Before you purchase any teak furniture, either through the internet or from a showroom in the city where you live, consider the following:

I have seen furniture on other websites that look just like JATIQUE’s but with a much lower price. Why the difference?

Quality. Every piece of furniture from Jatique is subjected to a rigorous quality control process, first at our modern manufacturing facility in Indonesia, and once again before it leaves our warehouse, here in the United States. A very large percentage of furniture coming out of Indonesia comes from cottage industry. With very low cost of labor, “handmade” furniture can be produced at a price we can hardly get for the cost of lumber of the furniture here in the US. “Cottage-industry” in Indonesia ― usually operated through a loose network of home-based carpenters where entire families work on a particular type of furniture ― also means there are no actual quality control procedures to follow. There are no set guidelines in the selection of raw materials including wood, hardware, glue, etc nor is there a set operating procedures in the manufacturing process, i.e. modern kilns, manufacturing tools, etc. These places lack the most basic modern tools we take for granted.

‘Handmade’ may suggest quality and tradition, but without the proper precision tools and raw materials, quality is often greatly compromised, especially when the furniture concerned is to be used outdoors and expected to last for a long, long time.’ Handmade’ is not synonymous with quality.

When shopping for quality teak, we urge you to check for the following pertinent factors which highlights the difference in quality:

Quality of the wood used. Like genuine leather, there are varying qualities of teak. JATIQUE uses only premium grade teak and the finest cuts in the production of its furniture. Many of the lumber used in the cottage industry are of secondary quality that may include sapwood. Only select kiln-dried teakwood harvested from government managed and regulated renewable plantations is used in the making of our furniture. Of course, there are other durable hardwoods, but they are generally too heavy for furniture and tend to warp or split when exposed the varying weather conditions. Furthermore, they do not have the luster, beauty, and feel of teak.

Kiln drying process. Our process takes about 2 weeks of kiln drying to a moisture content of about 10% and an additional week or so of ‘resting’ to allow the wood to reabsorb moisture in the air. This natural ‘reabsorbing of moisture’ process will ensure that the wood will regain its dimensional stability and will not warp or split during or after the manufacturing process. This crucial stage of reabsorbing moisture also ensures the stability of the furniture to withstand the rigors of climatic changes.

Joinery. All critical connections are made in the traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery. Each piece is precision cut to ensure perfect fit and only quality weatherproof glues are used. Compare the difference between machine precision cut pieces that are hand assembled, with those that are ‘handmade cottage- industry’ joinery, hand-cut with traditional tools. Click here. Without the use of modern machinery to produce precision cuts, the structural integrity of the furniture (especially for outdoor furniture) is always in question. All our furniture are hand assembled, hand sanded and hand finished – hence very much handmade.

Hardware: Only premium quality brass hardware is used in our furniture. Beware of ‘plated’ or other alloys that are often passed as brass.

Finish: Teak furniture has always been used with or without finish. By ‘finish’, we are referring to the look and feel of the furniture – natural, oiled, oil & wax, etc. Unless the piece of furniture is intended solely for indoors, it should not be sealed. To give it its warmth, luster and luxurious feel, our furniture is wet-sanded , and hand sanded with at least 240-grit sandpaper. All furniture shipped with ‘oiled’ finish, would have at least three coats of our very own blend of teak oil. Every part of the furniture is inspected, then hand sanded, and hand rubbed with oil.

There are no shortcuts in producing a quality product. Outdoor teak furniture should age gracefully and last through many changes of the seasons. Any shortcuts taken will quickly show up within the first year – as warping, splitting, cracking, etc. Do not hesitate to look thoroughly at a piece of furniture the next time you go shopping for chairs or a table. Look closely at the joints, look at its underside, feel the finish.

It has been said that you never really own fine teak furniture. You enjoy it, with the least care … then perhaps, pass it on to some you love.