AlvinT featured in Financial Times: “Rattan renaissance: why the 1970s material is cool again”

Bamboo, cane and rattan furniture, for many years relegated to the garden, is back with fresh designs and retro originals.

Words by Rory Robertson for Financial Times Interiors April 1, 2022

Jakarta-based designer Alvin Tjitrowirjo founded his furniture brand Alvin T in 2006 intending to combine Indonesia’s rich cultural heritage with a fresh artisanal approach. Rattan is core to his work, and the Malya dining chair (designed in 2008 and launched in 2009) is one of Tjitrowirjo’s most notable earlier pieces. He describes the curvaceous, bent rattan sections as “a blooming, crown-like structure”. The design epitomises the characteristics of rattan, “embracing its blemishes but exemplifying its flexibility and strength”, he says.