BH | Studio Lindos Scalloped Rattan Side Table

Rattan, the long, pliable stem of a climbing palm, came to Western houses in quantity in the Victorian period, when woven seats and tables filled porches and sunrooms. Woven furniture belongs just as much to the Greek islands, where rush-seated chairs line the café terraces of whitewashed towns, and it has the same virtue everywhere: it weighs little, goes outside on a warm afternoon and comes back in at dusk.

This small table is woven by hand from natural rattan over a light frame, with a top shaped like an open flower and sides that follow the same soft lobes down to the floor. It is light enough to lift with one hand and carry wherever it is needed, and its height lets it work three ways: as an end table, as a plant stand or as a low stool. The rattan has a warm golden tone, with the small shifts in colour and weave that come from hand work, so no two are quite alike. Non-marking caps protect the floor, and it arrives fully assembled.

Stand it by a bed with a lamp and a glass of water, beside a sofa in the living room, or in a sunny corner with a trailing plant on top. It is at home on a covered porch or patio in summer as a perch for a cool drink, and comes back indoors as easily as it went out. The scalloped rattan has a sweet, sixties holiday charm with striped cushions, palms and a pink or coral wall.