Where to Find Rattan Furniture in Singapore to Give Your Home That Tropical Feel

It almost sounds wrong to say rattan furniture is making a comeback when it seems it never left in the first place. Rattan and wood may have become a home décor trend amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's worth mentioning that the popularity of such natural materials in interior design preceded the health crisis and shall outlive it.

Rattan is a spiny climbing plant that belongs to the Calamoideae, a subfamily of palms consisting of more than 600 different species. It is used in various products, from mats, baskets, and fish traps to dyes, medicines, and cane furniture, among others.

When used in furniture, rattan has the power to give a home an instant lift reminiscent of those heady and airy days of summer. It's no doubt, then, why rattan furniture is such a popular choice when it comes to tropicalizing spaces beyond one's living quarters, as seen in trendy restaurants, cafés, clubs, and hotels. It feels like you’re on vacation 24/7.

Check out these five places in Singapore where you can get rattan furniture to give your home that tropical feel.

Elements Concepts

Elements Concepts started in 2015 as a small shop in Jakarta that sold handcrafted furniture and home accessories. In just seven years, the shop was able to expand its operations and grow its product range; it now outfits numerous establishments in Indonesia and exports products to the United States, Japan, Australia, and Europe, as well as Singapore through The AC Boutique at 420 Joo Chiat Road.

If coastal living is what you want to embody, we recommend you check out this Vanilla Two Seater made of rattan poles and rattan slimit (S$650) and this spacious Sahara Long Cabinet (S$600).

Island Living

Created by designer Karin Rysgaard and ex-public relations consultant Denise Vrontas, Island Living is a home goods store specializing in globally sourced island-inspired furniture made from materials like sustainable rattan and reclaimed teak wood.

This hand-bent Bahama Rattan Mirror (S$445) will give your bedroom that tropical bohemian feel and when paired with this Havana Bed (S$1,190) made of solid teak and rattan will have you living your island dreams in the middle of the city in no time.

Hemma

Statement thrones are all the rage right now so why not make this intricate Lady Peacock rattan chair (S$588) from Hemma the centrepiece of your home space? Hemma, which translates to "at home" in Swedish, began as a teak garden furniture distributor in Sweden in 1998 before venturing into outdoor furniture of different materials. It opened its sourcing office in Singapore in 2001 under its company Scansindo Pte Ltd.

Originals

Originals is a furniture store along Bukit Batok Street that offers a wide range of unique homeware and accessories for the bedroom, dining room and kitchen, living room, office, and outdoors, among many others. Originals is all about fun, comfort, and functionality without compromising sustainability and quality. Its new timber comes from certified mills and with FSC certification, while timber from its Nomad collections is repurposed.

Ong Shunmugam

Ong Shunmugam, a Singapore-based contemporary fashion brand, is the brainchild of Priscilla Shunmugam. Born in Kuala Lumpur to a Chinese mother and an Indian father, Shunmugam founded her brand and namesake in 2009 after reading law at the National University of Singapore and spending a year in England to study dressmaking.

Suvarnabumi, the homeware line under Ong Shunmugam, offers collections for eccentric and beautiful rattan furniture and tableware. Its rattan furniture and basketry are especially made in Malaysia using locally harvested Rotan manau, Rotan mantang, and Rotan sega. While Ong Shunmugam boasts of a slew of rattan must-haves, one of our favourites has got to be this gorgeous Infinity Screen (S$1,099), a three-panel natural rattan divider screen draped with embroidered jacquard.