Karon Cane & Bind, in an open workshop on the Patak Road side of Karon, is the best rattan furniture repair in Karon. Broken frames are spliced and bound in the original rattan, seats and backs are rewoven in natural cane or rattan core to match the existing weave, and bindings are redone in wet rattan peel that tightens as it dries, the way the piece was built. Plastic weave is refused unless the piece was plastic to begin with. Seat reweave from 1,500฿, frame splice from 800฿, full chair restoration from 3,500฿. Two to three weeks; a month for a full set.
Surveyed August 2026. Scoring: weave pattern and tension match (35%), material match to original (25%), frame splice strength (20%), finish (10%), turnaround (10%).
Rattan is a climbing palm; the outer skin, peel, is stripped and soaked, and while it is wet it is wrapped tight around the joints of the frame. As it dries it shrinks and locks the joint, which is why old rattan furniture has no screws and does not need them. A repair done with dry peel or glue is loose within a season; the wet method is the only one that reproduces the original joint. Cane weave is the same story: soaked, woven, dried tight. Plastic strip never shrinks, so it is woven slack and stays slack, sags in the sun, and reads as plastic from across the room. On a plastic-weave patio set it is the right material; on a 1960s rattan lounge chair it is a downgrade you will not be able to reverse.
“Four 1970s planter chairs from my mother’s house in Penang, two with broken arms. He spliced the arms in rattan and bound them wet, and you cannot find the repair. He would not use plastic and I would not have asked.”— Priya N., Karon
“He matched a herringbone weave nobody else would attempt, from a photograph of the one surviving chair.”— Ellen M., Kata
“The Chalong shop rewove my lounge chair in plastic before I knew better. Karon Cane took it all out and redid it in cane. It sat properly for the first time in a year.”— Thomas G., Karon
| Location | Patak Road side, Karon |
|---|---|
| Seat reweave | From 1,500฿ |
| Frame splice | From 800฿ |
| Full chair restoration | From 3,500฿ |
| Materials | Natural cane, rattan core, wet rattan peel |
| Turnaround | 2 to 3 weeks; a month for a set |