Photography courtesy of Wend Studio.
Oakland, California, designers Michelle Plante and Genevieve Bandrowski launched their furniture line, Wend, after designing a chair for a French hotel for a project.
Today they design Wend chairs in collaboration, drawing on furniture designs from the sixties and seventies to “marry this traditional Indonesian craft with a distinctly California aesthetic.” The result is a four-piece collection—three chairs and one settee, available in select California stores and online.
The Diamond Rattan Chair has an iron base and is inspired by European designs from the 1960s.
The matching Diamond Rattan Settee best showcases the diamond pattern created when strip rattan (the narrower pieces) is woven around pole rattan (the thicker ones).
The Ring Rattan Chair takes inspiration from French furniture styles of the 1960s.
The elliptic Arc Rattan Rocker is inspired by 1950s styles; it can function as a rocking chair if you lean back; $400 at LeMay Shop.
A detail of the twisted and woven back on the diamond settee. Wend chairs are carried at select shops across the US and in Denmark.
Wend chairs begin as rattan bundles, tied to hold a circular shape while they dry. Wend donates 10 percent of all proceeds to organizations that support positive global change.
To mold the rattan further, the dried plant is heated, then bent, and again until the right shape is achieved.
Wend founders Michelle Plante and Genevieve Bandrowski.