a difficult and very refined technique, perfectly mastered by the weavers of Maison Louis Drucker.