Beautiful and functional, wicker furniture has enjoyed great popularity throughout the years, but historians will quickly point out the furniture’s special association with the Victorian era. At the time, the intricately ornate style that wicker, rattan, and willow made possible suited the decorative tastes of the period. The Victorian era’s last years coincided with the Belle Époque, the time before the First World War.

Wicker patio furniture was prized then, as it is today, for its whimsy and for the hygienic benefits it promised and delivered. Countless domestic divinities of the period proselytized its advantages. These last being, namely, how easy the furniture was to clean considering the technological constraints of the time period. Wicker furniture, rich in sterling qualities, was recommended by the era’s housekeeping authorities, and those who kept up with such sanctioned recommendations and advice wasted no time in purchasing beautiful wicker objects for their residences.

Even owners of popular vacation hotels and inns made sure to decorate their lavish spaces with the admired and functional decorative arts. Having beautiful garden wicker furniture, or a rattan dining set, was something to flaunt, whether you owned a small cottage in the countryside or a three-hundred-room hotel in the middle of town. Needless to say, people who buy the furniture today continue to display it and enjoy the panache that it instills their indoor and outdoor spaces with.

Besides their overall usefulness, wicker pieces impart a gracefulness of function that is not easily matched by furniture of another mettle. Although most traditional wicker furniture is made of natural materials, there are many exceptions to this nowadays. Synthetic fibers are employed by many diverse manufacturers. In fact, resin wicker is often many buyers’ first choice for the furniture they buy for outdoor use. It’s simply incredibly resistant to the harsh environment of the outdoors.

Wicker, seagrass furniture is very popular, but there’s also an unusual category of wicker objects created with the Lloyd Loom. This special weaving procedure is celebrated because it enables the production of a synthetic wicker fiber from wire and paper. The loom is named after its American inventor: Marshal B. Lloyd, who introduced the loom in 1917.

Sam Walters is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.