Indonesian designer Alvin Tjitrowirjo has created five new pieces of handmade furniture, designed to promote rattan as a high-quality material.
Called Tropicália Modernity, the colourful furniture collection features a lounge chair, a dining chair, a matching bench and stool, and a rocking horse.
Tjitrowirjo unveiled the collection at Milan design week, with his design studio and furniture brand AlvinT.
The Malya Dining Chair has a frame of curved rattan canes
All the items in the collection are made entirely out of rattan, a natural wood material derived from palm trees.
The material is traditionally woven into strings or textiles for use in furniture and homeware, but can also be a solid wood. Tjitrowirjo's pieces feature solid rattan beams that have been bent into geometric shapes. The beams are bound with a rattan wrapping
"All these pieces are basically my way of trying to explore the beauty of rattan," the designer told Dezeen. "These are the modern contemporary version of traditional rattan."
"It is seen as a cheap and cheerful underdog material that is heavily underrated. This is something we want to change," he explained.
The Bhuana Lounge chair has a two-pronged back
Indonesia is responsible for over 70 percent of all the rattan production worldwide. But according to Tjitrowirjo, almost all the good quality material is exported, both legally and illegally. He hopes to change this by encouraging Indonesian designers to start workin...