In Paris, these emblematic bistro chairs have been handcrafted for 100 years – and they’re being snapped up all over the world.

Since 1920, this family-run business has been making not only chairs, but also outdoor furniture for the bistros and cafés of Paris.

Bénédicte Vicent • April 30, 2025

You know them without really knowing them… And yet, it’s impossible to go to Paris without sitting on one. The emblematic rattan chairs of our favorite Parisian bistros and cafés are part of the city’s living heritage. They adorn some of Paris’s finest establishments, from the Eiffel Tower to Montmartre and the Champs-Élysées. Every self-respecting Parisian café, bistro or restaurant has one. But did you know that they’ve been handmade for over a hundred years by a tiny family business? Here’s the story…

Emblematic Parisian bistro chairs are over one hundred years old

Since 1920, Maison J. Gatti, a small family business based in Villemer (near Fontainebleau), has been handcrafting the chairs so beloved by Parisians and tourists alike. And it’s fair to say that, ever since, they’ve been an unqualified success.

Les chaises de bistrots de Paris — @maisongatti chairs bistrots de Paris

These rattan chairs, made from malacca cane and beech, are as beautiful as they are sturdy. According to the manufacturer, its furniture lasts between fifteen and twenty years. Over the past 100 years, Gatti has built up a solid reputation in cafés, restaurants and palaces alike. From the sublime Hôtel Georges V to the terraces of Paris’s finest cafés, such as Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots…Gatti chairs have contributed in their own way to the Parisian charm we love so much.

Paris bistro chairs – café de flore and its Gatti furniture

And it’s perhaps thanks to them that we owe some of the masterpieces of Simone de Beauvoir, Ernest Hemingway and Jean-Paul Sartre. It has to be said that Gatti has also “dressed” some of our capital’s best-known literary cafés. They stand up to the cold and the sun, and have stood the test of time.

The method used to make these chairs has remained virtually unchanged for a century. The Gatti family has passed on this precious know-how from generation to generation. According to Le Parisien, some 10,000 rattan chairs, benches, stools and tables are made and sold every year. Available in some thirty colors, the possibilities are virtually infinite. In fact, they’re selling like hotcakes internationally! A living Parisian heritage to be proud of.