Twenty-six answers about cane, damp and freight.

There is no checkout. Pick the piece, then email us the SKU or send a WhatsApp message with the quantity, the colour and the destination country. We reply within one working day with the price, the freight and a weave or dispatch date. When you accept that quotation we issue a formal invoice, and goods are dispatched after the invoice is settled. Nothing on this site takes a card.

Yes, for baskets, trays, boxes and stools. Send the outside dimensions you need, what the piece will hold and the finish you want. We will draw the weave, quote a sample and state the tolerance we can hold: 2 mm on weave irregularity and 3 mm on rim or leg offset. Made-to-measure pieces need a new soak date, so allow two to three weeks before dispatch. They are not returnable for change of mind.

The Low Cane Stool is 38 x 42 cm with a low seat, so it suits a coffee table or a low side table rather than a 75 cm dining table. Measure the underside of your table to the floor, then subtract the thickness of a cushion. If you need a dining height, ask us: a taller frame needs a longer leg bend and a different seat tension, and we will say honestly whether cane is right for that load.

No screen shows rattan accurately. Natural cane runs from honey to pale straw across one lot, and Smoke is a dyed tone rather than a paint. Use the photographs for shape, weave and scale, then ask for a physical swatch if colour matters to a scheme. Swatches are billed and credited against a bulk order. We do not guarantee a match to a screen, and colour variation between pieces is not a defect.

Everything on this site is natural rattan and cane, split and woven by hand. PE rattan is extruded polyethylene with a cane pattern: uniform, weatherproof, and it will never take a patina. We do not sell it as natural. If you need an all-weather version for a covered terrace or a hotel project, ask and we will quote a separate PE line with its own care regime and warranty, labelled plainly as which fibre you are buying.

A rattan stem gives two working materials. The peel is the outer skin, split into flat strips that take the weave, because it bends over a mould without cracking and grips a binder. The core is rounder and stiffer and carries structure: rims, legs, steam-bent knees and sleds. A basket is peel over a core frame; the stool is a core frame with a cane seat woven wet and dried under tension.

Because a person wove it over a mould rather than stamping it in a die. Weave spacing varies by up to 2 mm, a rim can sit 3 mm off centre, and node marks and strip joins show where the peel changes direction. Two baskets from one lot are never twins. Those differences are the mark of hand work. A strand lift over 30 mm, a popped binder or a split frame is a fault, and we replace it.

Trays and bread baskets are finished with a solvent-free, food-contact-safe hardwax oil, or left as bare open cane where the piece is meant to breathe under a loaf. Beech rims take the same food-safe oil. We do not put lacquer or varnish on a surface that may touch bread. If you want a fully bare piece for a kitchen, ask and we will leave the oil off and note it on the invoice.

Trim a small splinter flush with nail clippers and smooth it with a little clear beeswax or hardwax oil; do not sand cane, because sanding cuts the fibre. If a strand has lifted at the end, press it back, hold it with a drop of wood glue and let it dry in the shade. If a strand has lifted along more than 30 mm, or a binder has popped, photograph it instead: that is a structural fault we replace.

Natural cane tolerates a covered terrace or a sheltered balcony. It does not tolerate rain, standing water or full sun. Keep it out of direct weather and bring it in when it rains. A piece left out through a wet season will swell, soften and eventually split. If outdoor use is the real requirement, the PE line is the honest answer, and we will say so rather than sell cane for a job it cannot do.

Yes. Natural rattan pales from honey to straw under direct sun, and the change is usually visible within six to twelve months on a windowsill or a sunny terrace. That is UV bleaching of the fibre, not a coating failing, and it is not a defect. Rotate a piece if you want the tone to stay even, and keep it a metre or two back from a south-facing window. Dyed finishes fade more slowly.

The stand carries 8 kg, which covers a normal potted plant and its saucer. A balcony is fine if it is sheltered from rain and the stand does not sit in water: cane swells, then splits, if it lives in a saucer. Put a mat under the pot, tip the stand dry after a wet day, and do not load it above 8 kg. If the balcony is exposed, ask about the PE version.

Yes. The Low Cane Stool is rated to 90 kg static and is built as furniture: a core frame, a seat woven wet and dried under tension, and a wrap at every joint. Sit on it, but do not stand on it, do not use it as a step and do not drag it across a wet floor. A cane seat softens slowly with years of use, which is normal. A seat that fails below its rating within 12 months is a warranty fault.

Cane is hygroscopic: it takes moisture from the air and gives it back. In air-conditioned or heated air below about 40 per cent relative humidity the fibre shrinks and the weave slackens a little; above 65 per cent it swells and tightens. Neither state is a defect. Let the piece sit for a few days in the room where it will live and the weave will settle to the local humidity. Do not wet it to tighten it.

Shade and moving air, nothing else. Shake off the water, stand the piece so air reaches underneath, leave the lid off and run a fan on low in the room. Do not use a heater, a hairdryer, a radiator, an oven or direct sun: fast heat shrinks the peel faster than the core and opens splits. Most pieces return to tension within 24 to 48 hours. If the frame is still soft after three days, write to us.

Normal indoor humidity, roughly 40 to 60 per cent, is ideal. Below 35 per cent for months the peel dries out and the weave slackens; above 70 per cent for months the fibre stays damp, can grow surface mould and will smell musty. If your home runs very dry in winter, keep the piece out of a heater draught. If it runs very damp, air the piece weekly and never store damp textiles sealed inside it.

Empty it and air it in a shaded, ventilated room for a day or two with the lid off and the mouth open. A wipe with a dry cloth, or a cloth barely dampened with a mild vinegar solution followed by a full natural dry, usually clears it. Do not seal wet towels inside for a week and do not leave the basket in a closed bathroom. If the smell persists after three days of airing and the weave feels soft, contact us.

Stools, hampers and underbed boxes move as bulky or oversize freight. Couriers bill these on volumetric or dimensional weight, so a light but long carton is charged as if it were heavy, and anything past the length or girth limit goes to a forwarder with terminal handling and documentation fees. We show the freight basis on the quotation, pack in a rigid carton with corner protection and dispatch ready pieces within three working days of confirmation.

You do, unless we have agreed DDP in writing. Import duty, VAT, sales tax, brokerage and any inspection or licence cost are the buyer responsibility and are not included in the quoted price. Give us a complete delivery address, a telephone number and any import registration number the destination needs. If a parcel is returned or destroyed because duty or documents were not supplied, the freight and any penalty are deducted from the credit.

Photograph the carton and the piece before you unpack further, then photograph the damage close up, and send the images the same day with the order reference. Keep the carton and the packing material until the claim is closed. We replace the piece, or refund in full if the lot has finished, and we pay the return and replacement freight. Do not repair a crushed weave yourself and do not post anything back without a return number.

Fourteen days from the day the parcel is delivered. Email the order reference, the SKU and the reason, and wait for a return number before shipping. The piece must be unused and in its kraft wrap for a change of mind; faulty goods and transit damage are handled on our account. Refunds go to the original payment method, usually within 10 working days of approval. Custom pieces are excluded from change-of-mind returns but keep the fault warranty.

No. Weave irregularity up to 2 mm, a rim or leg offset up to 3 mm, node marks, strip joins and colour variation in natural rattan are the normal marks of hand work, not defects, and they are not a return reason. A strand lift over 30 mm, a popped binder, a structural break in a frame or leg, or a stool that fails its 90 kg rating is a fault, and we replace the piece. Send a photograph and we will act.

The seller is Shidawei Trading Limited, a Hong Kong trading company, and the registered address is printed on every page of this site. The weave room and the packing bench are in Tai Kok Tsui, and dispatch is from Hong Kong. We are not a marketplace and we do not drop-ship: the piece you order is packed by the people who answer your email. A contract forms when we issue a written confirmation or invoice.

No. This site has no cart and no payment page, and we never ask for card numbers, one-time codes or banking passwords by email or WhatsApp. When you accept a quotation we issue a formal invoice and payment runs by bank transfer or the method named on that invoice. Anyone claiming to collect payment for Reed Nook through this site is not us. Tell us if you see it and we will report it.

We hold what an enquiry or order needs: name, email, optional telephone, delivery address, the pieces you asked about and your messages. Enquiry mail is deleted after 24 months. Order and claims correspondence is kept with the order record, and invoices are kept for 7 years because Hong Kong bookkeeping rules require it. We do not sell data and we run no advertising cookies. Ask to see, correct or delete your data at any time.

Hong Kong law. These terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and its courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Before starting proceedings, write to us and give us 21 days to resolve the matter directly. Nothing in our terms removes a statutory right you have that cannot be waived, including the 14-day cancellation right for distance sales in the EU and the UK.