The Kerala Plantation Chair: A Guide to the Planter's Chair

In most old Kerala houses there is one chair that everybody wants. It is not the most valuable thing in the room and it is rarely the most decorated. It is low, deep, raked well back, with a hand-woven cane seat and long flat arms, and once you are in it, getting up requires a decision.

That is the plantation chair — also called the planter's chair, the Malabar chair, or simply the easy chair. It is one of the few genuinely Indian contributions to the canon of colonial furniture, and it is a better-engineered object than it looks.

What it was built to solve

European seating was designed for cool rooms: upholstery, a fairly upright back, feet on the floor. In coastal South India, every part of that is wrong. Upholstery traps heat and moisture against the body. An upright posture is the last thing anyone wants at three in the afternoon in June. And anything stuffed will hold damp through a monsoon and eventually smell of it.

The plantation chair answers each of those directly:

• Hand-woven cane instead of upholstery. Air moves through the chair rather than around it. The seat breathes, and it dries.
• A deeply raked back. The sitter reclines rather than sits. It is a posture for reading, conversation and doing very little.
• A low, deep seat. Weight is carried across the whole body rather than at the hips.
• Long arms. On many examples the arms extend, swing out or fold forward so the legs can be put up. On others they are simply broad and flat — a place for a book, a glass, a forearm.
• Teak. The frame is exposed to humidity year-round and has to survive it.

Everything about the chair is a response to climate. That is why it has never really gone out of use here.

The variations you will see

There is no single canonical plantation chair. Broadly:

• Fixed-arm. Broad flat arms, no leg extension. The most elegant and the easiest to place in a sitting room.
• Swing-out or extending arms. Arms that pivot or slide forward to support the legs. More lounger than chair.
• Folding or campaign versions. Demountable frames from the campaign-furniture tradition — lighter, and designed to travel.
• Cane-back and cane-seat versus solid timber back. The full-cane version is cooler and lighter in a room; the solid-back version is sturdier and more imposing.

What to look for when buying one

The timber. Solid teak or another dense hardwood throughout, not a stained softwood frame. Check an unfinished edge or the underside of the seat rail.

The cane. Hand-woven cane is worth insisting on. Machine-made pressed cane webbing is set into a groove around the frame as a single sheet; it is quicker to fit, less durable, and when it goes it usually has to be replaced whole. Hand-woven cane is worked strand by strand through drilled holes, and it can be tightened or partially rewoven later.

The joinery. This chair takes its load at an angle, with a reclining adult's full weight going through the back joints. Cut joinery — mortise and tenon — is what keeps it from racking after a decade. Push gently at the top of the back; a well-made frame will not move at the joints.

The angle. This is the thing people forget to test. Rake varies considerably between makers, and a few degrees changes the chair completely. Too upright and it is an ordinary armchair; too far back and standing up becomes a production. Sit in it before committing — and sit for more than ten seconds.

The dimensions. A plantation chair is deep. Ours is 116cm deep, 63cm wide and 86cm high, which keeps the generous recline the form is known for — but it means the chair needs real floor space and will overwhelm a small room. Measure before you fall in love.

Where to put one

The traditional position is the verandah or poomukham, facing out, and it is still the best one. A pair either side of a low table, looking into a courtyard or garden, is close to the ideal use of the form.

Indoors, it works better as a considered object than as general seating. A single chair in a reading corner with a lamp and a side table. At the foot of a bed in a large bedroom, angled towards a window. In a sitting room as the counterweight to a modern sofa — which is often the most interesting thing you can do with it, because the contrast makes both pieces legible. In an apartment, it belongs by the largest window in the house.

What it does not do well is line up. Four plantation chairs around a room is a hotel lobby. One or two, with room to recline, is a house.

Looking after it

The frame follows the same rules as any teak piece — dust with the grain, wipe spills, keep it out of relentless direct sun, and do not smother it in silicone polish. Our teak care guide covers the detail.

The cane needs a little more attention:

• Dust the weave with a soft brush rather than a cloth, which skims over it.
• Cane tolerates a barely damp wipe but should never be soaked, and must dry fully afterwards.
• Keep it out of prolonged direct sunlight, which makes the strands brittle.
• Do not sit on the arms, and do not let anyone stand on the seat. Cane takes distributed load well and point load badly.
• A seat that has slackened over years can usually be re-tensioned or rewoven by a skilled craftsman. This is a repair, not a replacement, and it is one of the reasons a good chair lasts three generations.

Frequently asked questions

What is a plantation chair?

A low, deep reclining chair with a steeply raked back, a hand-woven cane seat and back and long arms, traditionally made in teak. It was developed on the Malabar coast for humid conditions, where cane allows air to pass through the chair and the reclined posture suits hot afternoons.

What is the difference between a planter's chair and a plantation chair?

They are the same form; the names are used interchangeably, along with “Malabar chair” and “easy chair”. Some versions have extending or swing-out arms for the legs, and others have fixed flat arms.

Is a cane chair suitable for a humid climate?

Yes — it is arguably the most suitable seating there is. Cane allows air to circulate rather than trapping moisture against the body or inside padding, and a teak frame resists the humidity that damages other timbers.

How long does hand-woven cane last?

With ordinary domestic use and reasonable care, many years. When it eventually slackens it can be re-tensioned or rewoven by a skilled craftsman rather than replaced, which is why hand-woven cane is preferable to machine-pressed webbing.

How much space does a plantation chair need?

More than most chairs. The form is deep by design — ours measures 116cm front to back — and versions with extending arms need further clearance in front. It suits a verandah, a generous sitting room or a reading corner rather than a tight space.

Built to be inherited

The plantation chair has survived every change in taste for well over a century for an unglamorous reason: it is the right answer to a real problem, and nobody has produced a better one.

Temple Town's Kerala Plantation Chair is made in solid teak in our own workshop in Thrissur, with cane woven by hand, and is built to be repaired rather than replaced — the cane can be rewoven and the teak refinished for as long as the chair stays in the family. Dimensions and finish can be adjusted on commission.

Related reading: What is colonial furniture? · Cane or upholstery?

See our seating · Enquire about a commission