Funzi Furniture Factory was established in Kenya in 1991 by Michael J. Calnan (Aussiemike) (CV), an Australian by birth. Having travelled through much of Europe and Africa during the seventies, he now lives and works on the beach in Tiwi just south of Mombasa.

"I arrived in Kenya after my first overland journey across the Sahara Desert in 1972. After some ten months on the road I arrived at the beach in East Africa and decided to stay. It was then I recognised in the local traditional craftsmen a wealth of talent lying mainly dormant. I have always believed in trade, not aid, in Africa; all the local people ever needed was a market to exhibit their wares."

"They have an amazing eye for form. They do not, and need not, obey the rules of the European philosophy of the straight line."

"Everywhere one looks in Africa, on the beach or in the bush, there are fascinating pieces of root or driftwood harbouring nature's own design, just waiting to be released through a skilfully wielded chisel of an African craftsman and a mountain of sandpaper."

These days most of the work of looking after the company is done by Sabine, Mike's Teutonic blonde partner.