
These eye-catching timber species can make for an interesting conversation starter the wood certainly conveys a luxurious, quirky appeal that many designers want to incorporate into their projects. This can range from a stripy, zerba-like appearance (as with Zebrano) to a strikingly dark brown colour with caramel streaks ( Wenge), in addition to a number of gorgeous African hardwoods such as Iroko and Sapele. Many African hardwoods exhibit a striking, alluring and often unusual aesthetic, suiting them perfectly to architecturally-led design projects where an extra bit of ‘oomph’ factor is desired. The popularity of exotic, tropical hardwoods can be explained by looking at the physical and technical properties these types of wood have. Why choose exotic timber for your next project? That’s where tropical, exotic hardwood can come in - by this, we mean timber harvested from trees grown in wildly different climates to our own, such as Africa and its equator region. By this, we mean those such as Western Red Cedar, European Oak and American Hard Maple all excellent, dynamic woods that perform fantastically for a range of purposes - but sometimes a project demands something rather different or eye-catching. Many of us will be familiar with those commonly-used, traditional timbers that are native to Europe and America. The African continent is home to some of the most fascinating, beautiful trees, each producing timber with a number of interesting, unfamiliar and sought-after properties. An introduction to exotic African hardwoods Let’s explore some of these attractive, exotic woods - why they’re so good, examples of exotic species, as well as some of their typical uses.

Luxurious hardwood timbers from the continent of Africa are particularly sought after for their striking, unique aesthetic and excellent properties.

Trees are some of the most diverse living things on our planet.ĭifferent climates and areas of the world give rise to wildly different types of tree, all producing timber with varying technical and physical characteristics.
