Rattan and bamboo, made by hand in our own workshops
Every piece on Akway is made by hand in our own workshops, in Northeast India and in Noida, by more than 50 artisan families. We are not resellers and we do not buy in stock from anyone else. Akway has been manufacturing rattan, bamboo, cane and wicker since 2018, in a workshop that has been weaving since 2008 as Pawan Emporium, and we still make all of it ourselves.
How Akway began
The workshop started weaving in 2008 as Pawan Emporium, at a point when most Indian furniture was moving to MDF and plastic. We went the other way. Rattan and bamboo had been worked by hand in Northeast India for generations, and there was no good reason those skills should not end up in ordinary Indian homes.
We started with one small workshop and a handful of weavers. Akway was founded in 2018 to sell that work directly, first on Amazon India and then here. It is bigger now: two workshops, 740+ products, sold on our own site and on every large Indian marketplace. How a piece actually gets made has not changed much.
The weaving skill in this country is as good as anywhere. What was missing was a way to get that work into modern Indian homes at a price people could actually pay. That is what we set out to build.
— Arun Kaushik, FounderThe artisans behind every piece
Our workshops in Northeast India and Noida employ more than 50 artisan families. Most of them learned to weave from a parent or a grandparent. They are not machine operators. They are the people who judge how tight a weave should sit, and whether a length of cane has soaked long enough to bend without cracking.
People specialise. Some are fast and exact on the tight rattan weaves that go into dining chairs and accent furniture. Others do bamboo bending, which is what every one of our pendant lamps and table lamps depends on.
Everyone earns above the local going rate and works through the year rather than by season, which matters more than the hourly figure in this trade. You are welcome to come and see the Noida workshop for yourself. That is the part of this business we are most careful about.
Rattan
Hand-woven & bentBamboo
Heat-treated, strongCane
Flexible & fineWicker
Tight, durable weaveFrom raw material to your home
Here is what actually happens between a bundle of cane arriving at the workshop and a finished piece reaching your door.
Sourcing raw materials
We buy rattan, bamboo, cane and wicker straight from growers in Northeast India. Every batch gets checked for diameter, flexibility and grain before it comes through the workshop door. Batches do get sent back. We never use synthetic rattan.
Treatment & preparation
Bamboo is heat treated to drive out moisture and keep pests out. Rattan is soaked, then bent while it is still willing. No preservative soak and no chemical seasoning at this stage. Done properly, this is the step that gets you ten to fifteen years out of a piece rather than two.
Handcrafting & weaving
Everything is woven, bent and shaped by hand, using methods the previous generation taught. A single rattan chair takes three to five days. A complicated pendant lamp shade can take a full week. This is the slow part, and there is no way around it.
Quality control & finishing
Every finished piece is checked for structure, weave consistency and finish. Anything that does not pass goes back to the bench. It does not get shipped and then apologised for.
Careful packaging & delivery
Woven pieces do not survive ordinary boxes. Ours are packed to hold their shape, and the packing is the same whether the order came through this site or a marketplace.
Why natural materials matter
Rattan and bamboo are the reason we can build furniture that lasts without a chemistry set behind it. A few things worth knowing about them.
It grows back fast
Some bamboo species put on up to 91 cm in a single day. A hardwood tree needs decades to reach cutting size.
Treated with heat, not preservative
Frames and weave are heat treated and hand finished, with no preservative soak and no toxic glue. Lamp shades additionally carry a fire-retardant and a UV-resistant finish, because lighting has to be safe as well as natural.
It breaks down at the end
When an Akway piece finally wears out, it goes back into the ground. MDF and plastic furniture does not.
It pulls down carbon while it grows
A bamboo stand takes in more CO₂ as it grows than the same area of hardwood does.
A storage basket, a bamboo lamp, a cane chair. None of it is a grand gesture on its own. It does add up.
Available everywhere you shop
You will find us on all the big Indian marketplaces. The full catalogue of 740+ products only lives on akway.in though, and new work goes up here first.
Buying on akway.in gets you the whole range and the newest pieces, direct from the people who made them.
Why people buy from us
We make it, so we can answer for it
Every piece comes off our own benches. That means there is nobody's margin stacked on top of ours, and when something goes wrong we know which bench it came from.
Real cane, not moulded plastic
A lot of what is sold as rattan in India is moulded plastic with a woven pattern pressed into it. Ours is actual cane, bamboo, rattan and wicker, worked by hand. Come and press on it.
A properly wide range
740+ products, from pendant lamps and baskets through to accent chairs and wall mirrors. Most rooms are covered.
Easy to check up on us
We have been selling on Amazon India since 2018, and on Flipkart, Myntra and Pepperfry since. Over 50,000 homes have bought from us across those marketplaces and this site. Thousands of reviews sit there for you to read before you decide to buy from us here.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Akway located?
Two workshops: one in Northeast India and one in Noida, Delhi NCR. Northeast India is where the rattan and bamboo actually grow. Both places turn it into finished pieces. We deliver to all major pin codes in India, and you can visit the Noida workshop any day between 10am and 8pm.
Is Akway a manufacturer or reseller?
A manufacturer. Everything is made in our own workshops by our own artisan families. We design it, we build it, we sell it. There is nobody in between.
What materials does Akway use?
Four: rattan, bamboo, cane and wicker, all from Northeast India. No synthetic rattan, no plastic, no printed cane effect.
How long do Akway products last?
Ten to fifteen years is normal with reasonable care. The things that shorten it are direct rain, constant damp, and long hours in hard afternoon sun.
Can I buy Akway products on Amazon?
Yes, on Amazon India, Flipkart, Myntra and Pepperfry. Only part of the range though. The full 740+ products are on akway.in.
Does Akway ship all over India?
Yes, to all major cities and towns, usually in five to ten working days. Remote pin codes take longer and we will tell you if yours is one of them.
Are Akway products eco-friendly?
The materials are natural and biodegradable and nothing chemical goes into the making. We would rather be straight with you though: the piece still travels to you on a truck, so it is lower impact, not no impact.
How can I contact Akway?
care@akway.in, or the contact page. We usually reply within a day on working days. If it is urgent, the Noida workshop number is on the visit page.
Have a look at what we make
Rattan, bamboo, cane and wicker for the home, all of it made by hand in our own workshops.
Explore our full collection →