M: If Indonesia produce 80% of world wide rattan production, why is not so common to see rattan furniture around?
“here in Indonesia, most of the people still thinks rattan as outdated, cheap, poor quality products..”
A: Because the competition & factors are too much, we could not compete with the plastic/ synthetic one in terms of prices, functionality, availability, etc. And we have other competitors too (wooden, metal, upholstery furniture, etc). The quality of production, the price, are also important. But in my opinion, the main foe is actually the mindset itself, here in Indonesia, most of the people still thinks rattan as outdated, cheap, poor quality products. And it is difficult to switch their mindset on the options of better quality rattan furniture. They would rather spend 200-300 € of teak/ upholstery furniture rather than fine quality rattan with the same price.