Decorating & Design
Trend Watch: Get Ready For Summer With Rattan Pendants
You don’t have to wait for sunny skies and warm temperatures to embrace this trend. Beachy rattan and other woven pendants have been popping up in the coolest interiors — and there’s no sign of burnout. Part of their popularity stems from the fact these fixtures seem to do the impossible: create volume while remaining lightweight. If summer seems like a faraway dream, hanging this kind of fixture is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to create a Malibu beach house vibe all year long. Click through to observe rattan in its natural habitat, and see how well it adapts to different settings!
In black-stained wicker, these hive-shaped fixtures are an unexpected statement in an otherwise sleek space by designer Montana Burnett. At night, they throw dynamic shadows across the ceiling of this urban kitchen.
A petite airy pendant over the sofa riffs on the armchairs’ bamboo detailing. The natural materials give this sophisticated living room tactility and a sense of ease.
This storied pendant used to be a basket that would carry roosters in Madagascar. Now flipped upside down, it serves as a rustic foil to this dining room’s more polished elements. An open, airy weave tempers the scale of this oversized shade, so the fixture still reads as visually light.
In this Toronto chef’s cozy kitchen nook, natural materials abound and an oversized Ikea pendant looks right at home with linen blinds.
Photographer Tracey Ayton used a woven pendant and a chunky throw to inject texture into her Boundary Bay, British Columbia, beach home.
Basket pendants lining the backyard were inspired by a visit to a Malibu Farm restaurant in California. “The outdoor eating area had amazing basket pendants, so I set about finding something similar yet affordable,” says Tracey.
In designer Sabrina Albanese’s colorful 774-square-foot condo, her bold lighting choice was a quick way to bring polish and drama to the small space. The black wicker pendant paired with a bamboo peacock chair are dramatic focal points.
Woven pendant lights above the kitchen in this Gambier Island, B.C., cabin infuse a functional zone with relaxed ambience and almost disappears against the white walls.
This whitewashed escape on Lake Simcoe, Ontario, is the home of stylist Jenn Cranston, who successfully recreated a tropical paradise with some well-chosen accents. In this eclectic dining area, she paired metal bistro chairs with an affordable picnic bench and topped it off with an inexpensive wicker pendant. Bamboo and rattan are affordable and renewable, and have a great beach aesthetic.
An artisanal chandelier was the perfect accent in this breezy Muskoka cottage. The woven frame is embellished with trailing fringe which resembles coral.
In champion equestrian Eric Lamaze’s Palm Beach home, he incorporates concrete flooring with outdoor furnishings for their rugged durability. This open-weave pendant feels right at home hanging above the dining table in this casual breakfast area.
The Ikea light fixture’s handmade, criss-crossed bamboo straps are echoed by the graphic trim on the yellow pillows in this personality-packed Montreal bedroom. The statement piece offers a warm counterpoint to the grey walls.
Designer Christine Ralphs of Lloyd Ralphs Design is known for her love of graphic black and white. In her former Victorian home in Toronto (see her new condo here), she introduces a woven pendant above the kitchen island and shapely basket to cut the modern sleekness of the cabinetry, which introduces a humble, hand-crafted element.