Sammy and I drove to perhaps Ghana's largest workshop of furniture makers, spread out over a couple of miles under a gallery of trees beside the northern motorway. We "window shopped" a bit. There was quite an extensive selection, including bamboo, rattan, wrought iron, and hardwood, with either upholstery or cushions. This is the middle-class stuff. There's a much more upscale set of workshops just outside of town, in and around the Wild Gecko showroom, with European and American prices, but certainly well worth it, particularly to furnish a home interior. I was in the market for the basics, and at a fraction of the cost.
We settled on a traditional kente design for the seat cushions, and bamboo as the overall style. The diameter of a bamboo pole seemed somehow more comfortable to the arm as it rested with book or glass in hand, though I did spot a couple of rattan designs where the artisan had woven a wider flat armrest.
We found a nice rattan box to serve as the coffee table, thinking I could store magazines or other veranda essentials inside. The one on display was not yet finished, but with a few shouts, the craftsman quickly found a young man with a pail of varnish and a suitable brush while I wandered around under the trees snapping pictures.
There must have been several hundred artisans at work, and the quality seemed really quite remarkable. Each "manager" stakes out perhaps a 20-yard stretch of territory under the trees, and assembles four or five craftsmen to perform various jobs. It is this manager that keeps an eye on passing cars and escorts customers around the "showroom" next to the street.
Don't see what you like? No problem. Each manager has a photo album of furniture designs. A sofa and loveseat, complete with side tables and cushions, can be prepared to your particular specifications in just a day or two, though I know they sometimes get backed up a bit with orders around Christmas.
I particularly admired the work of one rattan weaver. With permission, I took his picture. He smiled at the attention.
Emmanuel, our particular workshop manager, hailed a stationwagon taxi and negotiated a good fare to my residence: 40,000 cedis. I paid 700,000 for the two chairs, and another 120,000 for the box. Sammy chastised me for not bargaining the price down further, but the total bill only came to about $100, including a small dash to the rattan weaver as appreciation for letting me take the closeup, and another to the taxi driver for being so careful with the loading and unloading.
If you'd like to negotiate your own purchase, you can reach Emmanuel at +233 (24) 643-9257. His particular showroom can be found on the main motorway, coming from Tetteh Quarshie Interchange. Just before you reach Achimota Road, you'll see on the right-hand side of the road a small blue sign with white lettering indicating the various directions of the upcoming crossroad. Emmanuel's team is just opposite that sign. Ask around, everyone knows him.
Enough shopping, time to enjoy.
