Direct answer (40–55 words): Dust wood weekly with a dry cloth, wipe spills immediately, and re-oil sealed wood once a year. For brass-finished metal, wipe with a dry cloth and avoid abrasive polish — the finish is a coating, not raw brass. Both rules take ten minutes a month and add years of life.
Wood: the three rules
Solid wood furniture — a bench, a chair frame, a table — asks for three things:
1. Control moisture. Wood moves with humidity; that is physics, not a defect. Keep furniture away from direct monsoon draughts, don't let water sit on surfaces, and dry spills immediately with a cloth rather than letting them evaporate. A solid oak bench in a normal ventilated room will outlive its owner; the same bench on a damp balcony will loosen in a season.
2. Dust before you clean. Grit is what scratches finishes. A dry microfibre cloth once a week removes the grit that would otherwise grind into the surface when you wipe with anything wet.
3. Feed it yearly. Sealed and oiled wood dries out slowly, especially in heated rooms and dry winters. Once a year, clean the surface, then apply a thin coat of furniture oil or a hard-wax product, let it sit briefly, and buff off the excess. Thinner is better — thick oil stays tacky and collects dust. If the wood looks dry or has lightened in patches, that is the signal it wants oil now.
Wood: what never to do
- Never soak it. No wet mopping, no dishwashing, no leaving it in the rain "just this once".
- Never use multi-surface spray cleaners on sealed wood; the solvents strip finishes over time.
- Never drag it. Lift; felt pads are cheaper than a scratched floor and a loosened joint.
- Never place hot vessels directly on it. Use a trivet; heat rings are permanent.
Brass-finish lighting: different from raw brass
Here is the part most care guides skip: most "brass" lamps and pendants in the market — including our brass bedside lamp and the fittings on our amber glass pendant — are brass-finished steel, not solid brass. The finish is a coating, and it needs different care from raw metal:
- Dust with a dry cloth. That is 90% of it.
- For fingerprints, use a barely damp cloth, then dry. Water left standing on a coated finish can mark it.
- Never use abrasive polish or scrubbing pads. Brass polish is designed to strip and re-shine raw brass; on a coating it dulls the finish permanently.
- Keep sprays away. Cleaning sprays, hairspray and air fresheners leave films that etch coated metals over time.
Real raw brass, if you own it, is the opposite: it is meant to patina, and you can polish it back to shine with brass cleaner whenever you like. The care rule follows the material — check which one you have before you clean.
Woven and rattan pieces
Rattan, cane and paper cord — the rattan table lamp, a woven chair seat — follow one rule above all: dry rooms only. Dust with a soft brush or a vacuum brush attachment; never wash or soak the weave; keep out of direct sun, which dries and lightens the fibres. If the weave feels dry in winter, a very light wipe with a barely damp cloth is enough; humidity is the enemy, not dryness.
The monthly ten minutes
A routine that actually gets followed:
- Dry-dust all wood surfaces and lamp bases (5 minutes).
- Spot-wipe anything that was touched with hands this week (2 minutes).
- Check for wobbles, loose joints and felt pads that have gone missing (3 minutes).
Yearly: re-oil wood, tighten what has loosened, and replace any felt pads before they fail. That is the whole programme. Furniture does not need products; it needs a dry cloth and a little attention at the right moments.
Prototype note: our catalogue is a prototype with transactions disabled; prices are illustrative. Care notes on product pages are written from the actual materials specified.