but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
but has lost ground to modern alternatives in the average household. (Photo: Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy)| Rattan is a centuries-old traditional material for making furniture
MANDALAY — Known locally as “Rattan Quarter,” this residential area between 27th and 76th streets in Mandalay is arguably failing to live up to its reputation these days.
In generations past, families in this neighborhood made their living weaving mats from rattan that were used as the backing and seats of wooden furniture, typically armchairs.
During a recent trip to the area, however, The Irrawaddy found that only two houses were sticking with the trade, their workshops manned by people in their 50s who at the time of the visit were weaving the material for wooden armchairs.
These rattan stalwarts claimed that modern furniture, made of plastic or steel and readily available at supermarkets these days, was the reason that the once steady rattan weaving trade appears, to a visitor in 2016, to be in its death throes.
A centuries-old traditional material for making furniture, rattan was widely used across the country, valued for its adaptability to the weather; its surface feels cool to the touch in high temperatures and warm in cooler weather.
Another factor working against the rattan trade in a 21st century filled with alternatives is its time-consuming nature. To weave the back and seat to one armchair takes an average of six hours, denting the appeal of the craft for younger generations.
Asked why they are sticking with the job while others have moved on, one weaver said: “It’s our traditional craft as well as it is the business that we have known for generations.”
