LLoyd Loom Revisited

The following is a reprint of an article Mike wrote for Home Accents Today in December 2009.  He came across the Beckham & Issa Fine Furnishings website and discovered they are the exclusive distributor of Lloyd Loom of Spalding furniture.

Back in April of 2008, I posted about the Difference Between Wicker and Rattan.  I said "Rattan is a specific material, but wicker is the general process of weaving rattan or other materials into finished goods."  Those other materials can be rattan, reed, cane, and bamboo as well as synthetic wicker.  According to Fran Sloan at MyDecorArticles.com

Synthetic wicker is formed to closely resemble rattan, cane, reed, and bamboo, but it is far more durable than its natural counterparts. Synthetic wicker patio furniture can be used widely outdoors and are resistant to stains, rain, mildew, sun, and even salt water.

There’s another synthetic wicker that has an interesting history.  Called Lloyd Loom, it was invented in the U.S. in 1917 by Marshall B. Lloyd, "who twisted kraft paper round a metal wire, placed the paper threads on a loom and wove them into what was to become the traditional Lloyd Loom fabric." Lloyd Loom chairs and baby prams quickly became very popular in the United States. Using this new material, furniture could be built in about a quarter of the time as the traditional rattan, reed, cane, or bamboo.  In1921, Lloyd sold his patent to Jim or Geoffrey Lusty.  Lusty’s Lloyd Loom factory in England then created a collection of furniture that was soon all the rage in Europe.

In the 1930s, Lloyd Loom furniture could be found in hotels, restaurants and tea rooms, as well as aboard a zeppelin, cruise ships and ocean-going liners. When the factory in England was bombed at the end of the Second World War, the production of Lloyd Loom chairs came to a halt in Europe.

Today, in England, there are only two manufacturers of Lloyd Loom furniture, W. Lusty’s Lloyd Loom Co. and  Lloyd Loom of Spalding.  The rest of the manufacturers reside in Indonesia.  The indoor and outdoor furniture is beautiful as the pictures below show:


The Lusty Lloyd Loom makes a beautifully designed modern settee.




The Sa Taronja Cultural Association in Andratx, Majorca has a variety of Lloyd Loom of Spalding furniture mostly in the Limon y Chelo restaurant.