Since 1996
Thirty years of sawdust, faith and solid wood.
In 1996, master carpenter Daniel Kwaku Mensah opened a roadside workshop on Spintex Road under a hand-painted sign: God First Furniture Works. Three decades, forty apprentices and one new name later, the same family still builds furniture there the same way — by hand, in solid Ghanaian hardwood, made to outlive its maker.
A carpenter's promise
Same hands, a new name.
Daniel trained as a joiner in the timber yards of Sekondi before moving to Accra with two apprentices and a borrowed planer. His rule never changed: "If it's worth building, it's worth building in odum." Churches came first — pews take more sitting than any sofa ever will — then homes, guesthouses and offices, all by word of mouth, for twenty years.
In 2014 his daughter Efua Mensah joined after studying industrial design at KNUST, bringing drawings where there had been memory and a catalogue where there had been habit. In 2021 the family gave the workshop the name customers had suggested for years — that of the timber Daniel trusts most. God First Furniture Works became Odum Furniture.
Daniel still inspects every piece that leaves the workshop.
Why “Odum”
Named after the tree that outlives its planter.
Odum is the Akan name for iroko — the hardwood Ghanaian builders reach for when a thing must last generations. It resists termites without treatment, holds a joint for decades, and ages from gold to deep amber. In Akan tradition the odum tree is felled only with respect; in our yard, every board of it is kiln-dried and rested before it ever meets a saw.
The journey
Thirty years, nine milestones
Daniel Kwaku Mensah opens God First Furniture Works in a rented shed off Spintex Road — two apprentices, a borrowed planer, and a promise to build things that outlive their maker.
Our first big commission: pews and lecterns for a Teshie chapel. Word of mouth becomes the only marketing the workshop needs for the next two decades.
The workshop takes on its first commercial fit-out — a guesthouse in Aburi — and moves to a permanent yard on Spintex Road.
The apprenticeship is formalised: four years at the bench, from sharpening chisels to final finishing. More than 40 craftsmen have trained through it since.
Efua Mensah joins after studying industrial design at KNUST, bringing drawings, prototypes and a design-led catalogue to her father's joinery.
We invest in a kiln and seasoning yard — from now on every board is dried and rested for Ghana's humidity before a single cut is made.
The family renames the workshop Odum Furniture, after the timber Daniel has trusted his whole working life. Same hands, a new name.
The Spintex Road showroom opens — thirty years of craft, finally on display in one room.
Odum turns 30 and goes online: published prices in cedis, remote ordering for the diaspora, and delivery across Ghana.
Design with confidence
3D renders & interior design service
Our design team can visit your space, take precise measurements and create a detailed 3D visualisation showing exactly how your Odum furniture will fit and feel — before a single board is cut. It is also how our diaspora clients furnish whole homes in Ghana from abroad, approving each room over WhatsApp.
Choosing furniture should never be a guess — it should be a vision.
Book a 3D consultation
Beauty in the hand
Every piece is made by hand, and the hand leaves its mark. Small differences in grain, shape and finish are not flaws — they are the signature of the person who built it.
Client words
Trusted in Ghanaian homes for thirty years
“My parents bought their dining table from Daniel in 2003. Twenty-three years later I ordered mine from the same workshop. It arrived even better than theirs.”Abena Osei — East Legon
“We furnished our whole living room from the Spintex showroom. Solid wood, honest prices on the wall, no games. You can feel the thirty years in the joinery.”Kwame & Adjoa Owusu — Tema
“We furnished our Accra home from abroad entirely over WhatsApp — photos at every stage, delivered and assembled before we landed. Flawless.”James & Harriet Ansong — Washington, DC
“The Mole bed is the single best-made piece of furniture I own. The cane work alone is worth the trip to Spintex.”Dr. Esi Quartey — Kumasi
“They quoted a price, a date and a wood. All three were exactly as promised. That is rarer than it should be.”Selorm Agbeko — Ho
“I watched my centre table being built on a workshop visit. The apprentices sand corners nobody will ever see. That told me everything.”Maame Serwaa — Spintex
“Our restaurant tables take a beating every single day and haven't moved a millimetre in two years. Built like church pews — which, I'm told, is where they started.”Nii Armah — Cantonments
“Ordered a full bedroom set for our place in Oyarifa from London. The 'from' prices online meant no haggling anxiety — what we saw is what we paid.”Efe & Kobby Dadzie — London