When it comes to restaurant seating, pretty is not enough. To restaurateurs, who must keep their eyes on the bottom line in order to stay in business, durable is definitely a requisite.
Still, durable though they may be, metal, wood and plastic chairs can become a bit stressful on the posterior. They tend to give the fast-food signal of 'eat quick and get back to work.'
Swivel Bar Stools
So the literature, art and philosophical thought that shaped the last century may owe rather a lot to the comfort of the simple French cafe chair. Imagine what we might have missed had Matisse and Picasso, Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Sartre and De Beauvoir been wrenched from their creative thought by uncomfortable cafe chairs.
But these pretty little chairs have been a staple of the French cafe for over a century. Are French cafe owners perhaps independently wealthy, with no need to respect the bottom line? After all, can anything so bright and pretty and cheerful possibly be durable enough to withstand the relentless traffic of a sidewalk cafe?
The answer, surprisingly, is a definite 'yes.' Initially, the seats and backs of these bistro chairs were woven of rattan. And if you think rattan is fragile, you should know that warriors of the Ming dynasty wove their battle shields from rattan.
As if the strength of battle shields were not enough, by the twentieth century, the durability of these amazing little chairs had been substantially upgraded. Now, the authentic, still handmade-in-France cafe chairs are woven from Rilsan, which is derived from the castor oil plant.
How tough is Rilsan? It just happens to be the material that was used to weave the nets that kept enemy submarines out of our harbors during World War II!
So you see, those delightful little French cafe chairs are actually every bit as tough as they are beautiful. Rather like France herself.