If you have ever walked around Mauritius looking to furnish your home, you have probably noticed that furniture prices vary a lot. Pieces that look similar may sometimes have drastic differences in cost, which makes it important to understand what you are paying for. Wood remains one of the most versatile and everlasting materials in interior design - its warmth, texture, and natural beauty make it a must-have pretty much every time. Choosing the right type of wood is therefore essential — not only to achieve the right aesthetic, but also to ensure durability.
Based on our experience working with diverse materials in Mauritius, and our renown expertise with wooden products, we've compiled this guide to help you understand the types of wood which perform best locally, to highlight the level of details that you should be paying attention to when shopping around, and how to protect and care for your investment through the right finishes and fittings.
Why Mauritius' climate matters
Mauritius's tropical climate brings as much beauty as it brings challenges: high humidity, year-round intense sunlight, and constant exposure to coastal salt air accelerate the wear and tear of materials. Wood is a living material that continuously responds to its surroundings – it expands with humidity, contracts with heat, and changes subtly in tone and texture over time. The density, oil content, and grain structure of each species determine how well it resists tropical conditions.
When choosing wood furniture, it is therefore essential to consider its level of exposure to the elements, your willingness to maintain it, avoiding any fittings that might rust, and the overall balance between upfront investment and long-lasting performance.
Furnishing your home: What are your best options?
Teak wood
Among the most reliable options in Mauritius, teak wood remains a benchmark - with its golden-brown tone and fine, even grain, teak is extremely resistant to humidity, termites, and salt air, making it ideal for indoor, outdoor and coastal furniture. It requires minimal maintenance as an occasional oiling helps preserve its natural glow and it deepens beautifully with age. The excellent durability makes teak worth the investment. Yuni provides custom-made furniture in Teak, manufactured in our workshop in Bali and finished off locally with a wide range of different varnishes and fittings, at a competitive price.
Iroko wood
A close alternative to teak is iroko, often referred to as the African teak. Imported from Central Africa and transformed locally, it delivers the same durability as teak at a more accessible cost—it performs very well outdoors and offers excellent resistance to humidity and insects. It is great for entrance doors or any other piece that will be exposed to the elements. With its warm golden to medium brown shades and slightly more irregular grain, it is less oily than teak and benefits from a protective sealer or a varnish.
Sapele wood
For a warmer, more traditional, darker wood, sapele wood from the Mahogany species is a great choice. It is known for its rich, reddish-brown tones and fine grain. Imported from East Africa and transformed locally, it is stable and durable for indoor use and sheltered areas, with moderate resistance to moisture. Regular varnishing or oiling preserves its depth of colour. Sapele is also an excellent choice of wood for pieces that will be painted because of its lower price point and density. It is usually included in our proposals to clients for side tables or wooden table lamp bases, as it is great to carve into different shapes and the colour palette is endless.
Oak wood
Oak wood remains a favourite for its light tones and visible, quality grain. Strong and dense, it is best suited for interior applications, and a clear varnish helps preserve its natural texture and noble appearance. Imported from Europe and Canada, it is a stable wood, easy to work with, and is the most adequate timber to stain, which gives a lot of possibilities in terms of finish—from natural to whitewashed or fully stained, the result is a striking, quality piece. Yuni has an exclusive collection of oak pieces featured under our Kasila by Yuni brand.
Ash wood
A substitute for oak wood that we often recommend and that we find underexploited is ash wood, as it offers comparable tones of cream to soft brown, a smooth grain and texture, at a more affordable price. Also imported from Europe or America, it is a mid to hard wood, resilient, contemporary, and best suited for indoor. Regular sealing or oiling keeps it stable in humid interiors, and just like oak, it is a wood that takes on different varnishes and stains very well, which gives a lot of versatility in terms of creation and adaptability.
Suar wood
Lastly, Suar wood is a good compromise for statement pieces and a striking impression. Its bold contrast between gold and dark creates a dramatic movement across large surfaces, making it ideal for dining tables and feature consoles, where one solid piece will be used as top. At Yuni, we usually shape some suar logs into stools or side tables, as it instantly adds a little edge to the room and is beautifully paired with simpler pieces. Suar wood can be used both inside and outside, though it performs best inside. While it is weather-resistant and durable, its sustainability for exterior use depends on proper drying, finishing, and protection from direct rain or sunlight.
Things you should consider beyond wood
Beyond the selection of the wood itself, the ironmongery and fittings play an equally important role in perceived quality and performance. It is crucial to keep in mind that inferior metal components are quick to rust and will undermine the craftsmanship and longevity of the furniture.
Therefore, choosing high-quality hardware ensures greater durability, as it can better withstand natural wear and tear and resist rusting. In addition, soft-closing hinges or soft-closing drawer slides enhance the user experience and add a touch of luxury to the furniture.
One of the last things to consider when buying timber-made furniture is to ensure that the wood was sustainably sourced. Beyond the guaranteed better grade of wood itself, nowadays more than ever, it is our responsibility as end consumers to make sure that we support sustainable institutions.
Through the Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (SVLK) certification, Yuni ensures that the wood is legally sourced and transported through logging permits. The wood is therefore sustainably harvested, and the forest is protected through replanting programs and the protection of specific trees, depending on their sizes and ages. It also ensures that the wood has been processed and traded through a compliant supply chain before being transformed in our workshops.
Selecting the right furniture for Mauritius is about more than just aesthetics. It requires understanding how each material performs in a tropical environment and recognizing the importance of regular maintenance and protective finish, as well as ensuring the quality of the fittings to guarantee long-lasting functionality.
Combining the right materials and finishes and paying attention to every detail to achieve durability in aesthetics is what Yuni specialises in. Our expertise lies in selecting and transforming the wood, along with premium fittings and finishes, to create furniture that combines beauty, functionality and longevity—perfectly adapted to life in Mauritius.
