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Reviving Dhaka’s classic cane furniture traditions
PHOTO: PRABIR DAS
RBR
Hollowed cane chairs with pillowy cushions in white cotton covers surrounded a cane centre table with a glass top, on which, there would be a brass flower vase, posing with beautiful pink roses or gardenias from the garden -- this was how verandas looked years ago in Dhaka, or casual day rooms. Cane furniture was a timeless and vintage home décor style in Dhaka homes of the sixties.
“I remember my mother had a cane basket to put the flasks and milk bottles for my younger brother, sort of like the baby diaper bags we carry now. That square basket with compartments and a hooked cover, was my favourite plaything. I had one chamber to stow my dolls when we went out,” says Tripti Reman, a homemaker.
“Our rare Dhaka visits always meant taking a rickshaw ride to Green Road, the only street selling such merchandise. Those beautiful cane items, like the lidded wicker baskets for picnics, the sprawling divans, and daybeds with hand-embroidered sheets, the ball chairs, highchairs for babies, bar chairs, and room partitions are all reminders of the colonial influence on our home styling,” Reman remembers fondly.
Planters’ chairs made from cane and timber, with the wicker woven in a criss-cross pattern on the back and bottom, were a common choice of our yesteryear interiors. And now, Dhaka people are once again opting for classic wood and cane furniture. Old-world charm is in; an impression you seem to gather if you browse through some f-commerce sites offering antiques.
“Rustic, and very homely cane products were common in our household before the plastic and wooden boards took over our interiors,” says Masudul Islam Gias, the current owner of Yamim Furniture Fair, the famous cane furniture store in Green Road, which has been in operation since the sixties. Gias a second-generation manufacturer and dealer of all kinds of cane and bamboo products, explained that the main difference between cane, wicker, and rattan is that cane and rattan are materials, while wicker is a weaving technique.
“The trend of using cane-bound wood furniture is on the rise, but unfortunately, we manufacturers cannot cash in on this new demand. Our business dipped sharply since the early 2000s and never regained momentum. The skilled craftsmen for cane binding took to other professions and those in profession charge Tk 800 for a day’s work, while imports became a tedious process, and the government imposed a 15 percent VAT on handicrafts. With all these issues plaguing the sector, it is in dire straits now,” Gias laments.
Unlike the dedicated gardens for crops that need cultivation, cane has no specific area for mass forest production in Bangladesh. Dhaka mostly imports cane from the Arakan regions via the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar route, which is not the best option. A single container of cane stripe bundles, if imported from Indonesia, can cost almost Tk 50,000 and it might take three to four years to sell the load off. Since it is a slow item and the import process is tedious, importers are not keen on this business.
Currently, the once thriving stores in Green Road are on the verge of closure.
Favourite cane items like rocking chairs, cabinets, and sofa sets are priced between Tk 7,000 to Tk 40,000, so the middle-class opts for cheaper plastic or foreign furniture, leaving these artisanal stores with almost no sales on lean days.
Cane furniture was in vogue in the British and Dutch colonies such as Indonesia, India, and the Caribbean for its natural texture, and eco-friendly and biodegradable features, and this furniture brought about an aesthetic appeal to the bungalows they lived in.
Dhaka interiors are going green by popular choice, so adding a traditional beth-er-mora or cane stool to your décor only adds to the earthiness and a vintage charm to your home, while also helping the cane stores on Green Road survive.