Versatility Of Wicker Part Of Charm

Designers are getting serious about wicker. Humble summer porch furniture woven of reeds, twigs or willow is turning up in sleek, sophisticated forms and new materials.

Wicker, a catch-all term for furniture woven from many different materials, is part of the traditional summer experience at houses from Nantucket to Nag’s Head. Yet it’s ever capable of being stretched to new limits. Wicker chairs today are just as likely to evoke the aerodynamic as the tropical; they can be truly hip or very grandmotherly. Wicker just keeps knitting itself into new forms.

Though new technology is creating durable indoor/outdoor wicker that can actually be left outside all year, plenty of wicker bought today will never see the light of day. Instead, it has become welcome in every room of the house.

In fact, what’s so enduring about wicker is its versatility. This season, for instance, there’s a black-andwhite checkerboard pattern on a pull-up French-style cafe chair at Crate & Barrel. Ralph Lauren has done a stately wicker wing chair with cable stitches in reed as fine as any on a sweater.

While some shoppers scour flea markets to find familiar antique wicker shapes and romantic turn-ofthe-century curlicues, those looking for more-modern choices won’t be disappointed.