What types of businesses does The African Touch supply furniture to?

The African Touch supplies bespoke and standard hardwood furniture to safari camps, game lodges, boutique hotels, private residences, and hospitality venues across Africa and internationally. We work closely with interior designers, decorators, architects, lodge owners, and camp operators.

Can The African Touch create custom furniture for a lodge fitout?

Yes. We specialise in bespoke furniture fitouts tailored to each project. We work within your design brief to produce custom pieces in Zambezi teak, mahogany, and other African hardwoods, combined with leather and brass detailing.

What hardwoods does The African Touch use?

Our primary materials are Zambezi teak (Rhodesian teak) and African mahogany — both prized for their durability, grain beauty, and suitability for the African climate.

Does The African Touch ship internationally?

Yes, we ship worldwide. Pricing is available in both USD and South African Rand depending on your project location.

How long has The African Touch been making safari furniture?

The African Touch was founded by Richard Lowe and has been crafting handmade African hardwood furniture for over 28 years, supplying lodges, camps, and homes across Africa and globally.

What is campaign furniture?

Campaign furniture is a style of portable, foldable furniture originally designed for 18th-century British military officers on expedition. The African Touch reimagines this classic style through an African lens, crafting pieces from solid hardwood, leather, and brass for use in safari lodges, camps, and homes.

How do I place an order or request a custom furniture quote from The African Touch?

To place an order or enquire about a custom furniture project, visit theafricantouch.co.za and use the Request a Quote function, or contact us directly via our Contact page. For trade and hospitality partners, register through our Trade Partners page to receive our full catalogue and pricing in your preferred currency. We recommend including as much detail as possible about your project — including dimensions, timber preferences, quantity, and any design references — so we can provide an accurate quote.

What information do I need to provide to commission a custom furniture piece or lodge fitout?

To get started on a bespoke furniture commission, it helps to share your project brief, preferred hardwood (such as Zambezi teak or African mahogany), desired dimensions, finish and upholstery preferences, quantity required, and your delivery location. If you are outfitting a lodge or camp, details about the space, aesthetic direction, and any architectural drawings or mood boards are also useful. Our team works closely with you throughout the design process to ensure the final pieces are exactly right for your project.

What is the lead time for custom or made-to-order furniture from The African Touch?

Lead times vary depending on the complexity and scale of your order. Standard in-stock pieces are available for dispatch more quickly, while bespoke and made-to-order items — particularly large lodge fitouts or custom-designed pieces — typically require a longer production lead time. We recommend contacting us as early in your project timeline as possible so we can confirm availability, schedule production, and allow adequate time for international shipping if required.

Can The African Touch match existing furniture or replicate a specific design for a fitout project?

Yes. We regularly work with interior designers and lodge owners who need new pieces to complement or replace existing furniture. Provided a design falls within our brand scope and can be executed in our hardwood materials and construction methods, we are happy to work from photographs, drawings, or detailed briefs to produce pieces that align with your existing aesthetic. Get in touch with our team to discuss your specific requirements.

Trade Partners - The African Touch

For over 30 years, The African Touch has supplied interior designers, decorators, architects, lodge owners and hospitality procurement teams across Africa and internationally. We offer our full standard range plus custom and bespoke pieces — built in Victoria Falls, delivered to your project.

Whether you’re furnishing a remote bush camp, a private home, or a hotel overseas that demands something out of the ordinary, we understand what project work requires — quality that holds up, aesthetics that photograph well, and a supplier you can rely on across a timeline.

PARTNER WITH US

- - Trade pricing on our full standard range & custom pieces
  - Custom and bespoke pieces built to your project specifications
  - Invoicing in USD or ZAR depending on your project location
  - Standard and custom pieces supplied together for a single project
  - International shipping available — we have experience exporting across Africa and beyond

WHO CAN APPLY

TRADE BENEFITS

HOW IT WORKS

Interior designers, decorators and architects

Safari camps, lodges and boutique hotels and guest lodges.

Restaurants and other hospitality groups

Hospitality developers specifyers and project buyers

Preferential trade pricing across our collections

Tiered discounts for larger hospitality and lodge projects

Dedicated project support from an experienced team

Bespoke options aligned with The African Touch aesthetic

Priority scheduling for time-sensitive project timelines

Complete the registration form below.
Our team reviews your application.
Once approved, you receive access to trade pricing and project support.
Order from our collections or discuss bespoke project requirements.

REGISTER HERE

Approved partners will receive access to relevant pricing, support, and project assistance.

Trade Partnership FAQ's

Who can register as a trade or hospitality partner?

Anyone working in interiors, hospitality, safari lodges/camps, boutique hotels, restaurants, or similar trade sectors can apply. The company collaborates closely with interior designers, decorators, camp and lodge owners, and more.

What currency options are available for trade partner pricing?

Pricing is available in both South African Rand (ZAR) and US Dollars (USD), depending on your project’s location.

What is your shipping policy?

Shipping within southern Africa

All our prices exclude delivery.

For camps and lodges within southern Africa, we can quote on delivery with our logistics partners or you may arrange collection either from our factory in Victoria Falls, or from our showroom in Johannesburg.

International Orders:

Our International US dollar pricing includes door to door delivery to most destinations. However, should there be additional charges for remote delivery this will be communicated to you at the time of final quotation.

Depending on your location, duties and clearance fees into your country may apply and will be communicated to you by the shipping company or their local agent at the time of goods arrival.

For orders to Africa, Europe, Australia, and North America we provide a
Certificate of Origin so that duty is not payable in your country of destination.

What is the lead time for custom furniture orders?

Our standard manufacturing lead time is 6 – 8 weeks. Add an additional 2 – 3 weeks for delivery.

However, on larger furniture orders, we will assess lead times on a project-by-project basis and what other orders are currently being processed through the factory at the time.

What’s involved in registering as a trade partner?

To register, you need to fill out the contact form with:

Name, company, email, phone, and country
Select preferred catalogue currency
Optional message with details or custom-order intent
Option to subscribe to the Trade Partners mailing list

Can trade partners commission custom furniture?

Yes. They offer both standard collections and the option for custom furniture within their brand scope. Simply indicate your interest in custom pieces in the message section when registering.

Can The African Touch deliver furniture to other countries?

Yes. The African Touch is a registered exporter. We can deliver furniture to projects around southern Africa as well as overseas. We delivery furniture to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, USA, UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, and beyond.

Do you offer discounts for trade partners?

Our trade partners benefit from structured trade pricing on customised furniture for projects, and up to 25% discount off our standard product range.

If you are an interior designer, lodge or camp owner or architect, contact us directly to discuss your requirements and get a customised quotation for your specific project.

Testimonials

Good to see you earlier and just wanted to say how fantastic it is to deal with your business and your staff. The fact that the broken Roorkee was fixed and returned to me while enjoying a cup of coffee in your showroom demonstrates a level of customer service and engagement that one simply does not find in many businesses and all with a helpful smile. Thank you for that and I would honestly have no hesitation in recommending you guys for the quality of your products, the excellent pricing and to top it all great service. Look forward to seeing you include the Abelana story and your products in a promotional piece.

Just to let you know that the furniture delivery arrived on Saturday morning. Thank you very much for all your assistance and we are very grateful for your excellent customer service – the furniture looks great and we look forward to enjoying it for many years to come…

Our consignment of Zambezi Teak furniture is now safely in our oak-framed house in Wiltshire. It is stunning. The Ngwezi table top was a six man lift an now I have oiled it, it is just fabulous.

We are still on a high from the Rhino Without borders function. It was a huge success and as always we will not be able to host such an event without the support from our suppliers and for that we would like to say thank you… This year we hosted 290 guest from Botswana, Zimbabwe as well as South Africa which gave our auction sponsors more exposure. The lot list went to the guests before the event with information of each item and the company who donated the item which allowed the guest to do research before the actual auction so they could pick their favourites they wanted to bid on. Your trunk was a favourite amongst the guest and our local Midas owner was the proud owner of the trunk at the end of the night.

Richard, The Bridge Table has been safely erected and is damage free. We are absolutely delighted, very many thanks. See you in November/December.

My beautiful purchase has survived 3 international moves, 6 house moves, and is still looking perfect! Such good quality. Thank you!

Such a quality product delivered in a blink. Excellent service – best online experience I’ve had so far.

Absolutely awesome, wow, wow our pub is looking incredible! thank you for all.

I wanted to drop a short note to thank you for the table I bought. The table is outstanding and the quality well exceeded my expectations. The service received from Kerry and Graham with the delivery was excellent. Thanks again and will be back soon!

Thanks, Sindy. The tables arrived last night and Nawa assembled them expertly. They are beautiful! Thanks very much for the good work….

The coffee table exceeded my expectations, it was excellent. Thank you very much. I am certain you will hear from me with another order.

Thank you for the follow up call, sorry the signal is so bad here. I do love the directors chairs and drinks trays, they are absolutely perfect. Thank you for your kind offer of a table to go with the chairs, that is really over and above.

Thanks for following up – I’m pleased to say we love the dining table and are very happy with it indeed. It’s exactly what we asked for, great quality and looks lovely too. Thank you for all the trouble you took to arrange the manufacture and delivery for us.

WHO CAN APPLY

TRADE BENEFITS

HOW IT WORKS

REGISTER HERE

Trade Partnership FAQ's

Testimonials

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