THE HISTORY OF WICKER FURNITURE IN AMERICA
 Although the first piece of wicker
furniture in America came over on the Mayflower, the American wicker
furniture industry really dates from the early 1850s, when a young grocer
named Cyrus Wakefield discovered large quantities of rattan on the docks
of Boston. On ships that had been to Asia, the vines were used to keep
cargo from shifting on the long voyage home. The properties and
possibilities of the strange foreign material fascinated Mr. Wakefield. He
sold his grocery store and started the Wakefield Rattan Company in South
Reading, Massachusetts. The product proved so popular that Wakefield was
soon importing his own clipper ships full of rattan, which was in great
demand by basket and furniture makers. Wakefield then started making his
own wicker furniture; he is known today as the father of the industry.
The Wakefield Rattan Company grew tremendously during the 1860s and
virtually cornered the market on wicker furniture. Wakefield became a rich
man; after his death in 1873, the town of South Reading renamed itself
Wakefield in appreciation for all the jobs he created and the money he
donated to the town.
Some time after the Civil War, the Heywood Brothers Company, the
largest wood chair manufacturer in the United States, began using rattan
in the making of their chairs. An inventor employed by this company
invented a loom to weave the cane and a way to install the cane seats so
that they did not have to be hand woven. Automation reduced the cost of
making wicker furniture dramatically. Before long, the Heywood Brothers
Company and the Wakefield Rattan Company were fierce competitors.
Although the competition between the two major companies was keen
during the 1870s and 1880s, it was the general wicker-buying public who
ultimately benefited -- improved designs and lower prices were the end
result of this famous intra-industry rivalry. Yet, surprisingly, in April,
1897 the two titans decided to merge and formed the Heywood Brothers and
Wakefield Company, a consolidation which all but monopolized the quality
wicker furniture industry from the turn of the century through the
1920s.
Early in the 20th century, as public taste veered toward straighter
lines and more simple designs in furniture, Victorian wicker began to be
considered too ornate. About 1910, the Heywood Brothers and Wakefield
Company started designing wicker in the popular Mission style, which is
back in fashion today. But in 1917, Marshal B. Lloyd invented a machine
that wove man-made fiber out of chemically treated twisted paper, which
could then be transferred directly from his patented "Lloyd loom" and
fitted directly onto frames. Using synthetic material lowered the cost of
production substantially, and the plainer designs that Lloyd used caught
on quickly.
Recognizing the popularity of Lloyd's innovations, the Heywood
Brothers and Wakefield Company bought the Lloyd Manufacturing Company in
1921 and simplified the company name to the Heywood-Wakefield Company.
Unfortunately, synthetic machine-woven wicker lost its appeal in the
1930s. The Heywood-Wakefield Company was forced to switch to wood and
metal chairs. In 1979, the company stopped making furniture all
together.
 Wicker had a resurgence in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, however,
and wicker furniture became a common sight in American homes once again.
With the emerging popularity of the furniture of earlier time periods,
many people wanted to recapture the actual designs of those time periods.
Yesteryear Wicker was founded in order to meet this demand. Established in
1987, we are currently the world's only import reproduction specialist.
The designs found on our web pages can only be found here.
For a list of other historical wicker manufacturers, consult a book entitled
The Official Price Guide to Wicker, 3rd Edition, published by The
House of Collectibles, New York, New York 10022. It is written by wicker
aficionado Richard Saunders, who has authored several other books about
wicker.
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